E. A. Jacques

This book or should I say series of books, are some of the best I have read. I found all three to be truly entertaining, well written by Abercrombie and expertly performed by Pacey. I was hesitant going in with each book being well over 20 hours, but ended up sad that it had to come to an end. There were stories within the stories and the author did an excellent job tying them all into the main plot. There were many parallels to real life woven into the story which I found very interesting as well. I???ve said it in my other two reviews, but think it???s worth mentioning again. Steven Pacey???s performance is outstanding and Abercrombie's writing is masterful. I highly recommend all three of these books, which should be read in order.

I can't say enough about the writing style of Joe Abercrombie and the narrating skills of Steven Pacey. In my opinion these two guys are the best duo to come to audio books. Abercrombie can paint a picture with words like no other. I felt immersed in the story and could visualize everything he described - which he does in great detail, but not to an extreme. Pacey is the icing on the cake. His unique character voices are simply amazing.

I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't wait to listen on my commute to and from work. I even took the long way home so I could keep listening and sat in my truck in the work parking lot and in my driveway waiting for a spot to pause the story....just a few more minutes.

If you liked the The First Law Trilogy you will definitely like this book. Some of the old characters reappear and a few new ones as well. One of my favorites is Nicomo Cosca. Pacey brings him alive in this book as he did Sand dan Glokta in the trilogy.

I cannot wait until his next release. I hope he stays with Pacey for at least one more ride. Get this book you will not be disappointed. But if you have not listened to the trilogy, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning. You can do those three and then jump to this one.

A friend at work suggested this book for me to try. He likes the genre so he appreciated it a lot more than I did. That said it was a decent book. Not one I could wait to get to each day for my commute though. In fact I found myself listening to sports talk radio more than I have in a while and my Audible Credits were building up since it was taking so long to get through this book.

I struggled giving this one the three stars it got. More like two and a half to be honest. As I understand it the book is a setup for more to come - I certainly hope so. This one was just to slow for me to stay fully engaged. But it was very well written with great attention to detail as one would expect in a book of this length. The narrator does an excellent job with the characters. Enough so that I will be looking at other books narrated by him in the future.

I don't know that this review will be helpful to anyone, I suspect not. What I will say in closing is I did purchase the next one in the series - mainly because I had the extra credits and because there is enough here to warrant seeing where the story goes. I'm going to shelve it for now though to listen to something else.

So when I first started listening to this book it was pretty good and it seemed like I was into a good five star story – it is a Zombie book after all. It wasn't long until it started to go a bit downhill and near the end kind of crashed and burned.

I’m sure some of the problem is due to the translation from Spanish to English. However, not even that can explain why the main character, who is a lawyer, is one of the dumbest people ever to be left alive after zombies take over. He makes the same mistakes over and over again. How many times can you be surprised by a zombie, once, twice…maybe even three times. Not this guy. He never learns. He sees the most disgusting scene that will haunt him forever…oh about ten times. It just gets to be old and tiresome after a while.

There are other things that just don’t make sense. Trapped in a convenience store with only one exit, really? On what planet is there no back door. There are moments where the author describes things in great detail and then others were the is no explanation for how they get from point A to point B. Somehow when they need to start a car, they magically can remove the battery from one car and connect it to another – huh….with what?

The main character has to find time to write in his journal. Makes sense you can’t stop and do that when you’re being chased by Zombies. Yet when they finally find safe refugee, he takes a four month break on writing in his journal? Oh and when they decide it’s time to leave they have to climb up an elevator shaft, using the cables mind you, to get to the car they left outside, four months ago. Of course the battery is going to be dead, but hey, I have one in my backpack. Climbed up and elevator shaft using the cables with a car battery in your backpack did you. Wow!

Then the best of the best. In the closing few minutes as the survivors leave to their new destination, he leaves behind a copy of his journal so other survivors might find it. Huh? A copy? Did you run across a Kinko’s.

