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The book of Jhereg is something of a detective story in the midst of a fantasy world of dragons, elves, and of course humans. It follows the antics of wise-cracking assassin Vlad Taltos and his dragon-like companion, called a jhereg, in the Dragaeran city of Adrilankha. Vlad Taltos is human; he is also a mobster and assassin and is the narrator of the book; for those familiar with the Dresden Files, he loosely reminds me of Harry.
Jhereg is book one of a series in which the writer, Steven Brust creates a very credible fantasy world. Originally published in 1983, I was curious to hear how it would sound in audio format and was pleased; I thought the narrator, Bernard Setaro Clark, gave a good performance bringing the characters to life. I would recommend this series for those who like this type of genre.

The last book in the epic saga “The Wheel of Time has finally been written. We all know it wasn’t exactly the book Robert Jordan would have penned, that would have been impossible to duplicate, but we have to give thanks to Brandon Sanderson and the many folks that had supported Robert Jordan’s work. They have given us closure to a series that began in 1990, and for a while thought might never be completed.
Although all writers have their own style I believe Brandon Sanderson did a great job of blending his to Robert Jordan’s No one could know the Characters deepest thoughts and tendencies in the Wheel of Time better than Robert Jordan, and some of that insight was missing in the last books, but Brandon Sanderson is a very talented writer of fantasy fiction, and his painstaking effort to keep true to Robert Jordan’s vision is a homage to the late great writer.
“The Memory of Light does exactly what all of us WOT fans have been wanting; completion. It deserves five stars.

Having downloaded the book a few minutes after two in the morning, the day of its release, and taking only a few hours to catch a little sleep, and do that annoying thing called work in between, I just came up for air having spent the best eighteen hours and fifty minutes that I have spent in a long time. Then, taking time only to reacquaint myself with the family again, I couldn’t wait to write this review; Kudos to those reviewers who could transcend time.
Harry’s back and he’s alive again. For those keeping up on the series he had been dead in the last book and only by the help of Mab was he able to come back to the mortal world; but now he belongs to the Queen of Winter as her white knight. Of course, this is Harry and he has every intention of defying her whenever he can.
The story begins in Artic Tor where Harry meets some new “friends,” and begins his rehab; coming back to life is not easy.
After some interesting rehab exercises, orchestrated by Mab, Harry almost feels like his old self again and then receives a surprise birthday party, thrown by some of his new winter court friends.
Having survived his birthday party Harry receives his first assignment as the new white knight.
In order to complete his assignment, and keep his island Demonreach from exploding and taking half of Chicago with it, Harry seeks out his old companions; Bob, the skull, His half-brother Thomas, Molly his apprentice, and the pizza loving faeire general Toot-Toot, to name a few.
This was a great listening experience; Jim Butcher writes a superb story and the narrator, James Marsters, is Harry Dresden and gives a fantastic performance.

The Odd series, (pun intended) is a departure from writer, Dean Koontz, normal suspense thrillers and shows off more of his humor and wit, while exploring the dark side of humanity, in these supernatural horror stories.
Odd Apocalypse is book five in a seven part series but I believe can be read and enjoyed without having read the previous books. For those who have read the other books, Odd Thomas, the familiar humble fry cook with his strange ability to see the dead, is back.
I thought this latest rendition in the series, which goes a little darker than the previous books, is better than ???Odd Hours,??? which reached number one on the New York Times best sellers list.
The narrator, David Aaron Baker, gives another stellar performance.
I am definitely an Odd fan, (no pun intended).

Even if you lived through the seventies or watched a lot of the T.V Land channel, and are up on the music of the seventies and on, you probably still won???t appreciate the lame iconic references in this book. With references to shows like Welcome Back Kotter, He-Man, Hogan???s Heroes, and the use of lyrics from some of our most famous songs, the attempted humor and sarcasm in this book is still a flop.
Written by Rob Reid, the founder of the company that created the digital music service Rhapsody, Year Zero, (the book never did explain nor reference why it???s called Year Zero,) is a book, not surprisingly, about the copyrights to downloaded music; specifically music downloaded by aliens.
Since 1977, when the theme song to the TV show ???Welcome back Kotter??? had been intercepted, aliens from all over the universe have been illegally downloading all of the earth???s music. Now they face fines that they can???t afford leaving them two options; face bankruptcy or destroy the earth.
The main character, Nick Carter, a copyright attorney, is met by two aliens Frampton (as in Peter) and Carly (probably Simon), who seeks him out because they thought he was a Backstreet Boy, and also to help them secure rights to all of earth???s music; thus solving the problem of the illegal downloads.
Other Aliens Nick encounters seem like rejects from a ???Men in Black??? movie; like a Parrot with a Brooklyn accent, and a vacuum cleaner, called Ozzy, who is made of metal the aliens call, ???Metallicam.??? (Give me a break)
The narrator, John Hodgeman, gives an average performance but sometimes sounds like the hippie teacher from the Beavis and Buthead show (now there???s an iconic reference)
I wouldn???t waste a credit and thanks to Audible for now making it easier to return books will be sending this one back.

