Anonymous

5 listens and counting

Reviewed: 03-23-15

My daughter has listened to the entire series five times and just started it over again. She listens to it whenever she's doing chores, or just before bed. She's a sixth grader and thinks this is about the best series she's read...maybe even as good as Harry Potter (her words).

I too listened to the books and found them entertaining. The story if full enough to keep an adult engaged, but is clearly aimed at the younger audience. My sixth grader is probably the perfect audience.

The story has an interesting plot, where everyday kids find themselves caught up in a place where magic is real. The kids act as kids would, they are amazed, tempted to check out things better left alone, and more cleaver than the adults give them credit for.

If you're looking for something for your kids to enjoy...jump on this. If you are an adult that enjoys lighter fantasy, you will like it as well. Great for a family car trip! The kids will love it, and the adults will be entertained.

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2 people found this helpful

Riveting and Unexpected

Reviewed: 02-09-14

I am not typically a Stephen King reader. Horror isn't my thing. However, I've read Shawshank Redemption and a friend of mine told me that this was more in that style. So, I tried it. I couldn't stop listening! I usually just listen in the car on my commute. With this book, I was listening while I did laundry, went for walks, and made dinner...whatever.
The main plot regarding the assassination of Kennedy was fascinating on its own, but King made me really care about all of the sub-plots too. I really cared for the people he changed, and I hated the obdurate past right along with him. The best part was, it didn't go the way that I thought it would. That is always a pleasant feature of a book.
Even if Stephen King isn't your standard genre, try this book. Overall, the story was riveting, the narration was masterful and King showed why he has such a huge following.

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3 people found this helpful

Holy Supervillains Batman

Reviewed: 09-30-13

I love a book that takes you in and makes you think but doesn’t take itself too seriously. Sanderson has mastered that here. Steelheart turns the superhero genre on its side, asking, “Who will rise up when all we have are villains”. At the heart, it has similarities to Sanderson’s other books. Namely, a small rebel force against an undefeatable super-power. The thing I like about this one is that it is told by the hero, David. He is a young man with an axe to grind, but still has hope and a sense of humor. The book takes us through his journey for revenge. It has a few surprises (in true Sanderson style) and is full of crazy metaphors that are so ridiculous you can’t help but laugh. I found myself listening any time I could steal a few minutes and had trouble turning it off when I had to.
As a parent, I would comfortably give this to a teen to read. There is one scene at the very beginning that is a bit gruesome, but otherwise it is clean and thought provoking. If you’ve read other books by Sanderson (and you should), I believe you will find this one to be very similar. It seems a little lighter and has more of a sci-fi feel than books like Mistborn, but not as light as the Rithmatist (both excellent books).

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2 people found this helpful

The science of health for the rest of us

Reviewed: 08-17-13

Dr. Goodman does a very good job of tying actionable health advice to the basic science that supports it. It's helpful to know not only that something is good for you, or not good for you, but also why that is true. For me, the why adds a lot to my ability to follow through. Additionally, Dr. Goodman doesn't come at this program with 60 things you should change tomorrow. Instead, he consistently recommends small course changes that in years can take you to a whole different (and more healthy) destination.
I found the lecture itself to go a bit slowly, so I listened to most of it at 1.25 and 1.5 speed. Other than that, it was easy to listen to, and even the topics that don't affect me (like smoking or steroid use) were interesting from an academic perspective. There is nothing earth shattering here, but that is more actionable anyhow. If you are looking for good advice and some shallow digging into health science, this is a good lecture.

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27 people found this helpful

Disappointed

Reviewed: 07-22-13

I was really hoping this would be what is says it is. The description says it will be an unbiased, academic view of the historical Jesus. In that light, I was not expecting a theological study as you might receive in seminary, but I was also not expecting a pointed and largely unsupported attempt to discredit the New Testament. I only listened to the first half of this lecture series because of the professor's obvious bias that the New Testament and the events described there are myth and not historical documents. He is well spoken and easy to listen to, but don't be drawn in by his charisma. His arguments are week and instead of citing actual historical sources, most of the time he supports his claims with, "most historical scholars agree". (what does that really mean?) Furthermore, based on the assertion that scholars are in agreement, he makes assumptions and then basis further arguments on those assumptions.

