Janean Laidlaw

Another enjoyable Gavriel Kay

Reviewed: 05-24-25

A good set of characters, both major and minor, and only a few stories at left unresolved by the end.

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A story from another era. Memorable characters.

Reviewed: 12-13-24

This was a very good story -- episodic in nature. Memorable chracters. True to the era in which it was set. Definitely told with a point of view, but not overly preachy.

The narration was excellent.

My only small quibble is that I thought the ending was ever-so-slightly abrupt.

Would definitely recommend.

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Dull, Plodding, Preachy

Reviewed: 05-09-24

SOOOOO disappointed. Another novel by this author ("The Secrets Between Us") is one of my favorites, and I have recommended it highly. I would return this book if it were eligible for return. (Not eligible, because I bought it on sale. I was so excited!)

Indian-American guy returns to India. Had a dysfunctional relationship with his mother, who is now very sick. (We learn this within the first chapter or two.) Turns out that although he "loves" America, he (or, more to the point, this author, I assume) also sees America, his adopted country, as endemically racist. Barack Obama was the **only** enlightened and bright hope of our nation. It has all been downhill since the Obama era. In recent years, every American's hidden bigotry has been revealed. Other American national sins (besides hidden bigotry) are also subject to rumination.

Worse yet, the plot is slow and dull. The dialogue is tedious.

SUCH a disappointment.

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1 person found this helpful

Unfinished Story; Careless World-Building

Reviewed: 02-27-24

First of all, don't bother purchasing this book if you expect it to be a complete story. I mean, yes, I understand that this is part of a quad story -- but that doesn't excuse the author from leaving this first part of the quad incomplete. If you want to find out how this first adventure winds up, you will be forced to purchase and read (or listen to ) the second book -- not to continue the overall story, but just to finish the FIRST ADVENTURE. That is a cheat. (I read many, many multi-part fantasy and sci-fi series, and I don't resent the idea of multi-part stories. But this one ends MID-ADVENTURE, rather than MID-CYCLE.)

I am not inclined to purchase the second book, even to finish the adventure, because this first one is just a loosely-written Hunger Games-wannabe.

Sorry to contradict the glowing reviews of others, but this book is carelessly written.

Examples: The cyrens speak different languages, and only one of their many languages can be understood by humans, whom they disdain. Yet, during at least one scene in the book, the cyrens are speaking amongst themselves, but the human in the room can understand them. So, are they speaking in "the Common Tongue"? Why? They never speak "the Common Tongue" amongst themselves, right? And they aren't saying anything that they want the human to understand -- their conversation is for their own benefit. So how does then human understand them???

Another example: One human has been captured by the cyrens and his name (a shortened version, a nickname, but a nickname that is quite close to his full name) is well known from the git-go. Yet, it isn't until more than a month later that, somehow, the human-musician-capturing cyrens somehow realize that this guy is someone who has, for DECADES, been super-high on their "to-capture" list! This failure to recognize the guy at first (especially when they have his bleepin' NAME!!!) is never explained. Nor is it explained how the sudden epiphany came about, such that now, after more than a month, VOILÀ, they suddenly know who he is!

Another example: Two humans see each other and seem to begin to get to know one another: They ask each other where they are from; one begins to show off a tattoo... then this get-to-know-you session is interrupted. There is no more serious contact between them after that. Yet, toward the very end of the book (slight, slight spoiler here), one of these humans leaves the larger group, and says to the other: "Good-bye, old friend." I was expecting that this would be explained. But, no. Is it an internal inconsistency? Or is it explained in one of the next three books? ANNOYING AS ALL HELL!

Last example: There is a great deal of guilt and to-do about the main character cheating during a card game. Yet, because of all the emphasis on the cyrens' placing a great deal of VALUE on "cunning," as well as their knowing that they cannot trust each other, I would expect that the friends against whom she cheated would have been just as likely to cheat HER... Internal inconsistency, in my opinion.

Also, not an internal inconsistency, but a serious breakdown in logic: The cyrens love music (but won't play instruments themselves -- and the reason given is, in my opinion, very, very lame and contrived!). So they have to go up and out into the human realm and must capture human musicians in order to satisfy their music "fix." But once they capture these musicians, the cyrens apparently just "play them into the ground" (my own phrase). The human musicians are forced to play pretty much constantly. Their clothes become ragged; they lose weight; they die soon-ish after capture. But: WHY???? Okay, the cyrens are cruel and kinda narcissistic. But they aren't STUPID! Why would they treat such a valuable commodity so badly??? Why wouldn't they treat these human musicians well? Why wouldn't they treat the human musicians at least as well as a farmer treats his prize bull? Feed them well, offer rest? Extend their useful lives as far as possible? It makes no sense!

I am too annoyed with the author and with the gaps in the story to bother with the next part. I don't appreciate the bait-and-switch aspect of this story (the ending being a total cliff-hanger). And, as noted, the book is carelessly written. I could offer several further examples of careless writing and of what are, in my opinion, internal inconsistencies, but I will end this review here.

