Shawna Lanne

I don't like to listen to overly 'practiced' readers. They tend to exagerate emotions and all use the same sort of voice for charecter types, such as seductive women, psychotic man. That gets on my nerves. This reader does not do it. The story is faced paced and the reading subtle.

It's a great story and reader. I go back and forth between reading print and listening to audio versions of the Royal Spyness books. But I always enjoy the the audio versions. I liked the idea of the 12 clues of Christmas and didn't get it until the writer made the discovery, though I did get one of the murder's which is always loved that the long arch of the story was moved forward.

Besides the main character's I loved the dowager countess. She's such an old salt.

The caroling.

It made me laugh out loud several times.

I liked this book better than the last two combined.

Great story, Jim Butcher does it again, one of the best on-going characters out there today with some fantastic fully fleshed supporting characters. I love the growth, the world, just about everything about "The Dresden Files" as a whole, but for @@CK@s sake Jim, actually all authors of long running serious who take a year or two to bring out the next book. STOP WITH THE BIG CLIFF HANGERS! I know, all caps is obnoxious, but this is book 13. BOOK 13 and the second book in a row he shafted his readers like that.

He doesn't need to leave us with so many unanswered questions to get us to keep buying his books. With that many questions left unanswered it didn't really feel like a complete book anyway and just ticked me off. One more book in a row like that and I could just drop the series. I’m feeling played.

Rant over. It is worth the listen/or read.

As far as the narrator goes, I know lots of people complained about the new narrator. I wish he'd used the old one for continuity. Audiobooks can be made or broken by a good narrator - and those of us who listen to books associate the reader with the character, obviously. So having a new reader come in so late in the game is weird. Even with all that, I liked John Glover and think he did a great job. It was different; he had his own take on it, but still a solid performance.

First of all this is not a stand alone book. But that is okay, as long as you know this is not where you start. If you think of this book as a political fantasy, urban fantasy - with a LOT of sex, it's fine. The reason I mention that it is somewhere between a political and urban fantasy is because it is much more involved and complex than a romance/erotica book. Which with all of the sex, erotica, you might mistake it for.

This is a great addition to the series and a good book, but it does not stand alone.

The audio editing is choppy in several places. It takes you out of the moment, but does not (as far as I know) edit out any important moments.

A previous reviewer already addressed the technical and reader issues with the book, so I won't re-hash that. While I enjoyed it and actually finished listening to it over two days (I've been laid off so I need something to keep my mind easily occupied while playing with my two year old.) what made this a three rather than a four star book for me was that, well it became tedious in parts, just going on and on, and on when I wanted it to get to the point. This is from someone who will only buy unabridged and greatly enjoys fantasy novels, which have a certain style that, if not edited well become, well, boring.

This was a great audiobook. The writing and the narration were both of wonderful. It's a magical and engaging story throughout that I highly reccomend.

It took me a few hours to get into this, and if I didn't need something to listen to while working out, I'm unsure if I would have finished it. But I am glad I did. It quickly became un-put-a-down-able and I'm looking forward to listening to the next reader. Speaking of which I like the reader.

Someone below remarked that this was a good light romance, and while there are romantic elements, it is more a fantasy (which generally has romantic elements) than a romance. I read both genres, and there is a distinction.

There are hours upon hours of degradation and pain outlined in this book. It wouldn't bother me so much but so much of it was repetitive that I stopped feeling empathy for Acheron and began feeling nothing but boredom. This is a disappointing book for fans of the series. I wish I'd skipped it.

The romance is so overblown that I was embarrassed to listen to most of it and many of the voices were obnoxious.

It was an enjoyable sequel but I did find myself rolling my eyes throughout it due to a bit too much repetion. Or it could have been that I really hated how the reader read the woman. A man reading a woman as a seductress with a 'hissing' voice can become obnoxious FAST.