LISTENER

Nickolai P.

  • 14
  • reviews
  • 26
  • helpful votes
  • 101
  • ratings

Deliciously gripping from cover to cover

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-21-23

The description had held down my expectations initially; after all, how interesting could a story centered around a library really be? It turns out that it could be packed with mysteries to be gradually unravelled by imperfect yet highly likeable characters. The setup and payoff that occurs within the span of this one book is immense and would surely take the grand prize if there was a contest for such things. Mark Lawrence has always had a knack for injecting his worlds with an air of mystery, a skill he has built up throughout his career to arrive at the level of mastery showcased here. Every few chapters yielded another delicious revelation to a question subtly posed so many chapters back. I can only hope that the next book is half as interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Started slow but built up to a big finish

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-26-22

I am likely to be in the minority here, but after reading all the previous books in this setting, the start of this one did not hook me at all. There was almost no connection to any of the previous books at first, and the protagonist was not immediately likeable since she came off as self-absorbed, presumptuous, and reckless. Fortunately, as the story progresses, familiar characters are introduced and stick around for a good chunk of the overall story. Many of the questions left unanswered from the previous instalment are elucidated by the events that take place throughout this journey which certainly feels rewarding. Finally, there is the ending which seems pretty controversial at first glance, but once you consider how well it was set up throughout, it starts to become very fitting indeed. I have to add - and this might be a minor spoiler - that because we already know all about the afterlife from the other books in the series, the stakes don't seem all that high and honestly, we have not spent enough time with the characters for the emotional impact to be particularly high.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Origional and thought provoking

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-01-20

A great hard scifi story that builds upon the previous installment and shows you concepts and ideas on what truly alien life might be like warpped up in a compelling narrative that both entertains and makes you think.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Very fascinating but lacks some cohesion

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-11-20

The content was very interesting indeed but I had hoped for more to tie it altogether. Each chapter was engaging and had truly fascinating information presented but nothing really tied them together and you could very well switch the order of most of the chapters and hardly notice much of a difference. I really wish there was more of an overarching theory or something to tie the different navigation methods together or at least a summary chapter which just collated all the different animals discussed throughout the book and categorised them. That would make the content much easier to remember and digest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Untrustworthy and aimless

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-23-19

I've listened through most of it and gave the benefit of the doubt as much as is reasonable, listening to 3/4 of the way to the end. Unfortunately, the best I can say is that the recounting of some of the statements and arguments of ancient philosophers was somewhat thought-provoking even though I did not find most of the analysis to be insightful or useful. Much of the philosophizing struck me as building castles in the sky - the arguments may be elaborate and flow logically but are ultimately built on faulty assumptions disconnected with reality.

This is compounded by the aimlessness throughout the course but especially found in the later chapters. They seem to have only tenuous connections to the main questions stated in the beginning and do not obviously advance our understanding of the topic. This leads to an overall impression of the course as just being a mishmash collection of observations and commentary which does not form a strong cohesive whole and does not lead to any clear cut conclusions. I would have found arguments backed up by hard science to be more persuasive and insightful but what is presented in this book is not well presented or perhaps not well researched as evidenced by the presentation of the ego-depletion hypotheses. This idea is highly suspect and there has been a lot of criticism and failure to replicate research backing the claims made by the hypotheses. None of this was mentioned and the idea was portrayed as de facto hard fact. This kind of misinformation should not be taken lightly and casts serious doubt on the accuracy of the rest of the content.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Had hoped for more

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-01-19

Thr information was rather general and nothing stood out as particularly profound or insightful. I got the impression that the entire field is in its infancy with many more questions than any actual anwsers or hard science.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great ending to the series

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-02-19

A very comprehensive ending to the story which wraps up all the character threads and leaves you with a good idea of what path they will travel after the everything ends. There are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting and you do not really know what will happen to everyone until the climax passes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Brilliant

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-18-19

Loved every minute of it. The narrator was a perfect fit. The way the way all of the plot points came together and resolved so cleanly was majestic and a rare thing to experience. I can hardly wait to see what Mark will cook up next.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Mildly interesting but unfocused

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-05-18

I think the biggest flaw with this series is a lack of unifying thesis or theme. Yes, it does all connect back to The Prince but not in any focused or interesting way. This makes the series more or less a collection of bits of context and sometimes interesting facts surrounding The Prince and its author. This already weak formula is furthermore diluted with sections of commentary which I find somewhat out of place and which add very little to the substance of the series while lengthening it needlessly. These are comments of a personal nature or the tired metaphor of "Machiavelli is in Hell" which I felt only bloated the lecture which was already lacking in interesting content to begin with. While I did gather some interesting facts about the context around the creation of The Prince and some very brief but interesting history on how it influenced European thought in the centuries after its publication, I find it very difficult to recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Solid SciFi held back by immersion breaking device

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-22-18

The narrative was fairly intelligent and worked in science into the fiction admirably enough. Sadly, I constantly felt my immersion assaulted by out of place contemporary culture references which made it doubly difficult to connect with the characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!