Shawna Lanne

Monotony

Reviewed: 12-21-24

I have been trying to finish this title for literally months. I'm finally throwing in the towel. I have 3 hours left and i can't do it. The plot is exciting - but the voice actor failed to keep me engaged and the expository interludes are repetitive and at some point stopped giving insight and just became annoying, much like main character who i grew to dislike the longer I listened.

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Interesting and Interactive in a New Way

Reviewed: 09-29-22

Since it is about the art and science of listening to music; I don't think that it would be nearly as enjoyable to experience this any other way. And it is an experience with suggested play lists that illustrate each of the seven different listener profiles, which the author says is comprised of "seven different dimensions of music that taken together reveal why the reward you reap from listening to music are unique,..." I love that it is interactive The author, Susan Rogers was a music producer, engineer and mixer for 22 years best known for her work with Prince from 1983-1987 - which included the album Purple Rain. After retiring she went on to get her doctorate in behavioral neuroscience. .... Anyhow, all of this to say if you love music and you love reading/listening to books, I highly recommend this. Also, my listener pull is Sinead O'Connor - her early work, particularly "Emperor's New Clothes" "Feel so Different," and "Three Babies."

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26 people found this helpful

Confusing

Reviewed: 05-24-22

Maybe I am an outlier but I do not like this audio version of the book. I listen to a lot of audiobooks - and everything, from sci-fi to fantasy, bio, meditation. Everything. I have never come across a book that I have had to start over three times because I can't follow the story. I don't know if it is because of the writing or the narrator, but I am guessing the narrator. There is not enough variety in her speaking voice for me to follow who is talking when and there is a clipped way that she ends sentences that simply clears my head? I don't really know if I like or dislike the story itself because I am not retaining it. It is weird.

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Enjoyable

Reviewed: 10-21-21

I would first like to address the reviews that have noted that they were not "warned" that this was a pandemic themed short story anthology. It is in the title. I do not know how much clearer this would need to be "Strange in Place: Tales from the Homefront of the New Paranormal." It is in the title.
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It took me a while for me to be able to read or in this case listen to, anything about Covid or more specifically life during this pandemic. I was Covided out. But I was flipping through books and nothing else felt right. I have listened to and read so many books over the last two years, and I am a voracious reader, if people knew how much I listened some might say even say addicted to books. I am kind of burnt out. And short stories have never been a favorite format of mine. But I have enjoyed this.

This anthology covers a spectrum of feelings that I think many of us can relate to. The stories range from the wonderfully ridiculous to the fantastic to the mundane - all somehow imbued with the existential angst that so many of us have felt over the last two years. Without veering into the political.

Some stories I have enjoyed more than others - and some of the voice actors have been better than others, but I enjoyed all of them in one way or another. Even the one that took the cleaning frenzy to its logical, if fantastic conclusion. It is a good anthology.

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It Goes On and On and On and On

Reviewed: 08-18-21

I tried. I really did and I am someone who will listen to a 23 hour audio book straight through with some sleep in between and then back to it. But this? Pointless prose that just goes on and on and on with no real point. I could not finish it. It is rare that I write a review for a book that I didn't finish it, but this was hours of no plot progression.

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3 people found this helpful

Still Actually Angry From Listening

Reviewed: 09-27-20

I need to listen to audiobooks when I drive. It relaxes me but at the same time keeps me alert. So I was kind of trapped for far too much of this book. Not that I ended up finishing it. I'm not a masochist.
While trapped and driving I gave some thought to what I disliked the most.
Would the female protagonist sound so incredibly unlikable if I had read it myself? Would I think she was not only emotionally stunted, which was a given and part of the story so okay, but also intellectually stunted if the VO actress hadn't read her like she was slowly searching for words she didn't quite know the meaning of? I don't know and I'll never find out for sure.
But when I got a bit deeper into the book, and I gathered more insight into the hero, he was also unlikable and not that bright, but the VO actor wasn't bad, so it wasn't him.
Oh also, the female VO really didn't distinguish much with the voices, so figuring out who was talking if there was more than one woman in a scene took that extra beat of time.
I can't recommend this at all.

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Excellent

Reviewed: 08-17-20

I loved this book, I listened with my daughter and it is such a sweet story of love and acceptance. My daughter is part of the LGBTQ community and it was especially gratifying to see romances (it's a very pg romance) for the LGBTQ normalized.

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Good for the Family

Reviewed: 05-11-20

I like to listen to audiobooks while driving. I picked this for when my daughter is in the car with me. We went to my mom's for a safely socially distant Mother's Day brunch and I put this on in the car. As we were exiting at home my daughter told me she "was really enjoying the book." I said great, we can listen to it in the car next time. She then asked if we could finish it in the house, right then.

Of course I said yes.

This is a great story for all the RPG (Role Playing Games) lovers out there. In this world real people live in a world that is based on RPGs. My daughter specifically told me that there was a lot of Zelda in it, which was never my jam, but I recognized all the usual RPG tropes.

It's a coming of age story that touches on what it means to be hetoic and why doing things in a traditional manner, just because they've always been done that way, isn't always the smartest choice. One message is that it's okay to question things.

It is a light and fun YA novel and I highly recommend it.

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2 people found this helpful

Great Except for the "Italian" Accent

Reviewed: 02-20-20

The story is great and most of the actors I fall into their charecters. Some choices of accents I like better than others, some of the voices started out annoying but as I got into the story, it became better. I hoped that was what would happen with Mars. I waited three books, 50-60 hours of reading to comment, but I have to comment.

Because this is a fantasy world accents are not defined by anyone but the reader/author. So why did they choose a chef boy r dee Italian accent for Mars and really all the men from his kingdom, we just hear Mars the most. It is so awful. It is I want to throw my device across the room. His accent makes me laugh and throw up a bit when he talks about s*xual things, it's so freaking awful. Mars' people are reported as the most um, hyper s*xual, open, something s*xual in some ways, people in this world, and they chose to have the voice actor do a cheap Lothario sounding accent? It's kind of stereotyping and if I were Italian I'd be insulted.

I'm mad because this isn't available in print because of the deal Ashley did with Audible, and I can't just go read it, so I can enjoy Mars and Silence's part of the story. I'm going to finish this, (hello I already 50 - 60 hours in) so clearly I am enjoying it, but it is DESPITE the Mars character, and if this hadn't come free with my escape package I would not have spent money on part two or three. I would have been done after the first book.

Anyhow, storywise, this is epic, I can't wait until the fourth installment!

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1 person found this helpful

Great Introduction

Reviewed: 02-02-20

I have both read and listened to this book several times, the narrator has a good voice for the story and it is both a great addition to the MercyVerse as well as a great start to a new thread.

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