R. Jones

This series has reached its limit

Reviewed: 09-18-24

Less and less interesting as books go by. Time to retire 44 Scotland Street, IMO

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I’m finally done with 44 Scotland Street

Reviewed: 04-22-23

I’m on chapter 12 and not a plot in sight. Just AMS philosophizing. So bored, he has said nothing new for many books now.

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Review of the whole unending, tedious story

Reviewed: 12-15-22

Now that I've finished book 8, here's my take on this series.
Overview: What should have been, at most a trilogy, was drawn out into 8 pretty slow and tedious volumes. Reasonably good if the characters were better developed. Quite a slog to get through 8 books of this. If I hadn't bought them all in advance, I would have stopped around book 3.
Pros: Interesting world building, the author weaves legend and story together pretty well.
Cons: The protagonist remains ignorant and clueless throughout. The characters are mostly cardboard cutouts. Too much dependence on repetition-- the cats whine and hiss endlessly, repeatedly, annoyingly; Jewel's hair is unmanageable and she pushes it out of her face 1,000 times; the environments are strange to Jewel; she's always saying she doesn't understand what's going on; her friends are all victims unless she rescues them. The only interesting character, Old Rath, is killed off pretty early on. Other interesting characters come and go while the protagonist agonizes about one thing or another. Jewel does not recognize, nor learn to control, her powers.
All in all, a very tedious experience by the time I reached the end.

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Excellent series worth spending your credits, BUT

Reviewed: 09-21-22

I have enjoyed listening to this series greatly. Good characters, interesting world building, and engaging plot. However, the narrator has a habit of mispronouncing many common words and it sticks out like a sore thumb when he does it, throwing me off for a minute when it happens.

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NOT for children or young adults - sexual content

Reviewed: 09-07-21

This book and the following volume both have fairly strong sexual content (more than is really needed for advancing the plot!) so it is not appropriate for youngsters. Be forewarned, this series has frequent gratuitous sexual commentary and innuendo.
I admit it is a bit of a disappointment, as Ms. Buroker's other books that I have read have been more circumspect. All the sex added nothing to the plot at all, and could have been easily dispensed with.

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1 person found this helpful

Endless Science lessons

Reviewed: 12-23-20

This book is an incredibly long science lesson wrapped around a relatively interesting plot. If you don’t like science terminology and goodness then you should find another book

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Not as great as expected

Reviewed: 08-27-20

Narration was good. As I Iistened, though, I kept asking myself when the book would really start to flesh out the characters and the plot. This could have been much better than it was. Very disappointed after all the hype.
UPDATE: well, DUH. I did not realize this was an abridged version or I would not have wasted a credit on it.

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I'm a huge fan, BUT

Reviewed: 07-23-20

Butcher really should have held this back... really just a filler story to set up for the next book. Always an enjoyable listen with James Marsters, but the story is incomplete and it ends with a cliff hanger. I should have waited for Battle Ground to come out and then got both at once.

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Fresh, but a real cop-out at the end

Reviewed: 01-22-20

I was engrossed until the final Boss Battle, when the author did a complete cop-out, cliff hanger mid-battle and went to the Epilogue. No explanation at all of how the wizard wound up in the bottle instead of the Jinni. What a disappointing end to such an fresh and novel story.

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A wonderful story

Reviewed: 02-17-18

I enjoyed this story thoroughly. Although it uses a few tropes, they are not overdone and the writing is so delightful I didn't care. The main character, Annie, is unique and charming, and so very well written. I love her take on things, and I can only describe her as 'cheeky'. One of the best depictions of a teenage girl I've read in many a long year.
Not only is this a very good YA novel, it would make an excellent movie.

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2 people found this helpful