Christopher

I had a hard time turning this listen off. Le Guin's world is deeply rich and fascinating and the characters that populate simply fascinated me. There is not much action in this novel, all the conflict takes place in a much more cerebral battlefield, which is probably one of the reasons I liked it so much...the book almost forces your mind to wander and contemplate how the real world could (is?) becoming the world in this novel. Since I am a natural day dreamer, I find this sort of thing very enjoyable. I place this novel up there near Ursula's best works (although not quite) and other great "philosophical sci-fi" novels like Man in the High Castle.
Note: "Philosophical Sci-fi" was a term coined by one of my old college professors to describe Philip K Dick novels (et al.) not mine. ;)

Note: "Philosophical Sci-fi" was a term coined by one of my old college professors to describe Philip K Dick novels (et al.) not mine. ;)

My daughter LOVED this series and this book in particular. This is a great light listen, and extremely appropriate for children under 10, especially girls. I thought this book was extremely well written and the story was very enjoyable. My daughter would give it 5 stars across the board, I gave it 4 because I like to save the 5 stars for books that I (that is ME) can't put down. If I could I would probably give this book 4.5 stars...the only thing that keeps this from 5 stars is because it is very much so a children's book and thus was just a bit predictable for an adult. That said, the main characters of this book are strong, relatable female characters that I liked my daughter to listen to. I felt that they showed her how young girls could be strong and demonstrated how sisters should look out for each other. I highly recommend this novel for people with young girls and who want to listen to something together. I also recommend it to anybody with children (of any sort), or for adults who enjoy books with the light atmosphere of "young adult/children" stories like atmosphere of the early books of Harry Potter or the Septimus Heap books. Now that I have said that I should clarify that this book only compares to HP and SP in the style/tone of the story...the plot and everything else are NOTHING like HP and SP. I would describe the The Sisters Grimm as a "fairy tale/fantasy realism/mystery/detective children’s novel. NOT "swords and magic fantasy". But the at

This book is one of those few novels that just don't translate well into an audible book. While I thought Stephen Hoye sounded good, and I thought the writing was exceptional, this book just did not work in audio format. I think the problem is that, in this novel, Ray Bradbury writing emphasizes extremely rich imagery...so rich and complex that hearing the words are just not adequate to catch it. Let me try to explain what I mean...when one reads the printed word, the content "sticks" better than when one "hears a speech". I struggled through the first couple of hours of this audio book, eventually I realized that I was just not engaged with the story...then i realized that there really was not much of a story here. This book is written as an “ode to summer and childhood", it main purpose of this book is to try to convey the memories and feelings that R.B. felt towards his childhood summers. As much of the content is "stream of consciousness" of a young boy imagining things, remembering things, and trying to describe things (as a young boy would describe them if they had a master’s degree in English Lit). The rest of the content is "3rd person stream of consciousness" of an old man trying to describe their memories as a child. The result is simply too complex for someone to grasp and imagine simply from hearing the words...I think you have to actually read the words yourself to understand and get into this story. SO I gave this book 3 stars for performance and story, but a one overall because I felt that while either element was fine (even excellent) the overall effect of this audiobook fell flat due to this being the wrong medium to enjoy this novel.

I continue to be amazed at how much I enjoy this series. This is a great little series that my 5-year old daughter loves and I too am enjoying. It is funny and fun. This installation of the Audible book, unfortunately, is an Abridged version. I don't know why the producers felt it neccesary to abridge what is already a short listen/read/book...but who knows why people in the entertainment industry do anything...they seem all crazy to me. Anyways, I would have prefered to listen to an unabridged version, but since I was unable to find an unabridged version anywhere, on any site...I purchased this one. I can only assume that Gerard Doyle and company are still in the process of recording the rest of the series. Which brings me to my point, while I am a huge fan of David Tennant from Dr. Who...I am afraid his narration simply does not compare to Gerard Doyle's in the line of Unabridged audiobooks of this series. The voices for Stoic the Vast and Gobber, sound more like he has a bad cold than a "huge" Viking hero... David, is an adequate reader...but after listening to Mr. Doyle's masterful renditions..well David is a little flat. I also did not like the musical interludes, but that is a minor issue as only once did David try to speak over the music. I am also left with a burning curiosity to what was cut from the book. Despite all this, I still do recommend the title. It is still a fun little book, and since it is only about $6...I am not overly upset that I may purchase another version when the unabridged audio comes out.

I have very fond memories of this novel from my childhood, and I was excited at the chance to introduce it to my 5-year old daughter. I felt (or hoped) that my daughter would appreciate this series as much as I did when I first read it in the first grade. The narrator is expressive and tells the story very evocatively. My daughter has become almost too engrossed in the story (she did not like how Menolly was treated by her mom and dad). Additionally, I found myself once again engrossed in the story myself...I looked forward to listening to it as much as my daughter. I highly recommend this novel to all.