Monica

Like the other reviewer, I think the author is talented. But in the end, I like the IDEA of the story more than the story itself--Told from a dog's view is an interesting concept. But I couldn't get interested in the characters. I almost stopped listening, but it did get somewhat better. To me, parts were too cliche (things dogs do; things insane people do) and maybe that's why it took me so long to be interested in what could happen to the dog.

Narrator was fine; no problem there.

Maybe only listeners who like works of literature and who own dogs would like this book?

Interesting story and one that I have never heard before. But I had two complaints:
1) Unfortunately, the narrator did not do his homework. His pronunciation of words commonly used in Hawai'i was poor. He should have done his homework and asked people who say Hawaiian words and local words how to pronounce them. Really, there's no excuse -- I can't believe he mispronounced poke (POH-keh) to name one of many mistakes.
2) My personal preference would have been for the story to reflect Hawai'i more. This is my bias and not a fault of the book/author. I wanted more Hawai'i and culture of Hawaiians and the local people who live in Hawai'i. There wasn't enough for me.

I was unsatisfied when I reached the end. Maybe if I had known in advance that the book is a series of loosely connected stories I would be less critical now. The book moved to a new character too quickly for me. My 2 stars is because I didn't like the narrative structure. Someone who likes short stories, linked together by an object, might really enjoy this book.

The overall idea is terrific and interesting. I wanted the author to push it more and I wanted fewer stories within the story.
Narration was good.

I was very glad the author narrated the book. The book is told from the author's point of view and he narrated his point of view well. As for the content, I agree with the reviewer who found the characters undeveloped. As I listened, I thought I was listening to someone remembering a bunch of unconnected events from age 3 to 17 (in chronological order). Moments of the book were interesting and very sad or sadly comic. But overall, I was disappointed and felt hammered over the head with the same things happening over and over (dad drunk again, mom doing nothing again, kids on the street again, Catholic confession again). Perhaps from a literary perspective, the repetition could be seen as reinforcing the tone and goal of the book. From a historical perspective, maybe it can be seen as a useful slice of life of very poor children (because of drunkenness & unwillingness to get a job) in that time period. But for me, I'm not into it.

Overall, if you like the spiritual & Mr Chopra's other books, you will probably like this book in its vague spiritual way that I think is true of many self-help spiritual books. I like the overall message (do onto others....), but for a leadership book, I think there must be way better books out there. Seemed like in the end, the message was: be a good person, have a wonderful vision, and you will be a good leader.

I was disappointed in this book. First, I thought many of the activities could work only if the person was ALREADY the leader. I'm not, so I can't take over a meeting and lead the folks on the recommended activities. Second, I thought it lacked specific information given our global world. So maybe the audience is leaders who work with those of the same culture. I work with people from many cultures and when Mr Chopra says to listen and observe, I'm not confident in my ability to listen and observe and accurately understand the person's emotions and needs. I would have liked more specifics on how to listen and observe given our global economy.

Mr Chopra gives several long lists and other such things that I found difficult to "get" by just listening. Because I listen while doing other things, I wasn't able to pause, write down, so I could have a reference for later. My problem, not the book's. For me, this would have been better to buy in hard copy. But I can't recommend this book.

For me, the story was too simplistic and boring. It was more "tell" than "show."

For me, Lion's Game was too much of, "this is what I did first" and "then I did this next" and "she did that." I didn't like the play-by-play description. Got boring for me. I thought it dragged. But if you like that journalistic style, I think you'll like this a lot because the story itself is fine.

Be prepared to buy all 3 books. Read them sequentially.

I found the premise good, the story interesting -- a PG version of something like "Battle Royale" (Japanese film). Interesting characters who are developed, if you read the trilogy. Content is certainly aimed at a young audience, but still good enough for adults.

The interview with the author at the end of book 3 is interesting for the literary-minded folks.

I will read the next book because I like the characters and thought the narrators were good. But, 3 stars because I thought this book was long. Very long. Seems like the story and character development could have moved much faster. I also thought the author tried too hard to create a world; it felt forced -- for example the quotes at the beginning of the chapters and the interludes and the appendix at the end.

I liked Sanderson's Mistborn series better.

I have mixed feelings about Magicians. I like the IDEA of it, but perhaps it was too stark and depressing for me. I felt like it had the futileness of "Less Than Zero" in a Harry Potter and Narnia framework. Maybe the book was too long (in the middle I wondered, What's the point?). But I liked it enough to give the sequel a listen when it comes out. I cautiously recommend (but NOT for kids!).

The narration was adequate.