Anonymous
- 29
- reviews
- 4
- helpful votes
- 480
- ratings
-
Best Served Cold
- By: Joe Abercrombie
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been 19 years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, and behind the scenes bankers, priests, and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.
-
-
Who Cares?
- By Shark Likes on 02-17-18
- Best Served Cold
- By: Joe Abercrombie
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
All violence, no plot or character development
Reviewed: 06-20-20
The story starts with a bad thing - then the protagonist seeks revenge over and over, violently. Very violently. Not much to like. Not much to be interested in. I really loved the First Law trilogy. First Law was violent, too violent, gratuitously violent, but the characters and plot made it worth it. Nine Fingers and "the cripple" held par with anything George RR ever wrote (or refused to finish). The female characters in First Law feel real and not objectified (ie, Guy Gavriel Kay, though I enjoy his books anyway). Steven Pacey is my new favorite reader, which is saying a lot given the hundreds of audiobooks I have. He has recognizable voices for each character, consistent through and across series! Amazing. But Best Served Cold has no likeable characters, and none of them have developed back stories or motivations. Even Steven Pacey couldn't save this one for me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
City of Girls
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Blair Brown
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance.
-
-
A strong story
- By Anita Kristensen on 06-08-19
- City of Girls
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Blair Brown
not a feminist
Reviewed: 06-23-19
I absolutely loved The Signature of All Things. I absolutely hated Eat, Pray, Love. This lands somewhere between for me - there are some interesting historic details and vivid characters - but the premise and plot ("free woman" ahead of her time, struggling with guilt, etc) just couldn't make me care. And, I agree with other reviewers that the second half of the book feels a bit pointless. Like Gilbert is trying to justify herself somehow. I much preferred Myla Goldberg's Feast Your Eyes for an amazing, historic, and truly feminist story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Oathbringer
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
- Length: 55 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost. The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.
-
-
A mixed bag of brilliance, marred by missteps
- By Leo on 11-24-17
- Oathbringer
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
this will not play on ipod
Reviewed: 04-24-18
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
if it had played - but it will not play on ipods. otherwise it would have been a great story. Beware Mac to ipod users that these longer books will no longer play after some random spot. it has happened with every longer book that I have attempted to listen to on an ipod.For mac users, there does not appear to be another light and clip on player that will work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
The Ruling Sea
- By: Robert V. S. Redick
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 27 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thasha's wedding is hours away. It is a wedding that will both fulfill the promise of a mad god's return and see her murdered. Pazel has thwarted the sorcerer who would bring back the god but both sides now face deadlock. Can Thasha be saved? Can the war between two Empires be stopped?
-
-
Excellent
- By Lisa on 05-10-10
- The Ruling Sea
- By: Robert V. S. Redick
- Narrated by: Michael Page
Excellent
Reviewed: 05-10-10
I was a bit worried after the first installment that this trilogy would be another copycat fantasy with limited plot. Happily, I was nicely surprised that this second book surpassed the first, and was a really enjoyable and engrossing listen.
Michael Page gives one of the best readings I have ever heard (right up there with Rob Inglis and Roy Dotrice) and manages to have distinct, recognizable voices for each and every character. I look forward to the finale!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
The Strain
- By: Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan
- Narrated by: Ron Perlman
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning Pan's Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event.
-
-
Good Not Great
- By Cara Rios on 06-04-09
- The Strain
- By: Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan
- Narrated by: Ron Perlman
Ugh, so awful
Reviewed: 04-05-10
Imagine a B Movie, filled with campy delights and obvious plot. Then take away the camp. And the delights. Then you have a really pointless, unbelievably poorly written, boring, predictable pile of goo. Break for another zombie/vampire conversion interlude. Ohhh, this one's in the subway... While I realize it's a serial, I hung in just to see if anything would happen in the end, but - NADA. Save your time and money.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
The Red Wolf Conspiracy
- By: Robert V. S. Redick
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Imperial Merchant Ship Chathrand is the last of her kind. Six hundred years old, the secrets of her construction long forgotten, the massive vessel dwarfs every other sailing craft in the world. It is a palace with sails, a floating outpost of the Empire of Arqual. And it is on its most vital mission yet: to deliver a young woman whose marriage will seal the peace between Arqual and its mortal enemy, the secretive Mzithrin Empire.
-
-
Not Bad, not great.
- By Aerindel on 10-15-09
- The Red Wolf Conspiracy
- By: Robert V. S. Redick
- Narrated by: Michael Page
Sooooo good
Reviewed: 10-26-09
It is, of course, difficult to judge a trilogy by one book, but I really enjoyed this first installment. There is a lot of description of new characters - at least five are introduced at length before the story gets under way, but I found the entire listen engaging and exciting - one of those I couldn't turn off, where I ignored the rest of my life just to listen more. I don't consider myself easy to please, but this book definitely swept me away. Of course, there is lots of magic realism (and lots of plain old magic) but it didn't seem silly. The character "types," while not entirely unrecognizable (small people, "awake" animals, sorcerers), were unique enough, and felt solid and interesting. It is not fair to compare this with George RR Martin (should he EVER bloody finish the Song of Ice and Fire), since his goal is sophisticated psychological character development and intrigue. Mr Redick seems more interested in the creation of a different universe, with more description of possible/unique types of creatures and societies - makes me think more of "Eragon," and Robert Jordan. Though, certainly the rest of the trilogy could prove me wrong on this point.
