Valerie

I prefer the espionage stories, although this is nice for a change.

Anything by Le Carre will work for me.

Some of the reviewers compared this author with Joe Abercrombie, so I listened hopefully. Unfortunately there was not much of a story here. The reader didn't help things as his delivery was flat and without expression - rather yawn-provoking actually. A few times I found myself distracted by the thought that when readers come to an unfamiliar word, shouldn't they look up the pronunciation before making the listener roll their eyes?

Some of the more interesting characters that appeared at the beginning faded away shortly afterwards never to be seen again, and we have to wait until the last quarter of the book before we're told why they're all fighting.

I did try to like this but failing an interesting storyline I found myself picking at things that annoyed me. Like the shrugs. All the characters shrugged. On every occasion however inappropriately.

Perhaps the ending made up for it all. I'll never know.... (I just shrugged.)

This trilogy was so much fun! The story twists and turns, the battle scenes are convincing and at the most unexpected times I spluttered with laughter. What more can you ask for from an epic fantasy?

In Inquisitor Glokta I've found my new favorite fictional character, and Steven Pacey has become one of my favourite performers, using many regional British accents to distinguish the characters (how does he do them all so well?).

Unfortunately the great is the enemy of the good, and I think I'm unlikely to listen to the other titles by Joe Abercrombie that have a different reader. Not for a long time, anyway.

Great stuff!

I'm always in awe of Ken Follett's ability to write in this epic style that grips the reader's attention throughout.
I would enjoy it more with a different narrator, however, as John Lee frequently puts his emphasis on the first word in a sentence. This is often bewildering enough to detract from the tale itself.

It took me a while before I tried Ken Follett's historical marathons as I first thought of him as a thriller writer, but now I'm definitely hooked on his portrayals of a slice of the past. A great read.

There wasn't much to grab my attention in the first quarter of the book, but the story developed into quite a nail-biter. Very good overall.

Beautifully written, as always by Frederick Forsyth, as well as nail-bitingly exciting. What more can a reader ask?