L. Jennings

Harry Dresden, who is fond of blowing up buildings and finding new and inventive ways of getting injured, does not spend much time in this book commiserating his appointment as Winter Knight even though he basically attempted suicide to avoid the job (Ghost Story). Instead he works out his issues in his usual way -- blowing things up, rushing around looking for clues and did I mention blowing things up?

Most of Harry's still-living compatriots make some sort of showing in Cold Days, except Marcone. I don't think he shows up and he is one of my favorites. The book contains many dramatic developments that will keep me waiting eagerly for book number 15.

As I mentioned in another book review, I have read in print all the previous Dresden books and Marsters' voice isn't as deep as the one my imagination gave Harry. Also, his squeaky renditions of Toot-toot and other tiny fairies were hard for me to understand. Cute, but hard to understand. On the other hand, Marsters' has a wonderful professional actor's command of narration, using a full range of pitch, pacing, and tone to evoke the content of dialog and Harry's first person comments. I believe that first person stories like Cold Days are basically a long, one-sided conversation between the narrator and the listener. And a really good narrator like Marsters remembers that.

it's a good story of its kind, exposition speeches are probably a little too long. Maybe author should have tried to weave some of those into the story line.

yeah, anybody who can this kind of dialog without giggling is a pretty good actor in my book

this is the sort of story I probably would have put down if reading. Gina got me to the end

no way!!!!! (thinks of some of the dialog and intimate moments, shudders)

this i not my usual cup of tea. Listened at one go while I was doing housework.

middle of the pack.

I listened to it on a long drive and it made the time pass without really making my brain think too hard

since it's a story about a man, a hero, written in first person, it made it seem smoother, more real

I actually listened to it in two sittings, 4 hours driving there, 4 hours driving back.

old stories like this I find easier to listen to than read. Must be that it uses a different part of the brain. Not as hard to stay focused on the outdated writing style. I have a lot of classics in my library.

book was realistic about after effects of attack and near death experience that ended previous book

mostly an entertaining story. I would have to include spoilers to discuss what was least interesting. Let's just say I'm a romantic and author threw in an unresolved plot twist that went in a direction I didn't like.

Rory, the narrator. She gets all the best lines.

No, just entertaining

I don't mind cliffhangers on TV shows, and I don't mind loose ends that leave generous room for the next sequel, but this book ended with almost every plot aspect unresolved. And I mean all of them! I got the feeling that either the author missed her deadline and just turned in what she had or the editor cut the book in two to make more money. Or maybe that's just normal with this kind of series. Now I have to wait 6 to 12 months to find out what happens next.

variety of accents. Humorous writing that rang true

Rory the narrator and "Call Me" Claudia the "dorm mother" for her building

they are on the boys dorm roof watching London wait for Jack the ripper to appear then sneaking back to girls dorm. The ripper appears to Rory

no, just enteraining

Great story that manages to blend "fish out of water" Louisianian teen narration, British boarding school place setting, Jack the ripper bad guy, and ghosts. Works well. Narrator managed a wide variety of accents with aplomb. Liked really well.

the narrator is not the worst I've ever heard but she makes absolutely no sense narrating a story where the two main characters are male. It grated. Also she speaks in what I think Brits call a posh accent EXCEPT for dialog which is all done with American accents, other than for Scotty, of course. Huh? To quote Spock, "Highly illogical." Brit pronunciations of common words detract from story comprehension for this American. There are occasional missing words.

Foster has written Star Trek episode and movie novelizations for something like 40 or 50 years. Great writing. Loved movie. Slogged through listening just because it cost me a credit and I liked movie.

Heroic WW2 sailors fighting inhuman monsters ... imagine the possibilities and Taylor Anderson has. Loved this concept from the first. I'm currently reading book 3 (borrowed from library), but this first book is still my favorite. I knocked the narrator down one star. He does a fine job, especially when half of the characters aren't human, but he does give pretty much everyone on the destroyer a southern accent.

Curry takes one of the most lovable and best known stories in English literature and makes it better. Superb timing, voicing and expression. Loved every minute of it.

This short story, while a little dated in some aspects (Bradbury wistfully predicted humans will soon abandon cities because we will all learn to fly helicopters) is still one of my all time favorite sf short stories, mostly because Bradbury manages to brag about humans without having a single one in the cast. I knocked it down one star because of the datedness.

I found the storyline in Janissaries to be a bit confusing. The janissary of the title is not the main character (a janissary is a child raised by a conqueror to be a soldier against his own people) and is not really a janissary anyway since he's not a soldier. I think Pournelle probably just thought it was a cool word. Anyway, while the plotline holds together it was just a little to convoluted unrealistic for my taste. It was roughly the same plot as H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (guy with knowledge of history of firearms and warfare dumped into medieval, pre-firearm culture). Piper did a better job. Maybe future books in series will be more engaging. I'll take a look.

I like Simon Green's work for two reasons -- first, they're silly and second they're British. This new series seems is pretty similar to the Nightside series, same author voice, same phrasings, same random inclusion of highly unlikely characters and plot directions. I'll probably keep reading it, provided the prices don't get too high. Green appeals to my sense of fun, although I wish he'd drop some of his over-used phrasings. "It was the easiest thing in the world" comes immediately to mind.