Throughout the years since its release in 1976, I???ve watched the movie more times than I can remember and is a favorite of mine but have never read the book, so the audio book intrigued me. What I found is this is a very different Logan???s Run; but still entertaining. The basic premise is the same; people must die at a certain age and Logan has reached that age and decides to run.
Written in 1967 Logan???s Run is set in a future world of 2116. The population has reached ???critical mass??? and a law has been passed dictating all people must report to ???Sleep Centers??? at the age of 21, If anyone refuses to report, a Deep Sleep Operative, (also called a Sandman) is assigned to hunt the runner down and terminate their existence. Logan is a Sandman who has reached his twenty first birthday and while on an assignment discovers there might be another alternative to the Sleep Centers called ???Sanctuary.???
It took me a little time getting used to the narrator, Oliver Wyman, because I was used to Michael York???s English accent as Logan in the movie, but after adjusting I thought he did a good job. I would recommend this audio book for those, like me, who have known the story from the movie and everyone else as well.

Co-authored with Stephen Baxter this Terry Pratchett book is humorous at times but lacks the normal wit usually associated with his work. At eleven hours and thirty minutes the story jumps around at first with many different characters being intoduced then moving on quickly from one to the next; and at times the whole story drags. Kudos to those who could read the entire book in a day.
It???s a story about parallel worlds where people learn to ???step??? from one world to another by a simple devise that can be made from parts found at Radio Shack and a potato. The main character Joshua discovers that he can ???step??? without using the devise and meets up with a former Tibetan motorcycle repairman now reincarnated as a super-computer that sometimes resides in a coke machine, and has been legally declared a human due to Tibetan religious beliefs. These two soon set off on a journey of exploration of the millions of parallel worlds ???to see what???s out there.???
The story has some other interesting characters including, some really tough nuns, a robotic cat, the strange inhabitants on the other worlds, one very annoying character named Sally, some strange troll creatures, and elves that kill for sport, but I never felt really engaged in the story. The narrator, Michael Fenton Stevens is okay but at times drawls on and is just plain boring. A very strange ending which makes it seem this probably is book one in a series.

Some have compared Dr. Wilson, a PHD in Robotics, to Michael Crichton. While they both base their books on their scientific expertise, Dr. Wilson???s story line lacks the imagination of the writer of Jurassic Park; but it is still entertaining.
Amped is a familiar story line about discrimination between super-humans and ???mere mortals,??? (X-men). Set in the near future where people suffering from physical ailments are given neuro implants that not only correct problems such as seizures, ADHD, and Autism, but make them far superior to normal humans. As the group of Amps grows, ???normal" society starts to feel at a disadvantage and passes a law restricting the rights of the Amps. This creates a conflict between the two sides and possible war.
Running from a crime he didn't commit, the hero of the story Owen Grey has a very special implant that he must figure out what exactly it does and how it works before war breaks out.
It???s a quick listen, fast paced, and the narrator Robbie Daymond does a good job; but if you???re looking for a profound concept like extracting Dino DNA from mosquitos stuck in amber, you would be disappointed.

The "Dark Tower" series in audio has been one of my favorite all time listens; so why Stephen? You are a fantastic story teller; on paper. Let the professionals, like George Guidall, do their job.

Embassytown is a very original and thought provoking story that truly needs the audio touch to be fully appreciated.
Set in an alien world in which humans and the indigenous species of evolved insects called Ariekei coexist; the story centers around language.
Few humans can speak the Ariekei language, those that can have been genetically altered and are called ambassadors.
For reasons that are explained the "ambassador" is always two separate people that share the single title.
Hearing the Ariekei language spoken, by the ambassador and the Ariekeis, is one of the main reasons the audio version of this story is needed to fully appreciate what China Mi??ville has created.
In my opinion most books are enhanced in the audio format but still can be enjoyed as a read; for this story audio is a must.