Three Parts Dead Audiobook By Max Gladstone cover art

Three Parts Dead

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Three Parts Dead

By: Max Gladstone
Narrated by: Claudia Alick
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A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethras, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart.

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without him, the metropolis’ steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god who’s having an understandable crisis of faith. When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts - and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces listeners to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.

About the author: Max Gladstone went to Yale, where he wrote a short story that became a finalist in the Writers of the Future competition. He lives in Boston.

©2012 Max Gladstone (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Action & Adventure Classics Contemporary Fantasy Fiction Paranormal & Urban Urban Emotionally Gripping

Critic reviews

“Max Gladstone has created a fascinating universe and equally fascinating characters. It’s a world in which magic is craft and religion has some very practical rules, and he shows it through the stories of some very interesting characters. This is his first novel. I can’t wait for his second.” (Jerry Pournelle, New York Times best-selling author)
“This has so many of my favorite things: an intriguing world, fun characters, a puzzle of a story that manages to be both funky fantasy and legal thriller. Three Parts Dead is simultaneously fast paced and thoughtful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.” (Carrie Vaughn, New York Times best-selling author)
“The story remains suspenseful and fast-paced throughout, and the diverse, female-led cast is a joy to follow through the fascinating and unusual landscape.” ( Publishers Weekly)
Unique Worldbuilding • Complex Plot • Clear Enunciation • Imaginative Magic System • Witty Humor • Intriguing Characters

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I really liked this book. The story was significantly above average in quality, but not perfect. I will be reading the following books in this series in the months to come despite the imperfections. I could consistently see humor and good story telling in the story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My one suggestion to the author would be to add more humor in the future, so we had something funny or a joke every two or three pages instead of every ten or twenty.
My main issue was the narrator. She just didn't click with me. I liked 9/10ths of the voices she used, but disliked the voice she used for Tara. She made one of the main characters sound as if she had a lisp, or something. It was super minor, but it bugged me.

Great story, but the narrator was off

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I listened to the book over the course of 3 weeks for my book club. The story was entertaining enough, but it wasn't tantalizing. It's a weird mix of "who done it", mystery, Sherlock, magic-something. It's not one of those tales that keeps you in your car after you park because you simply MUST know what happens next and you are stuck staring into space for a minute or two with your hand on the ignition. Also, you don't get a lot of explanation about the craft; you are dropped into this world without much background and the twists this story takes don't make much sense or give you a sense of "A-HA!" because you weren't aware that The Craft could do that. It has potential though. Lastly, I couldn't tell if this world was supposed to be some sort of parallel to our known world. The language was "of this earth", and so were the drinks (whiskey, gin and tonic?!). It almost gave me a sense of an alternate earth universe or something.
The narrator was ok... Aside from the two main characters, the voices weren't really distinct. But unlike some other reviewers, I didn't think she was terrible.

An average experience all around.

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Three Parts Dead is, as one of my fellow reviewers said, “wonderfully inventive.” I enjoyed the story but felt a little lost in the world sometimes — it’s so inventive that I never felt quite grounded. I did, however, like the characters and the story. I listened to Blackstone Audio’s version which was read by Claudia Alick. It took me a while to warm up to her because at first she has one of those rhythms that sounds like she’s reading to children, but I sped her up a bit and that helped. I also think her reading smoothed out a bit as the story went on. I think we both got more comfortable and compatible a couple of hours into the audio.

Inventive

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Fun story, it was a bit brief compared to what I would have liked but worth the credit. The narration deserves some credit for being fun and engaging. The narrator had a bit of a lisp which was funny for some of the characters but very good overall.

Solid Story

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I was really impressed by the author's ability to create a very unique world with real gods and disbelievers, those who have the craft of magic and necromancy and how they all can coexist and work side by side. The characters are unique, at the plot is predictable with some of its basic ideas, yet wildly unpredictable when it comes to individual situations, problems, and character choices. The narrator did a fair job of creating unique character voices, but her pacing was not always good for me. I preferred to listen to this at 1.5 speed in order to get through it more quickly.

Excelent and Unique World

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