I have read every Zombie/Apocalyptic book I could get my hands on and love the genre. This one ranks near the bottom. It's pretty clear some of the other reviewers have not read Day By Day Armageddon. This book is very similar but can’t hold a candle too it. If you haven’t read it and are reading this review…skip this one and read Day by Day. You will not regret it. Come back to this one later, which I am sure you will, because after all, it is a zombie book.

I hate to admit it, but if the other two books in the series were available, I’d probably listen to them too. Can’t help myself. Still it does not change my opinion about this one. It was plain laughable at times. The best part of this book is the main character's cat, but I have to believe even he was shocked at how stupid his owner was at times.

Let me state up front I have read all of the Mitch Rapp books. I loved most of them and liked most of the others, this one is my least liked so far. Very little action or story to make this one worth the while. The beginning starts out decent enough, but it flat lines from there.

Apparently Vince Flynn has run out of things to write about so going back in time to dredge up old stories that did not make the grade the first time around is the new approach. Well it might have worked the last time around in the American Assassin (barely), but enough it enough.

To me there was just barely enough here to make this book interesting. Even the narrator, who has done all of the past books, seemed bored. In fact I'd like to see a new narrator in the next installment.

Time to breath some new life into the series or just let it die. Better than the slow death that has started with the last two installments.

Let me preface this by stating I did not purchase this audio book to learn about self-hypnosis or the benefits that can be derived from its use. I have read many books on the subject and have used self-hypnosis for many years. What I was looking for is an audio book that I could use to execute a self-hypnosis session. That said the author provides a good overview of self-hypnosis principals, benefits, examples of use, etc. So it can be used by a beginner to learn about self-hypnosis or someone like me who has experience but needs the audio instructions.

So from that perspective I found the book to be very useful. The authors voice took a little getting used to at first, but as I got accustomed to it, I found it worked well to induce a self-hypnotic state. While many of the sessions are broken into very specific subject matter like quitting smoking and losing weight, there are other mode general subjects like reducing anxiety that can be used for many purposes. I found the one regarding becoming a better golfer to be very effective.

My only real criticism is the sessions are a bit short and somewhat rushed feeling. Each begins with some basic breathing exercises that work well, but should take longer and go more slowly. First timers should get the concepts down and then spend some additional time going thought the breathing to get relaxed before stating a session.

Other than that, the book is one of the best audio books I have tried for helping someone to learn about and practice self hypnosis. I can highly recommend its use.

If you're and A-Type personality and are looking for some advice that can help make sense of the evils of golf, this books if for you. I say A-Type because "B" type personalities, and I hate them all, don't struggle with over thinking the game or creating undue stress on their own. They just play and have fun and, by and large, are just better golfers, and athletes in general, because of it. This book will help unravel that mystery.

This is not my first Zen type book. When I was into tournament archery I read one, which taught very similar techniques and broke the sport down in a very similar fashion. It really helped me become a better archer and overcome a lot of obstacles that kept me from reaching my potential and being competitive while enjoying the sport.

This book is well laid out and narrated. It has already helped me not only shave strokes off my game, but play with a more positive attitude and deal with the good days and bad days. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to improve and enjoy the game of golf.

As a companion to what this book teaches I might also recommend some books on self-hypnosis. Using self-hypnosis can help ingrain some of the ideas and concepts brought out in this book, into your sub-conscious memory. In my experience this makes it easier to go with the flow and let things happen naturally, versus having to think how to think.

I ran across this book after doing an internet search for books about world ending or apocalyptic events and I'm glad I did. There are not many books that deal with the details of what happens after such an event versus leading up to it or preventing the event all together. Even though this book was written in the 70s before cell phones and the internet, or personal computers in general for that matter, it still works. In fact it might work even better because of the time period.