At one point he likens the New Testament writing to a 30 year long game of telephone. If you want to put it that way, wouldn't this be true of most historical documents of that time? He also claims that the miracles of Jesus are highly implausible, and that any previous attempts at describing them as true but non-miraculous are also implausible. His conclusion is that the stories are something akin to parables, simply a story made up to teach a lesson. Of course they are implausible, they are miracles! When studying other historical documents that don't match our understanding of events, do we assume the author to be fabricating a story?

I had hoped that the lecturer would step out of the New Testament a bit and talk about the historical culture, context and events that surrounded Jesus (including a discussion of the source of this knowledge). I expected discussion of historical events that are represented in the Bible and backed up by other historical documents, and discussion about Biblical events that conflict with other historical documents. There was none of this in the first half of the lecture.

Frankly, the lecturer showed himself to be so biased and willing to base "fact" on assumption that I wouldn't believe his findings if he did start to tie them back later in the series. If you are looking for an unbiased academic study in which to place Jesus in History, or are a believer looking for more insight into Jesus' life, this is not the lecture for you. If you are looking for an understanding of the arguments against the historical validity of the New Testament, this one is easy to listen to and thought provoking, although not well supported with citations that would help you carry the study further.

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40 people found this helpful

A bit too unbelievable

Reviewed: 07-18-13

I have to admit, I liked the general idea that families with magic in a world typically without magic could explain the mythological and supernatural. Thus a great sea mage would be seen as Poseidon and a fading clant would explain ghosts. I found the whole concept to be intriguing and the writing style was easy to listen to.
However, I didn't care for the story itself. First, there were just too many convenient coincidences and the explanations were week at best. Second, none of the primary characters were likable in the least. It was just hard to care what happened to them, even by the end. Finally, the whole thing felt like an elaborate setup for the next book. I haven't read any of Card's other books, so I can't say if this is typical of his writing, but I won't be seeking out the next one in this series.

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2 people found this helpful

I hope this is only the beginning

Reviewed: 07-10-13

What a thought provoking idea! I hesitated to buy this book because it is so short (less than 3 hours), but it was well worth it. In truth this story felt like it should have been the pilot for a new TV show. Although the story is self contained and doesn't leave you hanging, it does leave you wanting more. I feel as though I am just getting to know Legion and his alter-egos. Previously, I've known Sanderson's writing for his epic fantasy (which is excellent), but he does a quality detective story as well.

The narration was also well done. Oliver Wyman does a good job of giving everyone a unique and consistent voice and he's easy to listen to.

Overall, I hope Sanderson does more Legion books.

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Sanderson is Golden!

Reviewed: 07-04-13

I am yet to read something by Sanderson that I don’t love. Granted, so far that is only four books, but four out of four isn't bad . The Rithmatist is no exception. Although written for a young adult audience, the Rithmatist is a sophisticated weaving of fantasy and mystery.

It is much lighter than Sanderson’s other works, but still has all the elements that make his novels so great. The characters have depth and real personality, the world building is masterfully done, and the plot is complex enough to keep you thinking. Adult and young adults alike should not hesitate to listen to this novel. As an adult listener, I loved it and can’t wait until he writes more in this world. As a parent, I wouldn’t hesitate to give it to my teen to read. It is clean, the violence is mostly second hand (no worse than a good Nancy Drew novel), and the characters are people you would let your kids hang out with.

Michael Kramer is easy to listen to and adds depth to the story in the way he reads it. There is a little lost in the listening of this story, in that there are obviously drawings of the rithmatics in the novel. However, the loss of the visual is worth it to hear Kramer read it.

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2 people found this helpful

Decent Teen Novel

Reviewed: 06-25-13

I chose this book because my brother recommended I read the Honor Harrington series. I started here because I noticed this one is set in the same world but earlier in time. It wasn’t a bad story, but I found the plot to be extremely thin and the characters to be similarly shallow. Maybe if you read the Honor series first, the desire to get the treecat backstory would make it more interesting. That said, this is a clean, light sci-fi and the heroin would likely appeal to a teen. As an adult novel, I gave it 3 stars, as a teen novel it might rate higher. I won’t get more in the series, but I probably will share it with my pre-teen daughter who will likely enjoy it.

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Fun for the whole family

Reviewed: 06-21-13

This is a great collection of some of the less known Beverly Cleary books. My family recently took a road trip and this collection was just the ticket for keeping everyone entertained. The stories are classic fun that the kids just eat up, even with the four year difference in their ages. The recording and narration are well done (which can't be said for a lot of children's audiobooks), and the stories reminded me of my own childhood reading Beverly Cleary. Not to mention the value of getting multiple books for one credit.

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21 people found this helpful