Jonathan

Once of the worst books I've had the misfortunate to buy in a long time. The author's idea of military authenticity is to recite a full name and number for every item. For example: Our hereo grabbed his "Mark XI ice penatrating force gun" and ran up into the "Series G-15 Droppleganger Pod-3," meanwhile slamming the "technotitanium lid" on his "Burl & Pearl !12 special ammo kit" and hurled ito space. Yuck

Has more improbable escapades and escapes from danger than your average minx. Which creature, as it happens, has a role in the story. If Audible offers it again really cheaply, and you really like werewolf stories, try it.

I did quite like the idea of the heroine living in a church.

Not worth the invisible paper credit. Giant mechanized Nazis? Fighting comic book super heros? Perhaps this book is meant as a spoof. I cannot imagine why Ms. Lackey decided to associate herself with this collaboration.

I gave the narrator 3 stars just because I couldn't blame him for the material.

I quite like a story that builds slowly. One where the point, the key action, is not immediately revealed. One where the story itself, the writing that makes the story real, takes over. Plus, I like to learn something. In this case I learned about daily life in England in the first half dozen years after WWII, although Trustee has nothing to do with the war. And the way I learn about it is the author's living through the period.

While I read and like my share of shoot-em-ups, there is not a single murder as a part of the story. Oh, my.

So, what is Trustee about? Well, it starts with a man who makes ever part of very small, but fully working, machines and with his sister, who marries well and loves her husband. Hubby retires early, they sail off into the sunset, and our machinist is left to get on with things ... things about which we ask: "What happens next?" Although, if you really wanted to, you could probably figure out most of the plot after the first fifty pages.

Why do I give the story 4 stars and the overall performance 5 stars? Perhaps because the "hero" is a bit too naive ... right up until the end, when ...

Oops, I just changed the rating back to 5 stars because this is a book I will recommend to others who only read in print.

Not in the same universe as Citizen of the Galaxy, which is a stellar juvenile for all listeners of all ages.

In this juvenile Heinlein's moralizing overwhelms the lame story, which is too predictable as well. Not worth the credit except for people like me who make the attempt to read or listen to everything he wrote. After getting the audible version I remembered I had read it as a kid and understood why I thoroughly forgot it.

Mea Culpa! I somehow missed the fact that this is sci-fi for kids, not adults. For a younger teen, it is probably fine, although not in the category of Heinlein's juveniles. H. Potter is better, too.

For adults ... well I'll keep it for days I need an ice cream cone for lunch. I do like the job the narrator did.

This is an old fashioned mystery with a twist: our heroine. She doesn't pack, she isn't young and she does need her sleep. For me, at an age closing in on that of Mama, a plot is not sufficient to make a book a good read / listen. I like to feel I am learning something, about an occupation, a place or a period in time (or in the future) I know little or nothing about. Here, the hook is the perspective of a character who has already lived a life.

If this helps you decide, I plan to spend a credit on another Morgue Mama story.

This novel is a pleasure to listen to. It is the story of two women of very different backgrounds who become friends in the first four years of WWII (39-43). Wein does as excellent job of evoking the era and providing little details. Did you know that the ball point pen first came into use during WWI ... or why?

Of course, there are wonderful plot twists. And not everything ends happily.

I like my fictional heroines self-possessed. Not those heroines popular in so many series who make the same mistakes over and over, and over yet again. These two women actually learn from their experiences.

The use of two narrators, one for each woman, is a blessing. Each captures in voice the background and upbringing of her assigned character.

I was very disappointed not to find other books by this author available on Audible, nor (with a meaningless exception) other narration work by Ms. Christie.

Well worth your time.

This book illustrates the principle that not all received wisdom is correct, particularly when it comes to non-European history. Simply put, the Mongols were not the evil empire of their times (which lasts for several centuries.)

Read or listen, enjoy and learn. Worth a credit.

The bits of history of WWII as it played out in Spain and Portugal I've read elsewhere seem fascinating. Clearly there is material for a couple of excellent histories ... in the original sources. This is not one of them. Probably there are already a couple in Spanish or Portugese deserving of translation.

The author seems not to have access to much more than British cables, although he does refer to other documents. Although fiction, the book "The Time Inbetween" by Maria Duenas, about Spain during a similar period, provides as much insight ... along with better writing. Duenas I highly recommend.

The performance is fine.

If you have access to a B & N, I recommend you peruse the paper version before spending a credit on the oral one.

IMHO

Excellent voice but the story (composed of several 'cases') seems recycled from other cases in other mysteries set in locales that are foreign to the reader. If you get it at a bargain ... Perhaps I'm just getting tired of this sub-genre.