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Dr. Curmudgeon

Cow Hampshire | Member Since 2008

82
HELPFUL VOTES
  • 13 reviews
  • 330 ratings
  • 0 titles in library
  • 47 purchased in 2013
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  • Marker

    • UNABRIDGED (16 hrs and 8 mins)
    • By Robin Cook
    • Narrated By George Guidall
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (338)
    Performance
    (77)
    Story
    (78)

    Twenty-eight-year-old Sean McGillin is the picture of health, until he fractures his leg while in-line skating in New York City's Central Park. Within 24 hours of his surgery, he dies.

    Martin says: "A bit too predictable"
    "Haven't I read this before?"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Seems like Cook's written this story a few times before. Formulaic and predictable. At least it's Cook's formula, and not derivative.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Grave Peril: The Dresden Files, Book 3

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 59 mins)
    • By Jim Butcher
    • Narrated By James Marsters
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (4495)
    Performance
    (2817)
    Story
    (2816)

    Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden has had a rough couple of weeks. As the only openly practicing professional wizard in the Chicago area, he has squared off against a multitude of supernatural bad guys. Harry has won the day against demons, poltergeists, sorcerers, trolls, vampires, werewolves, and even an evil faerie godmother. You might think nothing could spook him. You would be wrong.

    Lakejewel says: "Spike makes good"
    "Another strong book in the series"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I have to say that I HATE fantasy, but I LOVE Harry Dresden. Leaves me open to a lot of "I told you so" sniggering from my friends who are fantasy fans.

    Well Dresden is worth that indignity. I love the characters that he builds across the series, I love the humor, and I especially love Bob and the choice of Marsters as the lector.

    I've been listening to these out of order, and each one, including this one, have left me sitting in the car listening, long after reaching my destination.

    This, or any of the other Dresden books are well worth the expenditure of a credit. Just do it.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • The Paladin Prophecy: Book 1

    • UNABRIDGED (15 hrs and 39 mins)
    • By Mark Frost
    • Narrated By Nick Chamian
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (66)
    Performance
    (59)
    Story
    (59)

    Readers of I Am Number Four, The Maze Runner, and Legend will love this exciting new adventure series by the co-creator of the groundbreaking television show Twin Peaks, with its unique combination of mystery, heart-pounding action, and the supernatural. Will West is careful to live life under the radar. At his parents' insistence, he's made sure to get mediocre grades and to stay in the middle of the pack on his cross-country team. Then Will slips up, accidentally scoring off the charts on a nationwide exam.

    Now Will is being courted by an exclusive prep school...and followed by men driving black sedans.

    Bruce says: "For Younger Readers"
    "Ok, I'm sucked in."
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I've been a fan of Frost's books for a couple decades now, so I was quite pleased to see on on Audible.

    The story flow is a bit formulaic, but I like the characters, conspiracies and suspense. It has particularly good geek appeal. And, despite these seeming lukewarm words, I found it engaging and thought provoking.

    Mostly, I just got hooked and can't wait for the next book in the series.

    2 of 2 people found this review helpful
  • The Android's Dream

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 34 mins)
    • By John Scalzi
    • Narrated By Wil Wheaton
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1186)
    Performance
    (981)
    Story
    (982)

    A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire.

    James says: "Philip K Dick meets Douglas Adams"
    "Couldn't hit pause"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I listened to this one all the way through, only stopping once for sleep.

    It was a delightfully entertaining, and well woven narrative, read by probably the greatest new reader that Audible has to offer.

    Ok, the story itself depends a bit much on suspension of disbelief, but as mind candy goes, this book is guaranteed to calm any sweet tooth. Scalzi can spin a yarn like cotton candy. Light,sweet, and a very special treat.

    2 of 3 people found this review helpful
  • Agent to the Stars

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 49 mins)
    • By John Scalzi
    • Narrated By Wil Wheaton
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1804)
    Performance
    (1481)
    Story
    (1480)

    The space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity's first interstellar friendship. There's just one problem: They're hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish. So getting humanity's trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone who can help them close the deal. Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals. He's one of Hollywood's hottest young agents.

    C. Paget says: "excellent"
    "The joy is in the telling. And narration"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    This book's plot is a bit thin, but you barely notice because the story is told so well, that the actual plot seems secondary. The narrative is delightful, snarky and entertaining. The characterizations are great. This book is definitely a "15 minute detour on the way home" book.

