Death and Resurrection

By: R. A. MacAvoy

Narrated by: James Chen

Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

The award-winning writer of Tea With the Black Dragon and other acclaimed novels returns to fantasy with the intriguing story of Chinese-American artist Ewen Young who gains the ability to travel between the worlds of life and death. This unasked-for skill irrevocably changes his life - as does meeting Nez Perce veterinarian Dr. Susan Sundown and her remarkable dog, Resurrection. After defeating a threat to his own family, Ewen and Susan confront great evils - both supernatural and human - as life and death begin to flow dangerously close together.

©2011 R.A. MacAvoy (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Choppy

I like her writing and I like her stories. And I mean stories. This seemed like several stories strung together. Each story was interesting in and of itself, but there is no flow, no transition between the stories. And the endings are a bit abrupt. I would like to read more about these characters, but was a bit dissatisfied.

meditations on suffering

Quite a thoughtful and exciting book. Helped me through a passing with peace and understanding

Astonished that the author isn't new to writing

This book felt much more like a collection of disjointed short stories than it did a cohesive tale. I enjoyed the mystical elements of the story, but overall became less and less interested in the 'story' as it played out (in quotes because it was so incohesive). Every character other than the MC was only superficially developed and even the MC wasn't well fleshed out.

The performance by the narrator was top notch. I enjoy re-listening to many books in my library, but I will never feel compelled to hear this one again. It had the makings of a really good story, but fell flat.

Side note, the only review I saw before downloading was from a person comparing it to Dresden, which I doubted from the book description. It was in no way similar to Dresden. No wizards, and no single evil/enemy to defeat. In fact, the evil that seemed to be the primary antagonist ended up feeling like an unfinished side story by the end.

Tidy

This is excellently crafted. I enjoyed the supernatural elements and the adventure but most of all I liked the characters, their arcs and development. Also it was fun to read something set in my neck of the woods. The narrator is good, handles subtle accents well and even sings a little, I’ll be looking out for more of Chen’s work.

Entertaining but should have been a series

As much as I enjoyed the story I think it should have been a series instead of being set up in 3 parts. I really liked each plot. All three stories held my attention. I liked the strong characters. The Buddhism and Native American mysticism were great.

The part that was confusing was in the lack of editing. The uncle is the gambler, but later the book says it’s the grandfather. There were several references that were like this. Also, there was no pause between scene changes in a chapter. I kept thinking my audio had jumped ahead until I realized there was no pause. It was disorienting.

The book was set up into parts. They were basically 3 separate stories. They were all entertaining but they left me puzzled. It’s as if the author planned on 3 books and then was told it would only be one so she added all the parts together. I personally would have loved if parts 2 & 3 had been made into separate more evolved books because they were fascinating.

Last but not least, the narrator was very good. I enjoyed his voices and his pacing.

The middle is good...

It took a while to get into this book. It got pretty interesting, then ended on an off note for me.

Three interrelated stories

These are three shorter stories that use the same characters. Some interesting ideas. Good character development. A surprisingly good listen

amazing book

I really enjoyed this book it, Buddhism, outta body experience. the narration is amazing would love more like this

Great characters

Loved the characters and the bits of Buddhist and Native American mysticism. Wish there had been more of that though probably plenty for most.

All the things

I really enjoyed the listen. Thought the characters were written well. James was a fantastic narrator.