Glory Season

The timing could not have been better for me to stumble on a book that dealt with a matriarchal society. I needed to be reminded that a matriarchal society is no better than a patriarchal society. Balance is what is needed.

the ending was too soon. the story didn't feel like it was resolved.. it felt like there should be more books (I'll double check) in a series instead of a stand alone. but I really enjoyed this one.

Poor plot and concept development. Narrator mispronounced so many words it was quite painful listening to her. She also seemed less than enthusiastic about the story. Where have all the good editors and proof-listeners gone?
I have tried to return the book using the Audible book return link, with no success.

I did not particularly care for this narrator. She frequently mispronounced words (e.g., "KWAY" for quay, "di-MIN-yoo-uh-tiv" for diminutive, and many others). She routinely put pauses and emphasis in the wrong places in sentences. Her voices for several major characters were cloying and inappropriate to the character's personality. And her narration was often stiff, creaky, and un-fluid. I definitely would have enjoyed this book more if it had been read by a better narrator.

No. I sometimes even found myself turning off the book in the middle of my commute, either because my mind would drift or because the narrator was annoying me.

While Brin's formidable imagination is definitely in evidence in this book, it is far from his best work. The two Uplift trilogies are among my favorite science fiction books, and I've enjoyed many other Brin books, from The Practice Effect to Earth. While he vividly paints the world of Stratos and Stratoan society, the story that takes place within this world often plods along without much happening. It often seems as though Brin is more interested in constructing his world than in telling a story. ¶The main character, Maia, is kind of bland and anodyne, while her twin sister, Leie, is bratty and insufferable. Maia is clearly highly intelligent, but at the same time is often utterly clueless. Brin overuses the trope of the heroine misreading the situation and misinterpreting people's motives, resulting in crises that could have (and should have) been avoidable. I rapidly went from sympathizing with Maia for her misfortunes to rolling my eyes at how thick-headed she could be. ¶While my comments about this book have mainly been critical, I don't want to leave the impression that this was a bad book. It wasn't. It held my interest adequately most of the time, and in plenty of places the story was even riveting. But it was uneven. If you're a Brin fan, then I don't think you'll be dissatisfied overall. The reader wasn't particularly good, but I've heard much worse.