    But the best part of the book is its narration. I think Wil Wheaton is my new favorite lector. He is an exceptionally good match for the book itself, but beyond the fit, also turns in a masterful performance.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Tough Sh-t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 58 mins)
    • By Kevin Smith
    • Narrated By Kevin Smith
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (797)
    Performance
    (750)
    Story
    (753)

    Take one look at Kevin Smith: He's a balding fatty who wears a size XXL hockey jersey, shorts, and slippers year-round. Not a likely source for life advice. But take a second look at Kevin Smith: He changed filmmaking forever when he was twenty-four with the release of Clerks, and since then has gone on to make nine more profitable movies, runs his own production company, wrote a best-selling graphic novel, and has a beautiful wife and kids. So he must be doing something right.

    Corey says: "A MUST HAVE A SIMPLY COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!!!!!"
    "Fantastic. Only if you like fart and dick jokes"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    What can you say? This is distilled Kevin Smith, and virtually everything he's liable to talk about. The guy is a great story teller and in the process, lets you know more about him than most people are willing to disclose to their friends. Of course, all of this is surrounded by really crude, infantile humor, so if you don't like that, don't go there.

    If, as I do, you do like that, best get some astronaut diapers before starting on this one.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • A World Out of Time

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 59 mins)
    • By Larry Niven
    • Narrated By Tom Weiner
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (190)
    Performance
    (173)
    Story
    (174)

    After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core.

    James says: "Do you know how people get old?"
    "Generic Niven, Generic Goodness"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    This book struck me as something to listen to if you're in the mood for some Larry Niven. It pretty solidly delivers on that, albeit not exceptionally so.

    Semi-thought provoking, but feels rather dated (anything more recent that concerns life extension always seems to trot out telomeres, and this doesn't). Doesn't detract at all from the story, though.

    I wouldn't mind some sort of sequel, which is to say that it seems to leave itself open to one, but I honestly don't know Nivens' bibliography well enough to say whether there is one.

    The narrator is the same who's narrated the last few Niven books I've listened to. Does a decent job, and has more or less taken up residence in my mind as the "Voice of Nivens."

    2 of 3 people found this review helpful
  • Boneyards: Diving Universe, Book 3

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 49 mins)
    • By Kristine Kathryn Rusch
    • Narrated By Jennifer Van Dyck
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (85)
    Performance
    (71)
    Story
    (71)

    Rusch's popular character Boss returns in a whole new adventure, one that takes her far outside her comfort zone, to a sector of space she's never seen before. Searching for ancient technology to help her friends find answers to the mystery of their own past, Boss ventures into a place filled with evidence of an ancient space battle, one the Dignity Vessels lost. Meanwhile, the Enterran Empire keeps accidentally killing its scientists in a quest for ancient stealth tech.

    James says: "good, but awfully jumpy..."
    "Nice to be back"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Maybe not as good a story as the previous two in the series, but it's always delightful to return to Boss's universe. Time well spent.

    1 of 2 people found this review helpful
  • Solaris: The Definitive Edition

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 42 mins)
    • By Stanislaw Lem, Bill Johnston (translator)
    • Narrated By Alessandro Juliani
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1489)
    Performance
    (1136)
    Story
    (1147)

    At last, one of the world’s greatest works of science fiction is available - just as author Stanislaw Lem intended it. To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Solaris, Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, has commissioned a brand-new translation - complete for the first time, and the first ever directly from the original Polish to English. Beautifully narrated by Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica), Lem’s provocative novel comes alive for a new generation.

    Burns says: "A comment on negative reviews"
    "Yes, it is one of the all-time greats in Sci Fi"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I just never realized that anyone else thought so.

    I have read the original, bad translation two or three times, have seen the original movie about five times, and the "has little to do with the book or original movie" remake more times than I'd like to admit (one).

    It is outstanding that a new read and translation has been done. Listened to an hour so far; love both the translation and the narrator.

    Thank you, Audible, for bringing this one to us.

    61 of 67 people found this review helpful
  • City of Ruins: Diving Universe, Book 2

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 33 mins)
    • By Kristine Kathryn Rusch
    • Narrated By Jennifer Van Dyck
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (138)
    Performance
    (103)
    Story
    (103)

    Boss, a loner, loved to dive derelict spacecraft adrift in the blackness of space...But one day, she found a ship that would change everything - an ancient Dignity Vessel - and aboard the ship, the mysterious and dangerous Stealth Tech. Now, years after discovering that first ship, Boss has put together a large company that finds Dignity Vessels and finds "loose" stealth technology. Following a hunch, Boss and her team come to investigate the city of Vaycehn, where 14 archeologists have died exploring the endless caves below the city.

    Rodolphe says: "good sci-fi"
    "A Great Listen"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    What's the audible equivalent to "I just couldn't put this book down?"

    This was that.

    I just want more.

    2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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