Thunderbird

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The Nebula Award-winning author of the Alex Benedict novels and the Priscilla Hutchins novels returns to the world of Ancient Shores in a startling and majestic epic.

A working stargate dating back more than 10,000 years has been discovered in North Dakota, on a Sioux reservation near Devils Lake. Travel through the gate currently leads to three equally mysterious destinations: (1) an apparently empty garden world, quickly dubbed Eden; (2) a strange maze of underground passageways; and (3) a space station with a view of a galaxy that appears to be the Milky Way.

The race to explore and claim the stargate quickly escalates, and those involved divide into opposing camps who view the teleportation technology as either an unprecedented opportunity for scientific research or a disastrous threat to national - if not planetary - security. In the middle of the maelstrom stands Sioux chairman James Walker.

One thing is for certain: Questions about what the stargate means for humanity's role in the galaxy cannot be ignored. Especially since travel through the stargate isn't necessarily only one way....

©2015 Cryptic, Inc. (P)2015 Recorded Books

So, So story and awful narration.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I was often pulled out of the story thinking that the way a character acted was all wrong. Most of the time people seemed half witted, there wasn't a diversity between how the characters were written.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jack McDevitt? Why or why not?

I normally read everything Jack McDevitt writes, so yes, I will read the next book especially if it's an Alex and Chase story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Kevin R. Free’s performances?

No!

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

Nope

Thunderbird.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoy books by Jack McDevitt. I have read all or most of his books and buy any new one as soon as I find it. This book was a continuation of a prior book he wrote many years ago and I enjoyed it. The only drawback was the reader. Sorry but Mr. Free cannot do female voices and it drove me to stop listening and buy the Kindle version of the book. Also, I found his reading voice to be a problem but when it came to female dialog, it was too much. He made the female characters sound silly and unconvincing. My enjoyment of audio books depends on the writer but also the reader and in this case it was too much.

Enjoyable Narrative horrible narration.

I’ve always enjoyed this author and read the first book in this series when it first came out. I was excited to find the sequel on Audible and quickly jumped in. My excitement was quickly dampened by the Narrator. His delivery reminded me of Jack from the Will & Grace TV show if he was putting on his most over the top campy performance. While the female voices were somewhat tolerable, he is unable to even come close to portraying anything masculine. I found myself begging for this book to end just so I could get away from his portrayals. Do yourself a favor and buy the paper version…..

A different twist of 1st encounters.

I really liked this book. but I am not a fan of reading second books in a series so I tracked down the first book hard copy in Google Books and I let Google Play read it to me.
the narration is not as good as it is with a professional narrator but you get used to it. having read / listened to ancient Shores, the first book this book has a lot more continuity . that being said why every chapter had to start with a quote is annoying. I did like this enough to get the 3rd book if one comes along.

Frustrating Story, Ill-suited Narrator

This book was extremely frustrating. Great story concept, frustrating execution.

The person chosen to narrate this book was absolutely and completely the wrong choice. It's not that the narrator is not a competent narrator or anything like that, however his voice and the way he generated characters and voices and accents was completely ill-suited for this book.

The Jar Jar Binks of McDevitt novels

I like Jack McDevitt's work for the most part; however, Thunderbird was not good. Maybe I missed the point. There is no way governments or people would act the way they do here. And the story went nowhere.

The narrator was a poor choice for this book. Most male characters sound like they've been hit with a sack of stupid and the women sound like hillbilly valley girls.

Narrator was atrocious!

What would have made Thunderbird better?

Honestly I only got a couple chapters into the book. The narrator was so horrible I couldn't get that far. What I did get to was "okay." I usually love Jack McDevitt's books, so I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so annoyed with the narrator.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator read like he was a child trying to read a book, LOTS of pauses in places there shouldn't have been. The majority of the time he read in a very flat tone. No excitement or drama. Just a flat tone reading. And worse, he tried... "tried," to make different voices. But his accents were crap... sigh.. such a waste.

How it would never happen

I have read all of mcDevitt’s novels, and never have I been so disappointed by the lack of basic intelligence in his characters, nor the actions and motivations of the characters, from powerless to powerful, to act according to basic human nature, historical evidence, or common sense. The most startling and dangerous technology in the history of humankind has been stumbled upon, and none of the characters pursue any real safety, curiosity, or forethought. They don’t plan, they don’t prepare. The entire cast seems to consist of 12 year olds.
Presidents, paleontologists, linguists and security teams would never, and I do mean never, go about in a manner anything like the characters in this novel.

A terrible disappointment

I've been a jack with every fan for a long time and enjoyed all the stores are ready for him except for this one. It was almost unfinishable. The dialogue was terrible, the plot was lackluster and predictable, and I was thoroughly disappointed. I kept waiting for it to get better but it didn't. Why Jack? Why?

not engaging

i finished chapter 5 and it is still boring. And i am a fan of Mcdevitt so i am gonna pass on the rest of the novel...