Marcus

Filling in gaps

Probably Deacon. More and more I prefer his cool, detached and rational demeanor to the more emotional and brash personalities of Joe and Grace.

Well, it's a collection of stories, so hard to say. I'd say the last story was one of the best though.

Nope, just filling in the blanks. An enjoyable collection for sure.

This is a bundle of stories that fills in the gaps between other Ledger tales. On their own, not worth a credit, but together? Totally worth it.

So, we have a tale here, that begins in a very startling manner. From there it all moves pretty quickly and there's very little to no formula. Somehow though, it flows, and it all feels fairly realistic.

As mentioned, the tale is fairly enjoyable. You alternate between tagging along behind the private eye who is trailing a killer and the killer himself. We get treated to various scenes and encounters which, on their own, are fairly enjoyable. Both the killer and the detective are somewhat interested creatures with their own tales.

Some problems though: we never REALLY get to know the main characters (even though we're treated to backstory) and everything (including the ending) moves just a tad too fast to really have any significance. Many events happen, very little of them actually matter -- and just when you think it's going to get good, it's over. Just like that.

The reader did a great job, no complaints there.

Not likely, just because I'm not the type to re-read a book or re-watch a movie. That doesn't make it bad though, just that I already know what happens.

Probably Jackie or Stephen. Jackie had an adorable kind of innocence and caring nature. Stephen was pretty quick and a standup guy. Would have been cool to see his story in the next entry.

I haven't, but his performance here was awesome. If I had read this I would have lost a lot of nuance of the dialect -- he delivered perfectly (to my outsider hearing anyway).

This is a great entry in the series. We have Frank, who is someone you can't really love, but you still care about his tale. Even though Frank is far from a "tragic hero", I did appreciate that Tana gave him a better ending than she did to the protagonists of the last 2 novels.

The first novel's ending was sad, and by the end of the second I pretty much hated Cassie, but Frank's closure felt natural. Nothing sad, nothing amazing, just a perfect "fade out" of his life.

The characters were so well-developed that you felt you were part of their lives.

An awesome narrator that nailed the accents and voices of both male and female characters.

Indeed I did. There were very few dull moments.

This tale was very well done. It stood alone, yet wove bits and pieces of the first novel in. You can enjoy it as a standalone tale or as a sequel. I felt a connection to all the characters as well.

Tana did a good job of showing enough of the character's daily life to flesh them out and make a connection while still moving the story along and keeping the developments flowing. The pace was excellent, and to be honest, I would have been fine seeing a bit more mundane day-to-day activities.

I left the first novel really liking (and feeling sorry for Cassie). Towards the end of this tale though, I felt much less of a connection and began to care less for her than for her dead persona. Still, that speaks more to how well Tana developed the character and made you feel the emotions.

Well done all around!

The reader was pretty decent. She made the guy voices a bit odd, but overall, not bad.

Can't say that there really was one honestly. It was a pretty generic detective tale with some humor mixed in (that wasn't really to my tastes)

First timer here. She's decent, but again, I didn't care too much for the guy voices.

I'm not sure this is movie (or even TV episode) worthy.

Overall, a decent little tale. Not interesting enough to get me into the series and, while D.D. is OK, there's nothing outstanding about her character, and her style of humor just doesn't vibe with me own.

As a standalone tale though, it was OK.

What I liked best were the moments where actual story was being developed. The moments where more of the event that began this tale was explained.

What I liked least was just about everything else. We jumped from party to party with each chapter seeming to NEED to end with a corny cliffhanger (made worse by the reader who is always over dramatic to the point of making you want to cringe). Throw in more plot twists and secrets than an Oceans Eleven movie and it gets very tiring.

The story also starts delving more into the backstory of the town our "heroin" entered in the second half of the last tale. As that part of book 1 was the most uninteresting, this is most unwelcome.

Our "heroin" is also pretty annoying, selfish and wimpy.

The most interesting were the developments in the story of the pulse that created the mess the world is currently in.

The least was all the backstory of Rule and it's kids and elders and the treachery and blah blah blah.

I try to avoid her when possible. She nearly ruined the Blackout series for me.

Well, since it's a trilogy, it will get a follow up book (and this one ended on a cliff hanger of course), but I'm not at all looking forward to it.

Not looking forward to the conclusion. I may read it at some point, but I feel like the author has pulled a bait and switch on the whole premise of the tale.

I did not read the print version, so I cannot say. I will say that I prefer audio books to reading.

There's a sad scene where one of the little ones goes down.

An excellent reader who conveys emotion and tone very well.

I was a bit sad at the loss of some life, but overall it was a good read/listen. I wish we'd gotten a bit more after things were all said and done.

A very good standalone story. It was long, but pretty worthwhile. The story could have been shorter, but at one point the mystery got stalled and had to start over. Those parts of the book were harder to get through, but overall it was a good one.

I would, if they enjoy the series -- it's not good for someone not a fan of the genre or if this is their first in the Dresden universe.

Harry has a psychic battle at one point that's pretty epic.

Cat Sith

He lives

A pretty good entry in the series. Some past questions are answered, Dresden powers up and fan favorites return.

There are some downsides though:
--The Outsiders make an appearance and seem a bit underpowered. Almost like Jim wanted us to see them, but not for them to be a huge threat to Harry just yet.
--Some parts felt a bit heavy-handed in how they "explained" past events. Would have preferred a more natural revelation than Harry just coming up with the connection out the blue and telling us.
--I wish Harry would have unleashed his full power!

The new reader managed to still get Bosch right.

This isn't the best Bosch book, but it's not the worst either. It's somewhat short and the ending is a bit rushed -- I guess that at least means we've likely got more coming.

Bosch

No extreme reactions, it was pretty average for Connelly

Parts of the book felt forced, as if Connelly was trying to fit a formula. For example, there's a scene that happens about 85% through the book that has you wondering why it's in there. Then towards the end of the book, a reference is randomly thrown in -- what is this, children's TV now?

Overall, it wasn't the best Bosch story, but it was decent. The ending is a bit rushed and unfulfilling from a character standpoint (though the mystery is solved). Almost feels like Connelly was squeezing this book in before another one.

Good ole fun

Maybe not the EDGE, but it was extremely well paced. Mayberry cut down on all the interludes and such that plagued the last book (aptly titled king of plagues), and it's more manageable. I still think we could have done without most of them, but the pace was still good.

Mr Church as always.

No extreme reaction, but was very pleased with it.

Someone Audible recommended I follow dinged this book because they said the main character was just yelling at people the whole book. It actually had me putting off listening to it for a while.

I didn't get any of that. I think this was a well-paced book with very little in the way of pointless sweet nothings in conversation and interludes. It takes the series in a direction it's been leaning in for a while, but does it without going off the deep end.

Would definitely recommend.

Not particularly high. It's a good book within the Joe Ledger series, but the series (including the characters) and the author make it what it is.

I'm probably going to seem cruel, but the demise of a particular character was the best part for me. I'm hoping it will make future tales more bearable.

Aside from that, the scenes in the Twins labs were pretty cool. I liked what they were able to do with their genetic talents.

Ray Porter is just an awesome narrator. His voice and tone perfectly match Ledger's personality. I couldn't imagine anyone else reading him.

I was a bit joyous of the ending.

Not as great as the first, but a solid story that didn't fall into the trap of blindly rehashing what made the first great.