Charles

This is the first and LAST "abridged" book I'll ever buy from Audible. Having read the original several times I can tell you that this butchered (there is no other suitable word FOR it) edition is a TRAVESTY! This should be an 18 hour book, not 6 hours! The first thing they did was excise Caesar's entire Gallic campaign! That's FIVE YEARS people! Colleen managed to turn the contents of Caesar's Commentaries (a complex document I have read dozens of times) into a wonderful, understandable, easy-to-follow adventure story that is interwoven with the Roman political machinations occurring simultaneously. One example of this abomination: The many pages dedicated to the magnificient story of the siege of Alesia, perhaps one of the *greatest sieges in military history*, ends up being TWO WORDS; "Vercingetorix surrendered!" Several other extensive historical events during the campaign are similarly dismissed with a couple of words or not even mentioned at ALL! What is left is a boring, truncated version of the politics occurring in Italy until Caesar finally crosses the Rubicon. I am wondering if Colleen McCullough had any say in this abridgement. I hope to God not, otherwise, I shall think much less of her from now on. Why does Audible even HAVE abridged books anyway!? When you see "abridged," think "censored, "cut to pieces," some jerk's idea of what's worth keeping and what is not! If you even CONSIDER an abriged book from Audible, you may as well just go out and buy a COMIC BOOK and save yourself some money! SHAME of you Audible! No, I will not be asking for my credit back; I wear the big boy pants, I rolled the dice and came up craps...my fault. I WILL however be suspending my account for awhile, perhaps a LONG while and see what Audible comes up with in the future. Again, SHAME!

OUTSTANDING war story

Jump into Sicily.

He is excellent at doing various voices, especially at subtle nuance between people you would figure (or know) had similar voices.

Jesse Adams

Ok, I LOVE this series of books but Mr. Shaara seems to be in love with the word "punch" and all words derived therefrom. ("Punched," "punching," etc.) I propose a drinking game wherein you take a shot every time you hear "punch" in any form. It occurs to me though that, depending on how long you listen, you could end up in the E.R.!! So, as an alternative for those (like me) who listen for HOURS, just take ONE GULP of beer. You'll STILL get smashed!!! :>)

Here is a letter I just wrote to Audible:
I want my CREDIT back!!!
I bought this book thinking it was a legitimate historical novel. It turns out it is a FANTASY! The "narrator," who is purported to be an SS officer, turns out to be a minon of SATAN, not just metaphorically but a real honest-to-God (no pun) agent of THE devil! Normal Mailer must have been going SENILE when he wrote this piece of dreck! Introducing an agent of Satan as being the reason for the monster that was Adolf Hitler is a COP-OUT and seems to falsely mitigate the true, very human, HORROR that was the man (not a "Rosemary's baby") and those who did his work. I want this piece of literary dung flushed out of my library, I assure you I'll be deleting it from my computer, and I want my credit BACK!!