Rachelle

I'm not the first reviewer to draw parallels between Groundhog Day, Mean Girls, and Before I Fall, but it's just so incredibly fitting that it's difficult to find any other way to describe the book.

All I can say is that I found myself laughing out loud and (shamefully) crying in my car throughout the book. This is YA, but is so well done that older readers will have very little problem getting into it.

Facts Are Fun!

I appreciated that the book was based on historical facts, but not dry and uninteresting.

Great as always!

Though this book is non-fiction, the facts are still so interesting that it's occasionally hard to believe that these things actually happened.

I don't think so. The book is great, and the narration is excellent, but it isn't the sort of book that makes you THINK. Several of the authors' other stories are worth listening to several times, because they're complex and layered, and you always hear something a little different the second and third times you listen.

This book isn't like that; it's satisfying as it is, but not complex enough to require a second listen.

The fact that this book was released in 1993, right around the time that cell phones first hit the retail market, and yet the technology in it feels very "now".

Being that I'm not British, I'm not sure how authentic any of his accents are, but to my Canadian ear, they SOUND perfect, and every character is distinguishable from the others.

The characters are shallow; the reader isn't given any reason to care about them or like them, or root for them. The protagonist is a Disney princess; she's saccharine sweet and frightened (for a good cause, I should add) but shallow as a pond.

I think the most distressing thing about the book is that it had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The world is interesting, and the protagonists' powers are interesting. When a story has this much potential, and falls short, it's harder to deal with than if everything about the book sucked.

No, but I won't read any follow-ups by the same author. At first, I appreciated the fact that the story is about a scared young woman trying to find sanctuary, and that the world isn't full of supernatural characters trying to mate with humans. But nobody in the story is, in any way, likeable, except perhaps one abused little wolf-boy.

I didn't mind the narrator at all. I'd definitely listen to her again.

Not purchase any more books by this author.

A lot of people compare Jane Yellowrock to characters like Anita Blake and Rachel Morgan. On the surface, they're all strong women with supernatural powers. Dig a little deeper, though, and you quickly realize that Anita and Rachel hate themselves, hate their lives, and have "friends" who only really want to have sex with them. Supernatural urban fiction is a pretty shallow pond; it's all sex and power.

On the other hand, Jane likes herself, likes her life, knows she could do better, but doesn't let her angst dictate her attitude. In other words, she's a beautifully written character with flaws and ugly bits, and a great deal of honor. It's refreshing to read a story about a character who doesn't just flounder from bad decision to bad decision.

I can't say that I love her performance; she really hits the southern twang a little too hard; it should sound relaxed and laid back, but it sounds really hard and jarring. Other than her accent, though, her voice is perfectly suited to the character.

Well worth the credit.

I'm not sure. I think the book is wonderful, and the series is wonderful, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've laughed and cried while listening to the book. That said, I'm not sure that anyone I know would love this book the same way I did, given that it's pretty long, and pretty slow.

Well, I appreciate that the same narrator is being used book to book. But I don't really enjoy Brick's narration of this particular book.

I don't always love Scott Brick; I'm sure he's a super guy, but he's so... breathy and has this lazy drawl thing going on, which I find incredibly off-putting. I've recommended a few other audiobooks he's narrated, only to hear "I couldn't even sit through half an hour of that droning voice!"

I don't know, sometimes, he's perfect for the story ("Word of Honor" and "The Company: A Novel of the CIA") but other times, he's just... not. This is one of the "not" books.

No, it's too long.

If you enjoyed The Passage, you'll enjoy this.

No idea - I'm an audiobook fan.

I'm a big fan of the author (hipster alert - I bought her first book the day it came out on shelves, so I can say with all honesty that I liked her before she was famous) but honestly, it's getting a little bit tiresome reading about a woman who seems so conflicted about every single relationship in her life.

Absolutely; it was a lovely listen. I enjoyed the story, and really enjoyed the narration. Anyone who's read some of Hamilton's other epics will likely enjoy this one; he has the ability to make a reader understand the technology he's writing about without a lot of explanation, and builds characters who are interesting and flawed and fun, all at the same time.

Some parts of the book drag out a little, as is wont to happen in a Peter Hamilton novel, but you take the bad with the good.

No comparisons spring immediately to mind.

Excellent narration, great pacing, great characterization.

Absolutely worth the credit, particularly for people who liked the pacing of the Commonwealth Saga.

I probably will, because I'm a bit of a Peter Wickham fan, and bought the book solely because he narrated it, with little regard to the author, who I'd never heard of before. I enjoyed the book, and will read others by Tim Weaver.

The book premise is a bit kooky, but in an interesting way, and though the ending wasn't shocking, it was very satisfying.

Pacing, linguistic style; he makes the character sound like a very likeable guy.

Neither.

Worth the credit!

The premise of the story has promise, but the writing is bland and repetitive. Apparently, while the English language has dozens of euphemisms for "kill", the author only believes in two; "scrub" and "wipe". I'm not kidding; you could use this audiobook as a Forever Alone drinking game; one shot for "wipe", two shots for "scrub".

All the characters are annoying; the protagonist is supposed to be a tough-as-nails wild woman, but really, she's pretty much always holding back tears, or has a lump in her throat. The titular spymaster is running for his life, but he and the wild woman develop an almost instant affection for each other, and over the course of about a day and a half, are hugging each other. This is normal in adventure romances, but this book isn't supposed to be that.

The dialogue is so brutally trite in places that I actually flinched in embarrassment. Like the thug who screams "I'll get you, Tice! I'lllllll gettt youuuuuu!" while shaking his fist in the air.

And then, ye gods, there is the narration! I'm sure that the narrator is a nice person, but this isn't his best work. There are probably a twenty characters that exchange dialogue throughout the book, but only two of them sound different than anyone else. Oh, except the Arab characters, who all sound like pirates. "Allahu Akbar, argghhh!"

I wish I had my credit back.

This is a wonderful book. It's not the movie tie-in version, though, so keep in mind that this story differs a little from the movie. Still, it's a great listen, and a very interesting account of what Anne Boleyn's rise and fall might have looked like through the eyes of her sister, Mary Boleyn.

Susan Lyons is an excellent narrator; I've bought other books just because she's narrated them, and am looking forward to listening to her again!