shirley

If you like hanging out listening to your friends tell you, in detail, about that D & D game they were in ' that one time'...then you'll like this book.

Not even close to the world of Dragonlance!

This a story about a group of gamers who are transported into the world they've been playing in for some time. They keep the knowledge of their home world yet gain the knowledge, bodies and skills of their character.

I do hate that it seemed much easier to approach and talk to a dragon than to decide to rescue the women before they are gang-raped. "I can go berserk and rescue everyone, but I'll wait until they are done with the girls"...and the women don't even object...

Meh...

Yep, half way through the book and we're still focused on the gang rape of a teen virgin. Look, I'm a huge fan of KKR but seriously this is going too far. Now the protagonist is in a situation where she is forced to face the man who staked her spread eagle in her village and 'gave' her to his 'men' (soldiers)...all because her lesbian lover was both greedy and oblivious to her pain.

Nope, not going to finish it.

Btw, this is the second time I called out a book for gratuitous rape scenes and have had my review disappear into an internet black hole...come on Audible, I'm getting suspicious here...

I bought the first two of this series in a 'buy 2 get 1 free' sale. I listened to both of them but it was a bit tedious. The problem is that the story is about 2 juveniles (13yo) written in a juvenile manner. The basic premise is great but there is no character development, no real world building and really little more than a conglomeration of interesting encounters set in a very broad framework of 'bad guy rules the world'. I've been really sick with the flu and these books required little attention and even if you fell asleep for an hour while listening, you wouldn't miss anything in terms of action. Duels are started and completed within about six sentences, You may find the central character doomed to a life of imprisonment and torture and within a few paragraphs the 13 year old boy is rescued easily by a friend.

I would say this is perfect for the young teen to read but I remember that Harry Potter was perfect and still challenged and held the imagination of those who read the series.

I was disappointed.

When the narrator decided to use a 'surfer dude' accent for the rebel faction, I just really lost interest. I tried to listen all the way through. I tried repeatedly, but just kept falling asleep or finding myself having listened to 30+ minutes and realizing that I hadn't paid attention because I was distracted. The premise is interesting but it's probably a better read than it is a listen.

I believe that some stories are meant to be heard and others to be read. Sometimes you get a great book (and narrator) that succeeds at both. This really feels like something that you need to read. Perhaps I'll come across an inexpensive written copy and try to get through it again.

I love Trudi Canavan's work. I've really tried to get into this story, honestly. I've put 5 hours into it and still, I don't really know what's going on because my mind wanders from it so easily. The problem I'm having is that there is not a lot of differentiation between characters and scenes in Sarah Douglas' narration. It's not exactly monotone, but it certainly is not as dynamic as I'm used to (spoiled by great narration, I suppose) Her diction is great, she has a pleasant voice and I think she'd do a fantastic job narrating a non-fiction/self-help book or something. It's just that Ms. Canavan's characters are multi-dimensional and deserve a more dynamic interpretation. I'm going to keep at it because I think the story is going to be great, it's just going to take a lot of concentration which means getting it on audible is a waste of money for me. I'll purchase the kindle version for the next two books. (I may have to get it for this one if I continue to have difficulty)

I loved the Thomas Covenant and the Mirror series. This one was written from the first person perspective. I really dislike that type of writing, but it was Donaldson and decided to stick to it, hoping that I would come to like it. Two and a half hours into the story and the main character starts talking about how he raped the woman he took captive. Raped and brutalized her to the point where (paraphrasing) "it took three days before she could start learning how to help him" - I had to quit at that point. I'm going to request my credit back because I simply will not support anyone who thinks that rape is an appropriate part of any non-fiction story. Donaldson did it in the first book of the Covenant series and I found it difficult then. To think that he does it in an even more brutal way and then portrays the woman as 'helping' later puts a spin on rape that is irresponsible at best and criminal at worst.

I enjoy Jeaniene Frost and have read all the Bones/Cat novels. I was excited to see a story about Vlad. Her other novels provided a great deal of action, mystery and some sex. THIS NOVEL, however, is all about sex with a little bit of mystery thrown in and almost no action. It starts off with her being kidnapped and rescued within a few minutes, then we hear all about how the protagonist and Vlad are sexually attracted to each other and end up in bed. That's about all the first half of the book is. Second half, well we're getting down to the mystery part... wait wait - nope, gotta take a shower together...ok, now can we discuss how to rescue person x... nope, now we gotta do the 'bite me, please' erotica.

It is on and on and on like this. More story, less sex please... as I said, if I wanted erotica, I'd buy erotica - I want paranormal fantasy. Oh well, I don't think I'll get the next one unless it's on a 'cheap sale'.

First, the narrator sounds like a very young girl...it is very disconcerting for Marla's voice, let alone for the male voices. It is a shame. It is not so bad that i couldn't get through the story.

There are a number of 'fill-in-the-blank'omancers...you know, technomancer, etc. When we got to pornomancer I was so disappointed - really, it came across as a cheesy way to throw in a big orgy with b&d and s&m scenes filled with things I stopped giggling at in my twenties. Throw in a twisted necrophilia and rape as revenge scene and I was truly disgusted. Disgusted that an otherwise interesting writer stooped to something so cheap and cheesy. Really, you had to go there?

Get past that part and you find a story that will keep you occupied for a few hours.

I love the clever wit of the characters and, of course, the author. I liked this book better than the last one. I think that had to do with the setting for most of the book was in this world and not so abstract. Of course, it could have been that there was more Oberon to love.

As usual, Luke Daniels does a stellar job! Voices are appropriate to the characters and easy to understand.

Start with the first book, but get them all. You won't regret it.

Waiting anxiously for the next book due out this fall!

After several hours I found the trick - set the narrator's speed to at least 1.25, then you can listen relatively comfortably without falling asleep.

Seriously, the story is good but the southern sleepy drawl drags the story down so that it's hard to really stay with it. My attention kept being pulled away, even when I was sitting still with no distractions, let alone driving or shopping. I've been in the south most of my life and...never... heard... anyone... t..a..l..k... t..h..a..t... s..l..o..w..l..y. While the accent is good, the pace is not.

Overall, the story is interesting. There are sex scenes and language that might concern some. Thankfully this is not a romance novel disguised as urban fantasy as many are but I really do like Patricia Briggs who can spin a great story without resorting to descriptive sex. I haven't been interested in reading that since I was a teen.

Fun, entertaining tale of fire, ice, stone and air elementals with some dwarves and vampires mixed in. Set in a kind of rednecksville south where there seems to be an overabundance of violent sexual predators, pedofiles and wife beating husbands. Gin, the 'hero' in our story is an assassin who apparently only kills the bad guys (REALLY BAD guys). She tends to go on about the color of her eyes, how she got the scars on her hands, how her family was killed, how she ended up on the street with nothing and is now pulling in millions of dollars in fees for assassinations...over and over. Once I know how she got the scars, is it important to hear it more than once? It's not like she was ever describing it to another character, but literally describing it to the 'reader' several times. Need to make a page or word count?

It's a mindless listen on a lazy afternoon - not bad, not great either...just meh...