Anonymous

Lois McMaster Bujold and Grover Gardner are my fav

Reviewed: 08-06-18

This author and narrator pair are my go-to when I want a listening experience as cozy and relaxing as flannel pajamas and hot soup on a snow day. I turn to these stories again and again in between new listening experiences and they never get boring. Lois McMaster Bujold writes some of my favorite characters and mesmerizing escapades, while Grover Gardner is THE BEST at balancing interesting character voices with an even relaxing overall narration. I love how the volume doesn't jump from loud to soft so I can set a listening volume and just enjoy the story. Most of my listening is while I am relaxing into sleep at night but these stories are also grand on long car trips.

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1 person found this helpful

My Favorite McKillip Yet

Reviewed: 12-20-13

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I sometimes find the plots of Patricia A. McKillips books to be difficult to follow and lacking coherence, but she more than makes up for that with her wonderfully lyrical writing. She has the unique ability to paint vivid and fantastical images in your mind with her words that flow with rhythm and a living heartbeat.

This story I enjoyed thoroughly from beginning to end. It is loaded with McKillip's abstract concepts, but the story has a symmetry to it that makes it feel whole and complete in the end.

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5 people found this helpful

Best of Pratchett

Reviewed: 12-20-13

Any additional comments?

I am not a huge Pratchett fan. I find most of his work enjoyable enough, but I don't often feel a strong connection with his characters and can sometimes lose interest in his stories.

This series is different. The Nac Mac Feegle are fantastic, and Stephen Briggs does a great job bringing them to life.

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Lost interest halfway through

Reviewed: 12-20-13

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book and I think, perhaps I set my expectations too high based on the recommendations of this book from others and the potential hinted at in the beginning of the book.

I thought the book was going to lead into some great mystery/conspiracy about what was happening to the people leaving the planet, but then it turned into a vanilla space war book.

The characters were two dimensional stereotypes, and the dialogue was difficult to listen to at times. I appreciated the humor early in the book, but it got old and felt forced/unnatural as the book went on.

I just finished listening to the first half and do not feel a strong compulsion to finish.

Would you ever listen to anything by John Scalzi again?

I downloaded Redshirts, but have not listened to it yet.

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1 person found this helpful

Enjoyable listen

Reviewed: 12-20-13

What did you love best about The Forgotten Beasts of Eld?

This was not my favorite book by Patricia A. McKillip, but it does not take a great story to enjoy her writing. The words in her books have a cadence and poetry to them that often feels like you are listening them from a song in a dream. The narrator does an excellent job of capturing this rhythm in her reading.

Like dreams, the imagery of McKillip's books can often be vivid and full of feeling, but it can also be difficult to track in a coherent story. I feel like I was missing some deeper meaning/metaphor of the Liralen and the Blammor, and so came away from the book feeling slightly dissatisfied.

I would still recommend listening to this book based on the beauty of the writing and the great narration.

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5 people found this helpful

Probably a good read

Reviewed: 08-15-06

I liked the story and I liked the narrator. Each would probably be excellent on their own, but the methodical pace of the story combined with the methodical pace of the reader was a combination I had a hard time enjoying.

It was one of those stories where I would find myself missing chunks of the story after mentally blanking out, but not wanting to rewind and re-listen. In the end I could look back at the story with fond memories, but much of the listening process seemed like a chore that must be accomplished. Perhaps if I had a newer iPod with the ability to speed up audio books without changing the pitch, I might have enjoyed the experience more.

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Classic with excellent narrator

Reviewed: 10-27-05

Rob Inglis is an excellent narrator for this classic novel. I have owned this audio set on tape for years and have listened to it many times over.

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1 person found this helpful