"Not bad...but there's better to listen to first"
Mildly enjoyable. Not overly gripping, nor does it really provide much mystery.
It's not bad, and I don't consider it a waste of a credit - but I wouldnt buy another one in the series unless It was the last day before renewal.
to be honest, I mainly bought it for the narrator - Christian Rodska also narrates the Marcus didius Falco books, ,and his voice is fantastic.
Speaking of which - listen to those books first - or any Joseph Finder, or any of the medicus books by Ruth Downie, narrated by Simon Vance.
Or any of the Ian Rankin books. His hard bitten Scottish policeman is much much better than the one in this book
All of which are much more enjoyable in my opinion - BUT if, like I had, you have exhausted your favorite writers, then by all means give this a go to tide yourself over.
"Dresden is back with a bang!"
You don't need this review.
If you read dresden, he's back to form in every way, including narrator
If you don't read dresden, you should, so go get the first one.
"A little disappointed, but will get the next one"
After the awesomeness of the first three I felt a little let down.
Quite frankly, a week after finishing it, I don't remember the ending. I didn't have the second part downloaded when the first part ended, so I started listening to the new Harry Dresden I had downloaded too, until I could get to wifi. Instead I listened to ALL of Cold Days before coming back to the second half of this book.
Maybe it was my own expectations being too high. I didn't have to wait to read the first three, but had to wait for this one, and I really wanted to read the story that gave us a new Druid.
Maybe it was the narrator's Oberon voice. I HATED how he voiced Oberon. It drove me up the wall. He made the dog sound like he had brain damage and a tongue transplant. Apart from that, he was fine tho.
Maybe it was because I felt he took an oft-repeated one-line joke from the first three books and basically made a major plot point out of it - although I had actually been WAITING for that joke to catch up to him (no, I won't tell you the joke, go listen)
Don't get me wrong, the book isn't bad at all. The action moves along at a decent clip, I definitely enjoyed the vampires, both old and new.
Just...
I was hoping for better after the first three.
"Great story, lovely twists, fantastic writing"
I hesitated to download in case I was accidentally buying a romance. I can assure you this is far from a romance! I am Not going to tell you anything about the plot, except to say that I was wrong..and then wrong again..and then wrong again, as to where the book was going next.
Some other reviewers said they thought the first half was slow. I disagree. I enjoyed the pace of the build, and thought the writing was superb.
The two narrators do a quality job breathing the right emotions into the words at the right times.
I definitely recommend this book
I found myself constantly telling other people about this book as I listened to it, which is always a good sign.
The characters also are well fleshed out, and by the end of the book you will find that there are no "wasted" scenes - everything is relevant and everything is important.
Enjoy!
"Still riveted"
actually bothering to buy book 3 earlier than my credits renew - can't wait 5 days to continue!
"riveted from start to finish"
Maybe I am just less discerning than the other reviewers, however I did not find the characters to be flat, nor the scenes boring. Nor was I bothered that the "camera" floated over the main characters shoulder the entire time.
This is not, by the way, hard science fiction. Number of the Beast (minus Heinlen's late life obsession with tits) is hard sci-fi. Reynolds or Banks or early Clarke is hard sci-fi.
This is entertainment. This is Space Opera. This is a great story playing on many old storytelling concepts. Not original and hardly genre-busting but I don't care!
It is Fun, it is Engaging, it is a good space-faring romp!
It is great for listening to while you do something with your hands that doesn't require great attention, or go for a walk, or cook, or do chores.
Five stars from me, off to download the next one
"not bad but not her best"
in fact, its probably the least best (can't bring myself to say worst) of her books that I have listened o. The Vorkosigan books are amazing ( go get Wariors apprentice) or her Chalcedon books (Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls) are wonderful. this book...almost great but I got bored and quit 30 minutes from the end, in the middle of what was meant to be the great finale. Feel free to tell me that it was worth another half hour of listening. Don't get me wrong, I did like it, but I'd just had enough - I looked up the ending, summarized in two lines, and went off happy to my next book
"Frank - what happened??"
The first Dune book as thrilling..this one completely failed to keep my interest from about chapter 2...Its not bad per se, he just started introducing too much universe. Face Dancers?? oh please...It was only meant to be one book, but you had to jump the shark. Its a pity as I really did want the story to continue. I should have cut out after the end of Dune and been untainted by the sellout. Narrator is unremarkable (thats not a bad thing)
"His best since before he went to prison"
I have enjoyed reading Jeffrey Archer for many years, even as a teenager before he was an MP and then sent to prison. His previous book (the Art one involving the 9/11 crashes) was merely so-so, and for a while his books have been merely enjoyable - but this one is FANTASTIC! a total return to form. If you have never read him, this really is a great place to start. Great characters, A long awaited justice served, high court drama, intrigue, villainy, and machinations. The characterization of Prisoners and their environemt is particularly vivid.
"his best in years"
Its up there with Eye of the Needle and Pillars of the earth. Thank god he came back to this subject matter. Riveted the entire 46 hours - felt shorter than some 13 hour books I've listened to. So good, off to blow one of my credits on Pillars of The Earth if they have it - time to revisit the original.
There's some repetition throughout, which comes mostly at the beginning of a time-jump (when he jumps 10 years of time or so) - its either to refresh readers during a weighty tome, or almost as if he expected it to be serialized and people might miss chunks of the content - thats the only fault and it hardly detracts. The characters are vibrant and so so deep. the internecine machinations are engaging, the twists of fate are sometimes predictable but entertaining...and the historical accuracy is top-notch. A must-listen