Benjamin

The other reviews cover all of what I could say about the book itself, I'll simply note I enjoyed it (though I believe the storyline is showing its age).

My enjoyment was rather distracted by the highly-variable recording quality, it is quite clear where each recording session begins as the sound levels vary all over the shop. The audio even becomes muffled on occasion, and then there's the odd rustle of turning pages...

The book includes an Appendix on "Newspeak" (referenced earlier in the story); all well and good except the narrator reads directly on from the end of the actual story to the appendix with barely a pause. I was left shocked at the what was in fact the final lines of the book, but quickly puzzled over the extra 30 minutes of material on newspeak, which is possibly interesting but I expect wouldn't normally be read immediately following on from the end of the story.

The upshot is: make sure to set a break on your player at 34:30 from the end of the book!

I wish audible allowed dual ratings both of the book and the speaker: in this case I'd give 4.5/5 for the book, 3/5 for the reader (monotonous at times).

A good read/listen, though I was disappointed at the apparently arbitrary insertion of the plot development for the succeeding novels - this seems akin to a Hollywood 'sequel' tactic and in my view tarnishes an otherwise very good storyline.