The sample on the home page of Michael Page's narration is not a good one - while his basic reading voice is a bit Stiff Old Brit, he does incredible character depictions, as good as I have ever heard. I really can't wait for the next book, and hope Audible gets it, as this was one of the most enjoyable listens I've had in a long time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
A Piece of Cake
- A Memoir
- By: Cupcake Brown
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are shelves of memoirs about overcoming the death of a parent, childhood abuse, rape, drug addiction, miscarriage, alcoholism, hustling, gangbanging, near-death injuries, drug dealing, prostitution, or homelessness. Cupcake Brown survived all these things before she'd even turned 20.
-
-
Religious
- By Nancy on 02-16-13
- A Piece of Cake
- A Memoir
- By: Cupcake Brown
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
First Step
Reviewed: 09-15-09
I think it's completely possible to live a life of extreme abuse, neglect and addiction, and not survive to be a great writer. Kudos to Cupcake for her journey to sobriety - she is clearly a person of tremendous inner strength - but the outcome of her writing is repetitive and hard to get through. This seems a bit odd, because the events themselves are pretty outrageous, so I guess the problem could be the writing style. The book reads like an expanded first step (of the famous 12), with exhaustive recounts of the rape, crime, beatings, loss, and excessive quantities of drugs and alcohol, endless missed opportunities for change, and the, FINALLY, minutiae of recovery, all using the same 3 adjectives. Perhaps it should be a required listen for people new to recovery, but as a memoir it's not so compelling. I found the book by searching for Bahni Turpin, since she was such an excellent narrator in The Help, and she did try to enliven the "negative behaviors" and events of Cupcake's life, but it still doesn't work for me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Cutting for Stone
- A Novel
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 23 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
-
-
An Epic Medical Novel
- By Audiophile on 07-11-09
- Cutting for Stone
- A Novel
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
Outstanding
Reviewed: 08-27-09
This was one of the best audiobooks I have heard in years, right up there with the best of the best - Angela's Ashes, Memoirs of a Geisha, Lord of the Rings - this is epic. The visceral and cerebral saga of a family, told step by step, with full blooded, gorgeous characters, and accurate medical descriptions. Dr Verghese grew up as an ethnic christian Indian in Ethiopia, and the cultural details seem real and are mesmerizing. History, medicine, religion, love, sex, culture, brotherhood, it is ALL there. I can't possibly say enough good things about this book, and am filled with admiration for Dr Verghese. He describes why medicine is an amazing profession, and why the narrative of life, no matter what the story, is important. Sunil Malhotra does a fantastic job as well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36. They were married when Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
-
-
One of my favorite books
- By Joey on 01-13-08
- The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
purposeless review
Reviewed: 08-27-09
So, it does seem somewhat pointless to write a review about a book that so many others have already written about. My hope is that other people will also write purposeless reviews, so that if their taste seems to match mine, I can follow their recommendations.
Time Traveler's Wife is really a love story, in fact, awfully similar to the original "Love Story," with some time traveling literary license. Problem for me is, the characters are somewhat unbelievable, and the story is way too long. I say this despite the fact that I live on audiobooks, and happily devour 100 hour sagas on a regular basis. This one is purposeless at times, with rare artsy descriptions and digressions that are annoying and seem completely separate from the rest of the narrative. Other than these, the author's main descriptive power seems to be in the endless insider naming of streets and bars in Chicago, most of which are mispronounced by the narrators. In fact, this is also a major downpoint to the book; audible and other publishers are making millions on these books, but the narrators can't seem to garner enough effort to actually investigate words they're unfamiliar with. Street names, along with words like "tra-PEE-zoid" and "vi-CO-din" appear with alarming regularity, and are distracting from the listen. Otherwise, it was ok, but I am confused by the rave reviews.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
The Girl Who Played with Fire
- A Lisbeth Salander Novel
- By: Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. On the eve of publication, the two reporters responsible for the story are brutally murdered.
-
-
irritatingly engrossing
- By David on 03-16-10
- The Girl Who Played with Fire
- A Lisbeth Salander Novel
- By: Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
Best of its kind
Reviewed: 08-10-09
This is definitely a fitting sequel to the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and was every bit as suspenseful and quirky. The protagonists are tantalizingly odd, and their bevy of magic-realism-level gifts and talents seems almost believable. Its easy to picture the late (and great) Mr Larsson downing the same incredible quantities of coffee that his characters drink (in fact, the only thing they seem to consume...) in order to work himself up to the frantic pace of the plot. Knowing that part of his goal was to draw attention to the plight of women caught in the sex trade, who have such limited power to defend and protect themselves, makes me appreciate the book even more.
One down side - some of the characters seem to be built entirely around odd medical diagnoses. In addition, the characterization of psychiatry as a profession is rather appalling, while Mr Larsson's own description of psychopathology is frequently limited to "antisocial" and "extraordinarily violent." That said, I enjoyed listening to it, and got completely carried away by the plot.
Simon Vance is a brilliant reader, and I am a huge fan; everything I have listened to which included him was compelling. I agree with the reviewer who mentioned how much cleaner her house has been since she couldn't put the book down - mine is too!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful