Torchwood: Everyone Says Hello

Everyone Says Hello

By: Dan Abnett

Narrated by: Burn Gorman

Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

Here's an exciting, original short story written exclusively for audio, featuring the Torchwood characters and read by Burn Gorman, who plays Owen in the television series.

Across Cardiff, ordinary people are behaving in odd ways: saying hello to one another and going out of their way to greet people. Torchwood discovers that an alien communications field is gathering strength in the city. The team must find the device responsible and shut it off - before civil unrest engulfs the city.

©2008 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2008 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Good enough for me

<i>Everyone Says Hello</i> is a pretty good <i>Torchwood</i> story with an interesting presentation.

Burn Gorman does a good job bringing most of the characters to life; the exception being Captain Jack Harkness, who proved beyond Gorman; I'm not sure if it was just the accent, or something else. But he did a pretty good job bringing Dan Abnett's story to life otherwise.

This isn't Abnett's first <i>Torchwood</i> story, and he proved here again that he has a good grasp of the show's characters. The story fell victim to the same tendency towards the grandiose that some of the more recent <i>Torchwood</i> stories on-screen have, but as long as the story is well-executed that's not a problem. And I certainly think that the story was well-executed.

While a new <i>Torchwood</i> novel would've been my preference over a new audiobook, I still enjoyed <i>Everyone Says Hello</i>. And that's good enough for me.

A waste of time

To be fair, I have not yet finished listening to this book. But that's probably because it is so frustratingly boring that I can't bring myself to do so!

Burn's reading is fantastic as is his vocal acting for each of the varied characters. The writing of the book is, however, appalling. The story is slow - unbelievably slow - and unfortunately the alien 'invasion' involves LOADS of completely unnecessary talking by different characters in the general public. The whole premise could have been established in 4 minutes, not 40 (I am at 42 minutes now and keep expecting SOMETHING different to happen - and have been still disappointed.) It might have worked in video form but, as it is, is a complete failure of a story.

As I said, my congratulations to Burn for sitting through this. But if you're thinking about getting this? Unless you really, really love his voice and don't mind the blithering writing, I would NOT
recommend downloading it. My word to describe it: "ugh."

Hello, I'm Eugenie, I'm a fan and . . .

This book is not really centered on the Torchwood crew, but the people of Cardiff who just can't seem to stop saying "Hello, I'm (fill in name). . . " and giving intimate pieces of info. about themselves to anyone who will listen, which makes for some funny moments. However, there are people immune to this bizarre happenstance, the Torchwood crew among them. It is their job to figure out why nearly everyone in Cardiff won't stop saying, "Hello, I'm . . ."

Burn Gorman narrates this story well, immitating his fellow Torchwood team spot on, complete with Welsh accents and a somewhat American accent for Jack. I really liked his narration and look forward to any other stories he may do again.

My only complaint would be that the ending was tied up a bit too quickly, otherwise I thought the story imaginative, funny, and the action placed well within the story.

Plot pretty good, nice 2 hour listen

What did you love best about Torchwood?

It's Torchwood

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gwen--she can navigate her way through scary, dangerous, dynamic situations while keeping her wits about her. Gwen is a great character, I greatly enjoy listening to the Torchwood audios and getting to know her better.

What about Burn Gorman’s performance did you like?

His pacing was appropriate for the storyline, and of course he was flawless as Dr. Owen Harper.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

This is one of the better Torchwood audio stories.

long for nothing

First time that I get bored listening to a Torchwood adventure...sorry, but a whole chapter describing people introducing themselves without any other kind of action is a bit too much...I know the title is "everyone says hello", but here it's taken a bit too litterally. Burn Gorman is perfect, though.

disappointing end

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

I really enjoyed this story it was well read and intriguing.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Sadly i thought the end was very disappointing, i listened a couple of times to the end to see if I had missed something but no, that was it.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Throughout except the end