Either way the author does a great job developing the many characters in the book giving their individual account or perspectives of how the events impact their lives. There are those who do nothing and those who heed the warnings and prepare and just the right amount of detail is provided to setup the various stories and make them plausible. As the focus narrows to a smaller playing field it just feels right. The narration is on par with some of the best as well.

I hated to see this one end. I put this at the top of my personal list of books in this genre and can recommend it highly to anyone who finds this subject as fascinating as I do.

Maybe Love it Hate it is a bit strong, but there were times I almost put this book down...well not quite. That's about how this book went for me, but in the end I really liked it and look forward to the next one in the series.

That said, his book was a bit of a roller coaster ride. I like the premise and the development of the story and characters, it's just that at times it was a bit confusing and hard to follow. It hopped around and left me wondering if I missed something. Eventually things were cleared up, but to me it was unnecessary confusion. I don't know if it was the writers intent or just poor writing. This is my first book by the author so it's hard to be sure. There were also some long slow stretches that did not seem necessary. Conversely, for a book this long, there seemed to be some rushed scenes where the outcome did not make logical sense based on the setup. Also, as time passes things deteriorate and the accuracy of the way that was depicted in spots was questionable at best. Again in a book of his length I expect some research into these areas to bring credence to the story.

I disagree with other reviewers that this is a vampire book. There is some vampire like behavior but it's not a vampire book. It's not a zombie book either which is why I came across this one searching for a good zombie book. It's a cross between the two really and I enjoyed it more from the overall "apocalyptic" side.

The narration, at least that done by Scott Brick, was excellent. Fortunately the other narrator was only around for short sequences. I found her voice kind of irritating. Some weird sort of slur she has through me off.

So at the end of the day I liked the story even with the faults I noted. There were/are some very engaging characters throughout the book including the main group who I am sure will be part of the next installment. There is still a lot of story to tell here and I look forward to reading more.

I wasn't as thrilled with this book as many of the others who provided reviews. I've read almost all of the Harry Bosch books and liked them all, but The Drop is not one of my favorites. There is just nothing really special here. I kept waiting for something to surprise me and make this story interesting, but it did not happen. Seemed like a lot of the same old stuff and nothing particularly interesting. Bosch wondering about his career, Bosch meets a girl, Bosch struggling with yet another partner, etc. The detective work seemed pretty bland too. There were two, but both were a bit weak and kind of fizzled in the end

Len Cariou does a solid job so you can't fault him, but even he seems a little bored with this one. If you're a fan of the Bosch series, well this review won't mean much since you're going to get this book anyway and it will work for you or not. If you're new to the series, I'd go back a ways and start with another book.

I have to say I was a bit leery starting this one having just listened to Under the Dome, which was very disappointing. As I noted in my review of that book, it did not live up to some of King???s past efforts contrary to one reviewer who compared it to The Stand ??? my all-time favorite King novel. The Stand sets a pretty high bar in my opinion, however, this book gives Stand a run for the money.

From start to finish, yes even the finish, this book is a wonderful adventure. There are many short side stories, which one reviewer considered to be negative, but this is a novel after-all so one should expect that. King does an excellent job in weaving it all together and making all the details important. He creates a slew of interesting characters and provides just the right amount of detail for each one.

As noted by the author himself a lot of research went into this book and it shows. The cities, towns and people described reminded me of my own childhood which was around the same time period. Of course one can take liberties with time travel and the paradoxes we assume to be true, but I found it to be ???correct??? in that it did not violate the obvious rules.

The narrator also did an excellent job. I rank him up there with the best and have added him to my watch list of narrators. I will definitely be looking for other books he has worked on.

Just a wonderfully enjoyable book that kept me waiting for my ride to and from work. If you enjoy books about time travel you???ll like this one. If you???ve been waiting for another King classic on par with the Stand, I don???t think you???ll be disappointed. Yes I can honestly say that and highly recommend this novel.

Also, if you liked this book or books about time travel, check out Lightning by Dean Koontz. Another excellent book based on time travel.