Jill

I'm a fan of Brandon Sanderson from Mistborn, Warbreaker, Alloy of Law, and Elantris. Hoping to get a little more of my fix, I tried out these "teen" books. I laughed and laughed my way through the whole set of 4, and I dearly hope he will finish it out with book 5 as he has promised. The humor is snarky and certainly some of it is above the level of many pre-teen kids. They won't miss what they don't get, but you'll laugh yourself silly. The narration is superb, truly top-notch. The plot is ridiculous, but is *supposed* to be. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy, snarky humor, and poking fun at oneself, other authors, the genre, and book-writing in general.

I really liked the Automatic Detective by Martinez, so I thought I'd try another book by the same author. I just couldn't get into this one. The dialogue was very witty, and those laughs carried me about halfway through the book, but I felt no connection with the main character. I gave up on the book because I just had no emotion for any characters in the story. The witty dialogue couldn't make up for a lack of character development.

A few reviewers have said that they found the beginning of this slow. I am not certain why that would be-- I found it moved along nicely. Trella is experiencing a period of self-doubt, and she goes back and forth in her mind about her role in the new society. However, there is a lot of action with bombs going off in Inside, vital systems at risk, and people dying. It's a great follow-up to Inside Out, so if you liked that,you'll love this.

Fantastic book. The author is a true craftsman. The story is rich and compelling, and the narrator is an outsanding performer. I usually don't read this sort of "outdoor adventure turns wrong" book, but I loved it. You cannot go wrong with this.

This was just a delightful read! I fell in love with Sanderson with the Mistborn series, then went looking for more. Sure nothing could top Mistborn, I was a little nervous that this earlier novel wouldn't satisfy, but I had nothing to fear. I loved this novel. The main characters are well developed, the plot has twists and turns that kept me guessing, the magic system is interesting and new, and the writing was good. The only tiny gripe is that, as in Mistborn, occasionally Sanderson gets into a trap of going on and on about what a main character is thinking or feeling, repeating himself quite a bit before moving on. I'm okay with it--it's not too often--and it does add to character development. It's just obvious when you listen rather than read (where you might skim). Otherwise, a great read, and I gave it 5 stars because I couldn't put my ipod down. Also, the narrator is superb.

I loved Beat the Reaper, with it's sarcastic, dark humor and fast-paced thriller plot. When Audible emailed me to say that a sequel had come out, I immediately clicked over and used a credit. Now I rather wish I had not.

The good: Dr. Peter Brown (or Lionel Azemuth is he is known in this book) still has all the dark, cutting, dry humor that we know and love. So I still got many laugh-out-loud moments in this book.

The bad: The plot is boring and implausible in a bad way. Beat The Reaper was implausible in a funny, satisfying way, but this plot is just lame. A sea monster? Really? Bleh. Also, somehow Josh Bazell decided to use book #2 for his own little political/economic soap box. We get an entire chapter about the oil crisis and climate change, delivered by the supporting female character. Yawn. We get snide, snippy remarks about conservatives and Christians, and ludicris, stereotyped characters to illustrate the snide, snippy remarks. Really? Bleh again. Also not funny. Last, the supporting female character is not well done. I hated her by the end, even though Peter Brown is in heat about her for most of the book. The guy I liked, the teenage kid who nearly gets killed at the beginning of the book but is rescued by Peter Brown, is not in the book enough and gets whacked in the end, by accident.

Sorry, but don't waste your credit. It'll taint the happiness you felt from Beat the Reaper.

In the Birth of Venus, we nestle inside the mind of Alessandra, a girl on the verge of womanhood, and follow her path through marriage and betrayal. Set in Florence in the late 1400s, this book is a fascinating historical fiction novel as well as being a bit of a love story. It is most definitely not a romance novel, however. It is a more a story of a woman who doesn't fit her time/place/class deciding to rebel, and then learning to live with the consequences that follow her. All of the characters are wonderfully drawn, and the plot moves nicely forward throughout. I enjoyed the narrator's voice--light with no vocal weirdness that you sometimes come upon in audiobooks (mouth sounds, drawn out words, over-drama, no distiniction between voices, etc).

Worth the credit for sure. I even teared up at the ending because I had grown so attached to Alessandra. Enjoy!

The second Mistborn book moves slower than the first, but it really allows for a ton of character development and a deeper understanding of the Mistborn world. You see the characters struggle; these books do not have clear cut "good" and "bad" but rather show the characters as real people struggling with conflicting emotions, duties, wants, etc. Excellent read! Couldn't put my iPod down. Kramer is outstanding as with the first book. Can't wait to "read" the next one!

I made it through 4 chapters. This book is exceptionally well-written, but be warned that the subject of the book is very very dark, distressing, depressing, etc. If you don't like that type of literature, skip this one.

This novel started out wonderfully. I was captivated by the slowly unfolding mystery and the excellent character development. About halfway through the story, things began to slow down and become dreary, dull, drawn-out, and melancholy. The mystery took a back seat to the navel-gazing of the two slueths. The ending was hugely dissapointing. This really should have been a short story, not a novel. Most of it was depressing filler. Skip this one.