James McGinley

This series is pure science fiction entertainment, with a prolific cast of characters, and one of the most evil antagonists ever designed by an author. The story is wrapped up nicely in the final volume, although the plot is excessively complicated, so there might be a couple of questions unanswered. Overall very satisfying and it keeps the reader hooked from beginning to end.

If those words had been the first thing I'd spotted in a review; I would have steered clear. This is a romance novel, more accurately, a novel of forbidden romance. All the kissy, lovey dovey stuff wears thin with me after a while. The last 3rd of the book was getting entertaining, the author had finally developed the story enough to establish a worth while antagonist, which was seriously needed. The story line has potential, but it's loosely wrapped around the romance of the lead characters. I'm sure the next book will be better, but I'll have to be desperate to get it. I wasn't to pleased with the narrator's voice; it has a business like quality.

I suppose The Canterbury Tales must have been quite controversial at the time of its writing, with many sexual allusions, but it's full of tedious little tales which are exceedingly boring, monotonous, and tend to run one into the other. The poetic flair only carries the monotony to new heights. I tried to listen to it while engaged in a boring repetitive task, and it only seemed to make the job longer; I had to turn it off. I cannot recommend this book on any level.

Follet's last trilogy (Pillars of the Earth) was on of my favorite novels of all time; edge of the seat nail biting, can't pause masterpiece. Fall of Giants fails to grip. The characters fall short on every level. It's a great time period to do historical fiction, and I did learn some great historical facts, but I just could not get involved with this novel as I did his previous. I don't think I'll be reading the follow up to Fall of Giants.

I'm an avid reader; I've read books that I can't put down, as well as books that I couldn't finish. This one falls in between. The characters are somewhat generic, although some are a little eccentric. The author didn't develop the characters enough to fully get me absorbed in the novel. The plot is a basic murder mystery, so if you love murder mysteries this will float your boat, but you'll have to do some bailing.

I give this 3.6. The characters are well developed interesting, and believable. The book keeps you interested in the first half, and completely absorbed the second half. I don't care for the writing style of following two separate characters, even though it is quite popular among authors these days. I'm going to buy his next his next audiobook.

Have you ever listened to a book that you lose track of the storyline and,instead of rewinding to fill yourself in on what you missed, you just keep listening because you would have to rewind all the way to the beginning when you're half way through the book. This book needs to be thinned out by 3/4. Technical mumbo jumbo takes up most of the book. I listened to the whole thing, and 75% of the time my mind was somewhere else.

Don't get me wrong; I love a long book, but this one has a lot, and I mean a whole lot, of digression. It is well written, so I made it through the book, but it was a challenge. There is one character in the book who is particularly annoying, and I believe the author did this intentionally. This book should be shorter by half.

Extremely well written and read. The story is about a mute child brought up in a rural setting who comes face to face with some challenging circumstances. We follow the boy from birth into his early teens. The author is elaborately descriptive, which takes up most of the book, but this is not a bad thing as he has a way with words which can only be described as masterful. The ending, while tragic, didn't leave me sad.

Make no mistake, this is a romance novel, so if romance is not your thing, move on right now. The novel is well written. The author has a gift for the written word, but the overall story is on the dull side. She creates an excellent antagonist, but uses him very little; instead most of the story is involved in the loving relationship between the hero and heroine.