wize2u

I really like Dan Simmons; he's written some of my favorites. This definately won't be one of them. I made it through the book but it was a near thing. I found the story slow and the characters lacked depth. The only things that really kept my interest was the history and cultural oddities of Hungary and Romania. It was a visual reminder of the levels of poverty and desolation that many in the world live. The descriptions of life in those countries with their rampant corruption and stagnation was fully realized.

. I wasn't that fussed about the narrator either. I thought his pacing was too slow and he got a breathless quality in some of his reading that distracted from the book.

Dan Simmons can always set a scene well. Too bad about the characters in this book. I look forward to the next try.

What an excellent book. I am only halfway through and I don't need to make it to the end to recognize a quality story. Three dimensional characters, good pace, deep story. The fact that this story is set in a place filled with so much original flora and fawna is just icing on the cake. This could be my newest favorite author.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The story caught me and I listened to the whole thing within a day and a half.

I loved this book primarily because Rachel didn't do anything super stupid or immature. Don't get me wrong; I love the character and the books but sometimes there have been a lot of facepalm moments in the previous books. This book cruised along at a good steady rate. There were changes between the characters interactions that felt natural and inevitable. It makes me happy when things are not dragged out too much. The conclusion appeared at a good place that didn't leave you hanging. I cannot say enough good things about the narrator. She really makes the story come alive for me.

Bandon Sanderson did something that Robert Jordan just couldn't do; make the characters come to life. The series had a good story from the start but the characters drove me to distraction! I hated that the women were all horribly immature with feet stomping, diva dramatics and the guys were all stoic and long suffering. Women pitched fits constantly and men lived in fear of these fits. These people where two dimentional and all essentially the same. I almost stopped reading the series many times but I kept thinking, " this time he'll get it right". Well, Brandon has finally got it right. He took the story that was great from the beinging and gave it believable and realistic three dimensional characters. What a relief! To read this last book being secure in this knowledge has been a delight. The book ties up many loose ends and moves at a steady pace. I'm not quite done the book so I can't comment on the ending. The narrators did a great job. I found that they incorporated seamlessly into the story.

All in all I enjoyed this book but am relieved the story is FINALLY over. Part of the joy of reading this book was that I knew it was the last one and that the whole series is ending with a great book.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The story moved along at a steady rate and the characters were well fleshed out for a short story. My biggest yardstick on whether a story is well written is whether I care about what happens to the main characters. The story got my attention enough that I listened to is all in one long listen. Mind you, I purchased this book mostly on the merits of its author. I have read some of his previous work and found them a good read (or listen). The story gets a slightly lower rating because I'm not really fond of short storys and I need to be really emotionally moved by a book to give it a higher rating.

Maybe

Nothing that I can think of. I just think the subject matter lends itself to reader anger and disgust.

The reader was ok.

I was disgusted with the people (sheeple). It just goes to show that religion can make you an idiot by encouraging people to follow on faith instead of question and think.

All in all it wasn't a bad documentary. I just couldn't read to the end because I couldn't take the stupidity of the people.