The Robert Stanek Short Story & Novella Collection

By: Robert Stanek

Narrated by: Karl Fehr, Gary Ryan

Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Enter the spell-binding worlds of best-selling author Robert Stanek and dream a new dream. The book contains two novellas, two short stories and a special feature exclusive:

• Absolutes: Expertly melds science fact with science fiction. The brilliant boy scientist, Krzysztof Steelbridge, is blinded by ambition and ultimately consumed by it.
• Magic Lands: Following the village elder's advice, Ray leaves his home village, setting out for the place lost and deep where he will find a companion for his journey to the stone land and where he will discover that there is no easy path.
• Silence Is Golden: In the distant future, the universe is controlled by Majority-1. Their rule is supreme. No one dares stand against them, and so it is against all odds that Ev tries to make a stand against them. To do so, however, she must sacrifice everything and everyone that she holds dear.
• August Rains: Former teacher and principal John Anderson must face the demons of his past.
• Exploring Ruin Mist: A guidebook to Robert Stanek's The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches.

©2005 Robert Stanek (P)2005 Reagent Press

Something is terribly wrong with these reviews

I purchased this book based on a few of the best reviews I've ever seen. Wow! I thought people would have given it 6 stars if they could. They even said it was the best narrated they'd ever heard!

Pah! This has got to be some kind of marketing ploy because I couldn't figure out why anyone would say these things about this audio book. I came back to read the reviews again because I thought I'd been dreaming. Turns out, there are a few reviews now that say the complete opposite of the glowing reviews that led me to get this book. They, like myself, are very suspicious of these wild praises on a book that could be a model for how not to narrate.

The first story is almost impossible to follow unless you are working hard and trying not to breath. If you do, you miss words. The guy reads like he's in a reading race, and has a foreign accent on top of a british accent. He'll read the last word of one paragraph and the first of the next like they're both in the middle of one sentence. He doesn't seem to comprehend what he's reading. Add to that, the otherworld quality of the story, which uses odd phrases that take some effort to interpret, and it's just not worth it. I was interested in the characters, but after reading the real reviews, I'm through with this. I went ahead and confirmed that the stories don't really finish, and this is the better of the narrators. The other guy sounds like a game show announcer doing product descriptions. No exaggeration! It's the worst reading I've ever heard, with the exception of the first guy on this book.

And the last part really is a commercial!!!! quote: "we can't say more without giving the story away".

What a massive rip off. The only reason this doesn't get zero stars is that Audible makes you give it at least one.

Don't be fooled!!!!!

Don't be fooled!!!!! When I first listened to the "sample" voice I thought it would be great. But the author reads too quickly and in a monotone - that makes it hard to follow. Also since it is a compilation the first story is never finished! The other stories are read by a HORRIBLE voice - sounds like an advertisment - AND IT IS! because they are excerpts of other books. AUDIBLE _ I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

Duped - Skip this Collection!

I have never felt compelled to write a review until this audio book. The author is interesting, but I thought I was getting a collection of stories, not a 4 hour $20 commercial.

Magic Lands. The first story, Magic Lands , is quite good, though the narrator runs along without a breath. But after you grow to know and love the characters, the story ends abruptly and you find out it is the first chapter of another book. - No ending.

The same is true of the second. Although the investment is modest and you know you won't have an ending.

The second longest selection, Absolutes, is also pretty interesting, but you have to endure a narrator who must have trained doing infomercials. And endure is the operative word. This is an actual short subject with a beginning, middle and end.

The last is simply a commercial for another book.

My apologies to the author, who seems to be quite good. But this bait and switch packaging and that awful second narrator have left a bad taste in my mouth.

I really cannot understand how the user reviews are so good on this commercial (so called collection). I have worked in internet marketing and really am questioning the validity of the user reviews. It looks like it has been stacked intentionally.

Terrible

I have to add my 2 cents to these reviews. This was the worst thing I have listened to in 8 years with Audible. The narrator was a joke and the stories were lousy. I don't know where those good reviews came from, but I suspect they had underhanded motives as well.

terrible performance

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Really couldn't even get a feel for the book because the performance was so monotone I couldn't bear to listen any longer

Self Published?

I am only addressing this particular title since it’s the only one I’ve heard. It’s certainly possible that this author’s other titles are much better than this one, however, I see the same diverse opinions among those reviews. The saying goes, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”.

Due to the wide opinion (5 stars or 1 star ratings with very few in between) on this work (here and on Amazon.com) I was curious about how this could be happening. The 1 star reviews here clearly questioned the validity of the 5 star reviews. I googled the author and discovered that his publisher only sells books written by him. What does this mean? It might mean that the author has created his own virtual publishing company (he wouldn't be the first) and has managed to get his books on electronic distributors (Audible, Amazon, B&N, etc.) websites. This is self-publishing! Anyone familiar with the writing biz would agree that this is a tremendous insult to hardworking writers who send manuscripts to publishers and wait months and years to hear back from them (if they can even submit the manuscript at all without an agent). It is then the publisher, through book distributors, that rewards the author by getting their books into the stores whether it be bricks and mortar or online.

Reviews on Amazon showed that many were suggesting that the author himself is writing some, if not all of the positive reviews. I also found this opinion in other forums. There’s a lot more but you’ll need to research and draw your own conclusions.

Finally, I did inform Audible about the possibility of this being a self-published work, got a refund, and expressed my displeasure with self-published works appearing here. I love Audible and only want to preserve the integrity of their service. I will go no further than these pages to discuss this author.

Absolutely Dreadful

I don't know what the other readers saw in these stories. I thought they were very shallow (despite aspiring to depth) and completely boring. This was my 53rd book "read" on Audible.com and it was by far the worst. The funny thing is, I am really enjoying Robert Stanek's "The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches" series and am eagerly awaiting the next.

These stories were so dull it was pure torture to listen to them. The narration in "Silence is Golden" in particular was so bad I wanted to choke the narrator. The only thing that kept me listening was boredom during my long commute to work. The best way I can describe these stories is that they sounded like someone picked up and then published a cocktail napkin upon which Mr. Stanek had written notes to later develop into real stories. My advice: stick to the Kingdoms and Elves of the Reaches series and save your money.

Confused and annoyed

I, too, am confused by these reviews. Honestly the best audible book? I find all the vocal talent incomprehensible. The first seems to be trying to speak in some sort of welsh, lyrical cadence that completely mismatches the text. Applied to a fantasy work full of new words and terms, it made no sense to me. The other talent sounds like a speaker for promotional audio -- radio commercials, maybe.

I'm very disappointed with the content and can't finish it. I feel cheated and annoyed.

I'm confused by the hugely positive reviews. Is it a case of 'love it or hate it'??

Magic Lands

Based on just Magic Lands this rates 2 stars.
The story is captivating but makes sudden leaps between characters. So much so, I suspect that a segment got omitted or inserted out of place. It also ends very abruptly with a blurp for Magic Lands, Stone Lands. Full books within series may be separate but I expect short stories within a series to be consolidated.

The narration is horrible!

I can't understand what the narrator is saying. He sounds like a drunken speedreader. He reads in an awful sing song slur, not pausing at the end of a sentence but when he run out of breath. His pace and pitch doesn't change at the proper places and there is no attempt that I can hear to differentiate characters with his voice. I'll have to buy the print version to possibly enjoy this.