Jina

I hate abridged books because I want to choose for myself whether or not to skip certain parts of a book. Many times I make a choice to skip places in books, but I want that choice to be mine. It angers me to have someone else make the editing decisions as to what parts are essential to the story and which are not. Since I was unable to find a non-abridged audio version anywhere...at any price, I actually got the print book to see what I missed. When I read the print version, it was apparent that the cuts were mostly to the male/female relationship interplay scenes. Given the choice, I would have chosen to hear those and skip some of the violence, but those who feel differently should be able to do their own editing too. Abridging also insults the author, and Ian Rankin is much to good an author to have that done to him.

John Rebus is smart, funny, imperfect, and very real. I'd invite him to share my dinner table anytime.

The accents, the slang, and the banter between characters. That's why I bought and listened to the audio version despite my aversion to abridged books.

I don't care. I don't like movies especially movies based on books. It's just another example of someone else editing for me. I like audio-books better. I like to imagine my own characters.

Please...... offer non-abridged versions along with abridged versions of Audible books. Very frustrating.

If Ursula remembered what she did from life to life and could have been the instigator of improvements in her later life. If she had shown any self-esteem

Sure. It wasn't her fault the book was so bad. I probably won't read anymore of Kate Atkinson, however.

Anger, lots of it. I wanted Ursula to stand up for herself. I wanted her to tell people off you abused her.

I liked catching up with Thomas and his mentor, but this story was too sad. Way too many horrible things happened to really good people. I know that really bad things happen to good people in real life all the time, but in a book that I read for pleasure, I want the people who are wronged to get a least a small amount of justice or compensation. There was absolutely none of that here.

Also the book ended with Thomas' personal life completely unresolved. I felt this book ended where it did just to manipulate me into reading the next book. This type of manipulation is a cheap trick, and totally unnecessary.

When a series is really good, each book stands alone. Think about series such as: Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks books, J.D. Robb's In-Death series, Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James books, Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series, and Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Every book in each of these series stands alone, and I read the next book simply because the last one was good, and I got attached to the main characters.

After the first book in this series, I thought : Now here is the possibility for a really wonderful and unusual series. Now after reading the second book, I just feel emotionally jerked around.

No, not at all. There are some truly great books in this genre. No one book could ever turn me off the entire genre.

Although I certainly didn't love this particular book, this series still has really great potential if the author would focus more on the mysteries of early pathology, and the strange ideas that people of that time had about anatomy. What I was really turned off by, was the emphasis on senseless violence and the malevolence of unprincipled people.

I liked when Lydia finally shared her past with Thomas.

The relationship between Thomas and Lydia needs resolution, as well as the personal problem of Lydia's that came out at the very end of this book. As I said: Cheap Trick!

To Tessa Harris, the Author. Trust your writing skills and your ability to develop characters that people can care about. Hook your readers with your writing skills, not cliff hangers.

It's a sad story. I have no need to hear it again. But the details are essential if you are a devoted Outlander follower.

I loved Jerry McKenzie. Any man who can love one woman completely, steals my heart

He did great accents, and was a great smooth reader.