Kevin

I read this book because it is the 2011 Hugo award winner for best SCI-FI novel. Now my assessment is based on the fact that I expected SCI-FI. What I got was a pretty good story told from the first person via a diary about a teenage girl with an odd past. There is mention of magic and some use of magic, alot of discussion about fairies and even more discussion about SCI-FI authors. But very little actual SCI-FI.

That being said, the story is compelling and the performance is great. The setting is the late 1970s in england and the reader brings off the various accents very well. I loved the reading and the story is pretty good. It is just not SCI-FI (at least from my background).

This is a very good story. Very thought provoking. The performance is okay. The reader has a problem with the female voices at times. But the story is very thought provoking. I found it making me think quite a bit about the ideas. Very worth the listen.

This is the second in a series, but stands pretty much on its own. I really like this story and the performance is great. Told from the womans point of view by a woman really made for a great story telling.

As the first of the series - that I read in the wrong order, this was great. The reading was excellent and the story still great. I really recommend this audio book.

I must admit I had never read anything by Bujold. This is a great story. It takes a good while to lay out where the story is going which makes it even better. The characters were well developed and moves along very quickly. I read this book to get to the second book (one of the Hugo Award Winners). I am looking forward to the second book.

This is a great book - by far my favorite Vinge novel. The technical ideas are very plausible and the characters are engaging. The performance is wonderful - especially how the reader captures the old Robert. I did think the ending was a bit of a let down - I was left wanting some more resolution. But it was very good anyway. I highly recommend this book.

I read this book as the 2008 Hugo SCI-FI best novel award. I say this because I was expecting SCI-FI, but this is more of a detective novel set in a few years from now. But there is not that much in the way of real SCI-FI (hard core stuff). It is a quick read (listen) and the performance is very good. The story does carry you and keep you guessing. It does kind of follow the 2000 - 2010 SCI-FI winners where many of the books are more fantasy based then SCI-FI (with a few exceptions).

The author really likes to use imperatives and the performer took great glee in using them - not sure they were needed quite as much as it showed.

But I was entertained overall.

I read this on my quest to read all the Hugo SCI-FI best novel award winners. This one the award in 1959 and is no longer in print. Could not find it on amazon, but audible had it. As with much of the 50s and 60s, the story line is kind of apocalyptic, although this one has a different kind of twist. I will say it makes you think. It is a good book that pays attention to catholic doctrine (you will understand that when you read it) but takes kind of a difficult position on it.

It made me think. I was not sold in the end by the book, but it is thought provoking. The performance is good - not great.

This is an interesting story about what happens to all the gods of our ancestors of centuries ago. It brings in an ex-inmate who was released early because his wife passed away. He ends up involved with a lead god who is fighting a war with the new american gods - technology.

The story carries well and kind of draws you in. The performance is great.

This story tells a somewhat disturbing tale about earth post a nuclear exchange. The story covers a few thousand years and is a pretty disturbing story of humanity. The performance is good.