Paul L. Sungenis

This is the latest of a (sadly) growing number of books that publishers have inexplicably chosen to have read by their author, when the author has no dramatic ability and no apparent director to oversee the production. Sam Lipsyte's droning reading keeps you guessing which characters are saying what in long conversations, and eventually proves distracting enough to keep you from following the story at all. This is one to avoid.

I'm often accused of saying that conservatives aren't funny. That's not true. The trick is that good humor, especially satire, has to have some basis in fact to build upon. Even when you're writing in an absurdist vein you need to plant some of it in reality and too few "conservative" writers today know how to base their humor in reality. Christopher Buckley is a conservative who can be extremely funny, especially since he knows how to skewer everyone, not just his political opponents. This latest book shows Buckley is still in fine form and still hilarious. Robert Petkoff's voice and delivery are perfect for the tone of the book as well. This one is worth your credit.

"Be Now, Buddy What" is an interesting story with some fascinating observations about today's neo-spiritualism and the cult of celebrity. Unfortunately, Dan Spencer saw the need (like far too many authors today) to read his own book.

Spencer tries to do character voices and in many cases (especially feminine ones) proves horribly inept at it. The bulk of the narration is serviceable but some characters (especially that of Buddy himself) grate on the eardrums.

I recommend this book solely for the story. If you can't stomach half-baked author narration then look for it in a different format.

I fell in love with this story despite the original version here on Audible (narrated by Bryan Kennedy, who was woefully inappropriate for this book). This new version narrated by Holter Graham is much less distracting than the original (and thanks to his more natural patter an hour shorter than before) and lets the characters feel more natural. If any of the previous reviews and low rankings because of the narration put you off downloading this book, please reconsider and give it a try.

Not really a "Thursday Next" book at all, but the continuing adventures of "Thursday Five" as she was called in "First Among Sequels." None of the "Outland" characters seem to be in the book, JurisFiction is all but nonexistent, and the newly rearranged BookWorld is just plain sad.

It's annoying that Fforde wasted his time on this while he could have been finally writing the third Nursery Chryme or the next Shades of Grey.

Skip this one and I doubt you'll regret it.

I can't understand the current fad for having authors with no dramatic experience reading their own novels. Sam Munson's reading of this novel (much like Sam Lipsyte's reading of "The Ask") makes it impossible to follow at many points, and the story gets lost in a dreary monotone. Go buy the paperback when it comes out.

This has to be the worst reading I've heard yet from Audible, so bad I can't believe it's ON Audible. The "narrator" has no clue about pacing, inflection, or distinguishing between voices. Worse, he affects the worst stereotypical "foreign" accents with no clue on how words in the languages he is mimicking are actually pronounced. There are even a few ENGLISH words he can't pronounce correctly.

I love Harry Turtledove, and now regret the mistake of getting this book on Audible instead of in hardcover, because this reader has completely ruined the story for me.

Avoid this reader at all costs.