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Good story, but a 2nd tier narrator

Reviewed: 07-16-24

The story continues with good intrigue and well written characters. It’s a step up and n the series.

The series adds yet another narrator and this series one is a step down. He could have at least listened to the past books to get the pronunciations consistent.

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2 people found this helpful

A good 1st novel

Reviewed: 11-10-22

James Butcher definitely took some inspiration from his famous father Jim Butcher in this urban fantasy novel. It shares a lot of themes from the Dresden Files and fans of the series will enjoy it. It IS much darker with characters shaded with grey. The main characters are a little flat at present, but show some promise.

The narrator isn't fantastic, but probably a good choice for a risky 1st novel. He's also not a disaster.

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More like half a novel with a new narrator.

Reviewed: 07-17-22

The first thing Frontlines fans will notice is that Luke Daniels is not recording the story. Mr. Dove does a workmanlike job, but he's not the voice of Andrew Grayson we've come to know and care about. It is a step down in narration.

The story is also easily the weakest of the Frontlines series. This is more like half a novel which gets to the major problem to overcome and then calls it a day. Several pieces of the book could be cut to allow the story to proceed. Further Grayson is more of a passive observer in this book than an active participant.

The story does end on an interesting scenario and it does make me excited for the next entry. It also introduces several appealing side-characters on the NACS Washington battleship.

Hopefully the next entry in the series will pick things up.

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1 person found this helpful

Best of the series

Reviewed: 08-12-21

Marko Kloos continues to write strong deep characters with believable motivation. This is also a complete, if short novel unlike Ballistic. It’s a good read with strong action scenes.

The narrator is… not terrible, just subpar. It’s annoying to have 3 narrators in a 3 book series. Overall an improvement and worth a read, just do kindle & not audible.

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Continuing adventures of Joe & Skippy

Reviewed: 08-06-20

I am very much beginning to think that Alanson is running out of wacky ideas as the book ends on a deus ex machina rather than another clever con job. The story is still entertaining with a good number of quips from Joe & Skippy with Joe learning some leadership principles along the way and characters like Smythe, Sims & Chang get to develop a bit from the background characters they'd been.

I like how he's seem to now be moving on to the upcoming clash with the great cosmic powers, for the next book.

Overall things are wearing a bit and it seems that Alanson is running out of ideas, but it's still an enjoyable ride.

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About 3/4 of an Ok Dresden Files story

Reviewed: 07-16-20

You can definitely tell that Peace Talks and Battle Ground were originally one big book. There’s not really a complete arc here and a lot of the characterizations are incomplete. Only Lara gets much fleshing our, so to speak. McCoy and Ramirez are written a bit too hamfistedly and it seems like Butcher is a bit rusty.

Hopefully Battle Ground will complete the story and get Butcher back on track.

For the performance Marsters really embodies Dresden, but there are some abrupt edits. Maybe they came in as a result of the split into two novels? Regardless they’re a bit jarring.

Overall a good book but an incomplete and less than ideal Dresden Files book.

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Well written good characterization, but uneventful

Reviewed: 06-02-20

The headline kinda sums things up. Marko Kloos is a gifted writer and his characters are deep and interesting. However the story is... pretty empty. The first entry in this series was a good setup to the intrigue and mystery. The second entry should start to unravel the conspiracies. Only one major event happens and the major characters have little interaction with it. It doesn't really change their lives or outlook. The story also seems... short, even though it's 9+ hours long. Very little changes for the major characters from book 1.

I feel like this book is Palladium wars Book 1.5.

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8 people found this helpful

Dull dull dull

Reviewed: 12-16-16

This reminded me so much of the phantom menace. Lots of time with the imperials scheming. I just couldn't care about any of the characters. It just makes me hope Jin dies in the movie!

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A bittersweet end to the saga.... I think

Reviewed: 05-05-16

The story of our imperfect heroes continues with expansion, new allies and a return of the enigmas. We even (sorta) see the enigmas in ground combat. A good story with one glaring physics mistake (on the order of light's arrival). Overall worth a listen.

Vietor gives a solid performance as always. I love his Drakkon voice.

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Another good one by Sanderson

Reviewed: 01-14-15

A good listen with a believable reader for the teenage nerd lead character.

Sanderson has crafted a good new comic book universe.

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