Go ahead and purchase the book if you want an imitation Hunger Games featuring sirens (cyrens). Be prepared to purchase additional books in the series just in order to complete a single adventure.

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1 person found this helpful

Almost Outstanding

Reviewed: 12-11-23

Really enjoyed this book, but found a few parts to be carelessly -- almost hastily -- written, and a few other parts to be annoyingly trite and repetitive.

The GOOD: Even though the plot was entirely predictable, the action was good and the story generally carried along well (but: see "the bad," below, for exceptions to the plot carrying along well). The characters were mostly compelling. There was witty dialogue (almost all on the part of the heroine). Once you accept that you have purchased a rather silly Elizabethan-era romance to begin with, there is little necessity to suspend further disbelief; the author takes care to fill most potential plot holes.

The BAD: There are FAR too many moments of: "Oh! He/She suddenly realized that he/she was truly/deeply in love with him/her" (for the fourth, fifth, sixth time?), as he/she could tell by the special "look" in his/her eyes or by some revelatory comment. TOO MANY EPIPHANIES!!!

Also BAD: There were some "skips" in the story line. At a few points I wondered if I had inadvertently skipped ahead in the story. (I had not.) It was disconcerting to discover (well after the fact) that the characters had spent weeks at a certain venue in England (as the heroine reminisces about this), but this was all glossed over during the time it happens within the story, and was only revealed in retrospect. Similarly, I apparently missed a plot point during which the heroine reacts (I will not say how) to a servant's warning. Maybe I really did miss the warning and the heroine's reaction, but I don't think so. (This interaction is casually referred to near the end of the book.)

It is as if the author had outlined the book, but was too lazy or too rushed to actually WRITE all of the sections in the outline, and too lazy to even sketch in the missing parts.

Overall, it's a good romance. Could have been really excellent. Not worth a re-read or re-listen, as is, but I did enjoy it.

Not sure the narrator was the best choice; he's fine, and I thought he was good in a different series he narrated, but in this story, I grew tired of his ever-gravelly voice.

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1 person found this helpful

The Best Fun on the Far Side of the Apocalypse

Reviewed: 10-15-23

Loved it!

Literally laughed out loud at a few parts.

I believe that this sort of adventure would typically be termed “rollicking,” although that is not a word that is usually associated with the post-apocalyptic genre. Nevertheless, rollicking it is!

Imaginative, cleverly observed, filled with dry wit, not taking itself at all seriously, and action-packed start to finish.

Not since “The Ugly Vampire” have I enjoyed a ridiculous (but simultaneously well-plotted) story (in this case, series of three stories) so much!!

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The Best Fun on the Far Side of the Apocalypse

Reviewed: 10-15-23

Loved it!

Literally laughed out loud at a few parts.

I believe that this sort of adventure would typically be termed “rollicking,” although that is not a word that is usually associated with the post-apocalyptic genre. Nevertheless, rollicking it is!

Imaginative, cleverly observed, filled with dry wit, not taking itself at all seriously, and action-packed start to finish.

Not since “The Ugly Vampire” have I enjoyed a ridiculous (but simultaneously well-plotted) story (in this case, series of three stories) so much!!

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Merry Romp; Superb Narration

Reviewed: 08-20-23

This fun, clever story doesn't take itself too seriously, and is all the more delightful because it does not. The endearing characters, however, are drawn with texture and with dimension, and are not mere cartoons.

The plot is at times predictable, and at times contains a few surprises. At all times, the writing is thoroughly enjoyable, and the narrator is exceptionally well-suited to the story, and does a marvellous job!

LOVE IT!!!

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1 person found this helpful

Spoiler Alert Ahead

Reviewed: 06-28-23

SPOILER ALERT!!

Couldn’t listen after the main character so joyously decided to abort the baby who was the only offspring of her beloved fiancé and the only remaining life/link to the son of the fiancé's bereft and grieving parents. The author pretended that she had no other option. Seemed like pro-choice propaganda. Sad, sad, sad.

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5 people found this helpful

Top-Shelf True Crime

Reviewed: 06-11-23

This is a sad story of an infuriating sociopath -- albeit a very intelligent and cunning one (which makes him fascinating, as well as horrible). The police work that led to his capture was exceptional; one prosecutor is a maladroit doofus. All characters are described well, and the narrative is clean and clear.

As others have written: How did I never hear about this killer? (Although certain parts of the book help to explain some of why he is not as well-known as he might be.) Chiilingly, his crimes occured in places and at times where and when both I and my family members lived and might have been. Of course, he preyed so widely, that you may find the same to be true for you. RFeally, almost anyone could have been his victim[s].

Others have complained about the narrator's "man voice." Okay, the narrator doesn't do a terrific "man voice," but I wouldn't have noticed the quality at all, had other reviewers not complained. I didn't find it at all distracting -- certainly not a reason to avoid this book.

I was NOT disappointed. (Horrified, yes -- but also fascinated. And not disappointed.)

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