The Winter Long

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

Toby thought she understood her own past; she thought she knew the score. She was wrong. It's time to learn the truth.

©2014 Seanan McGuire (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Fantastic as always

If you could sum up The Winter Long in three words, what would they be?

A fabulous story

What other book might you compare The Winter Long to and why?

Any of Seanan's books. She is consistently outstanding.

What does Mary Robinette Kowal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voices have become like old friends. She makes listening like watching a movie, the characters just come alive.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

October is in every season.

Any additional comments?

Get Seanan's books....now.

5 people found this helpful

Some narration issues

Any additional comments?

Another wonderful October Daye story, but the narration threw me off. I loved almost all the narration except issues but those made it a misery to listen to some of the time. I found the voice she used for Tybault to be dull, slow, flat and just plain odd. A flat affect...nothing sounded as if there were feelings behind his words. His nephew Raj vocals were unattractive and nasal. Now that he is a major character the voice really hurt the quality of the audio narration. The story is the usual fine quality.

4 people found this helpful

Very different

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wasn't already a fan of the series. Without the context of the rest of October's story none of the vents in the story have much impact. This is pretty normal for a book this deep into the series, but this book ties more into previous events than others in the series.

What didn’t you like about Mary Robinette Kowal’s performance?

Considering it's the 8th book in the series it was very jarring to hear Kowal change the pronunciation of some in world terms. There were also a number of errors in the performance, the wrong character's name being said, voices mixed up, etc. Seemed like this performance was done without benefit of an editor, or any particular desire to read the book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would not, since this book would make a pretty bad movie.

Any additional comments?

This book could badly use a rerecord, and an editor. If it didn't add so much to the series, I would say give it a pass. If you're already working through the series, just grit your teeth and try to ignore the errors in the performance.

3 people found this helpful

Fantastic sereis I want more.

Any additional comments?

A wonderful series that brings something new to the urban fantasy genre that has been declining in good new stories. Not only is the story fresh and new, the characters interesting and flawed but the world building is what makes this book great. The plot as well has built upon itself in a wonderful way that has only gotten better from book to book. The only problem I have is that Tobi is hell bent on being a changeling. Why? We've never heard about her human friends she hung out with during book one, she doesn't interact with humans at all, she's cut herself off with her human family, all of her friends are fae, and every time you think she is going to FINALLY go full fae she gets out of making a decision. The only reason that I can see so far is to not let her become too powerful, hang the possibility over our heads to add suspense, show the fae world that changelings are important too, and let her have "humanity" whatever that means.

3 people found this helpful

What a great journey with October

I have been waiting for this book 8. "Indexing" was excellently written but it kept me waiting for October. Great story that lets you see how the first born of Faery are up to their mischief again, but October will show them again. Great Story--can't wait for book 9.

3 people found this helpful

pronunciation errors

Even though this is the 8th book in this series that Mary Robinette Kowal has read, she suddenly started pronouncing things wrong that she's previously pronounced right. I found it very frustrating. But the story was still amazing, so I stuck it out. Hopefully the next book she'll do better!

2 people found this helpful

another great installment!

Loved the storyline, u enjoy finding out more of October's history. The voice of Thibault is a bit much though.

2 people found this helpful

Great story bad narration

If you could sum up The Winter Long in three words, what would they be?

Curve ball plot twist

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the plot twists that were unpredictable

What didn’t you like about Mary Robinette Kowal’s performance?

She didn't use the same voice for the characters that she did in all previous books and occasionally would switch the accent in the story causing confusion, the most irritating change is on how she pronounced the word Knowe in this book compared to the last seven.

5 people found this helpful

Just gets better

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes!! This series just keeps improving. It manages to stay fresh and not at all clichéd.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Winter Long?

Spoilers! I can't say without giving it away!

Which character – as performed by Mary Robinette Kowal – was your favorite?

Oh, goodness. I love her as Toby. She IS Toby. I do enjoy how she interprets everyone's favorite King of Cats, too.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes and Yes! I laughed, I cried, I sighed with relief and even let out a squeak of disbelief in a few places.

Any additional comments?

This installment answers a lot of questions, only to leave you asking a hundred more. Don't miss this book, or this series!

2 people found this helpful

McGuire: Always a Winner

Seanan McGuire never disappoints; 'October Daye' ranks among her best - and my favorite - series. Mary Robinette Kowal is the perfect narrator; she IS October Daye. Like Butcher and Marsters, McGuire and Kowal are a perfect combo.

1 person found this helpful