BFG

superb and cerebral "hard" sci-fi

Reviewed: 08-20-19

Truly brilliantly conceived and executed science-fiction, with imaginative use of plausible technologies, solidly good characterization, and engrossing exposition. A thoroughly enjoyable read!

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solid space opera in the style of Firefly

Reviewed: 01-02-19

Good ensemble of crew characters, interesting plot, and well paced. Good narration but nothing exceptional regarding voicing different characters. Romance very unrequited slow-burn. Good use of conflicting motivations among the crew and a likeable plucky captain. Overall solid space-opera adventure sci-fi, but nothing mind-blowingly original or exceptionally creative and the author uses many standard tropes in predictable ways without enough to really set it apart as unique or extremely compelling.

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very good and promising "grimdark" style fantasy

Reviewed: 01-09-17

Great characters and a good "tight" medium complexity of worldbuilding and medium (ASoIaF style)"magic" level so far that keeps the story easily digestable but moving excitingly with some great twists and cliffhangers, cool mysteries, and vivid cultural factions, particularly very multidimensional and interesting barbarian (somewhat Viking style) characters. I'm excited to see where this series goes. The quality of this book is well above average for the genre and really quite impressively fresh and different in some interesting ways that I enjoyed: playing off some seemingly familiar tropes (without spoiling too much of the plot). Also very entertainingly written, with some nicely described ultra-violence, without being pulp or low-brow or seeming cheesy. Not the absolute most literary fantasy out there but definitely plenty high enough up in that direction with adequate nuance to satisfy many, myself included, despite its also satisfying "grimdark" tone.

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must read if you like cats + Steampunk!

Reviewed: 04-11-16

This is top quality Steampunk, period, but also offers some unique and excellent conceptual elements. Sapient talking cat's POV, psychology, culture, and behaviors are hilariously awesome; almost anyone who likes pet cats should really love and enjoy this book based on that aspect alone. Nice deep characterizations; complex and entertaining villains. Cool magic-system and awesome worldbuilding. Elements of Royal Navy (Patrick O'Brian style) story with some Star Trek like concepts thrown in (in a good way) Steampunk-style. Great plot and pacing. Great general narration and voices. Plenty of strong female characters that easily pass the Bechdel test. Can't wait to read the continuation of this series and read where it goes.

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great concept & plot, but mixed to poor execution

Reviewed: 01-27-16

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes, more mature (less juvenile/peurile), situationally realistic, and plausible dialogue and banter would be nice. So much more and better could've been done with many potentially good human characters. Krall characters were good though, and the aliens are generally well described.

If you’ve listened to books by Stephen W. Bennett before, how does this one compare?

This is the first of his books that I've read.

What didn’t you like about Patrick Freeman’s performance?

I personally actually liked the subtle background sound effects, Krall growls, Krall voices, AI computer voice effects, and some of the human character voices. So it seemed like the book was "well produced/engineered" — that said, the narration was indeed terrible (as many other commenters have noted), with weird long stresses and inflections on some words or syllables and pacing of sentences or phrases often seemed off. In many cases this was to a noticeably annoying degree that detracted from the listening experience.

Was Koban, Book 1 worth the listening time?

Yes, despite the major issues with the narration performance and some of the juvenile dialogue, I think it was worth a credit. The plot and general concept of this series is interesting and entertaining. Bennett is clearly no Robert Heinlein — and I doubt his other books are going to be "great literature" any more than this one was based on the poor quality of much of his dialogue... but I'm nonetheless intrigued to see where this series goes and find out if it improves in later installments.

Any additional comments?

I'm curious to see how this series will continue with a different narrator for the second book, but perhaps without the sound effects...

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1 person found this helpful

getting more into this series as it continues

Reviewed: 06-13-15

great worldbuilding and interesting interactions between complex and compelling characters... this series intrigues and draws me in the more I read of it!

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complex races & worldbuilding: excellent fantasy!

Reviewed: 06-02-15

The complexity of the races was a bit hard to follow at times, but overall that really only speaks to the depth of worldbuilding in this series... By any measure, this is an excellent fantasy novel and a satisfying read for fans of the genre. The characters are complex and interesting. Also, the narrator is superb.

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ignoramus emo narrator can't pronounce things!

Reviewed: 05-09-15

A rather stolid and predictable slog to an inevitable rather than epic conclusion with several spin-off series apparently ensuing on a devastated Earth and among mercenaries fighting on the colony worlds... Anyway, the increasingly annoying emo ignoramus narrator who can't pronounce many dozens of English and foreign words properly was a definite detraction from my enjoyment... I liked many books in this series and considered them entertaining, albeit not ground-breaking or ingeniously literary, but this book just wasn't up to par compared to the rest, and contained a lot of repetitive recap.

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1 person found this helpful

Not as good a reader as the other audio version...

Reviewed: 06-18-12

Where does A Short History of Nearly Everything rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book is one of the best popular science books ever written. I have assigned students to listen to and read multiple versions of it during class over the years. Not only is it accessible and mind-blowingly fascinating, its history of modern science and all the idiosyncrasies of the major scientists who gave birth to its manifold discoveries is truly superb! And it's even pretty funny too, as educational books go.

Who was your favorite character and why?

So many of the scientists that Bryson's work concisely humanizes (and brings to life the rivalries of) are both memorable and fascinating. There are some truly bizarre and surprising anecdotes in this book.

What three words best describe Richard Matthews’s performance?

Not bad, but very stuffy British sounding, with almost a pomposity to his tone... The other audio version I have heard was MUCH better (not sure if it was read by the author or someone else), but it might have been the CD version (though it was unfortunately abridged). In summary, this is the only unabridged audible version I know of that is available for this excellent book.

Any additional comments?

Superb book overall, but the reader could be better.

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