Nancy Olson

An apocalyptic tale rivaling the stand

Reviewed: 06-19-21

This apocalypse started with fire in a cornfield and three words to the former wrestlers, black Frankenstein, protect the child. Sue Wanda or Swan has the power to bring the scorched earth back to life with her main enemy the creature with many faces that calls himself friend although he is anything but. An engaging story about the end of the world every bit as good as the stand!

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Interesting story

Reviewed: 10-31-20

This is a story I have seen many times but the characters are well fleshed out giving a chance to feel you know them. No name is a self effacing hero, the bad guy very bad with no mercy at all. Ultimately a engaging story!

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I have read a lot of stories

Reviewed: 06-02-20

Joe Hill rarely disappoints. This is an unusual story with a cryptic ending in which a bully gets his just desserts! An older brother with a younger with special needs and a mysterious arrangement of boxes in which you can get lost!

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Wonderful story!

Reviewed: 11-25-18

I really enjoyed this book. I have been an avid reader since I was nine and many times I lose interest in a book because I have read that story in one form or another over and over again. This book gave me a story I have not read before. It is about, for lack of a better word, an amusement park but it is so much more than that! The park is run by a “meta net” designed by one man. When bad things start to happen in the park, Warren, the man who developed the net, is called in to take his metanet down. As the story develops it becomes clear that his creation, and thus Utopia, are being held hostage. The story doesn’t have much set up, it grabs your interest right away and keeps it. The story moves fast and has lots of action and some twists and turns. Utopia is a thoroughly good romp and will entertain from start to satisfying finish!

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Good start but fizzled in the middle.

Reviewed: 07-01-17

This book is set in one of our planets and is about class war. The red divers are told that they are working to terraform the planet and their sacrifice is for the good of all mankind. Trouble is that the planet was habitable centuries ago and the divers are still working and dying in a hellish place. A mans wife is martyred and he is enlisted to take on the persona and life of the golden people ostensibly to end the subjugation of his people. The problem is that he really becomes one of them not just in appearance but also in attitude. I think there must be other books because when it ends our hero has won the contest to be the top golden one. I liked the original direction the book took with a just cause but I really felt it lost its way after that. Perhaps another book would wrap up the story and help it make sense.

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Real science + Unseen University chaos

Reviewed: 12-27-16

Where does The Science of Discworld rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was a good book put together in an unexpected way. I would rank it a nice solid B+ of a book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I always love Rincewind the Wizard because he is so funny in a fatalistic kind of way.

What does Michael Fenton Stevens and Stephen Briggs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

they brought in hard science explained in a way that was easy to understand and entertaining.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No moving parts in this book. Just plenty of laughs!

Any additional comments?

It was so unexpected to find this mixture of science and the Disc World. It was funny and informative moving back-and-forth between the narrator explaining the science of things going on in disc world and the Unseen University with Ridcully and the other wizards being pompous and totally ridiculous moving about in a constructed time and world of the past. Rincewind and "The Luggage" were funny and entertaining as always with Rincewind being gloomy and fatalistic in the most entertaining and funny way. Not your traditional Disc World book but highly entertaining and informative at the same time. Well worth reading.

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Very illuminating!

Reviewed: 07-02-16

I have read the sociopath next door and enjoyed it immensely. This book is different in that he did not cobble together composites of sociopaths. Instead used examples of a variety of different sociopaths that we are all familiar with. He gave practical tips on how to spot a sociopath and avoid the web of lies and deceit. The narrators voice was wonderful and easy to listen to. This is good reading for anyone who wants to be able to deal with somebody they think is the same as everyone else but is actually a sociopaths laying a net to catch you.

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Good story except lapses into graphic sex.

Reviewed: 04-26-16

This was a really great monster story. It started with the Mistry about what happened on New Year's eve which you didn't find out until later in the story. It kept my interest and what happened on New Year's eve was unexpected and unusual. The story overall was pretty good. There were however, lapses into gratuitous explicit sex scenes which I did not appreciate. I did enjoy all the characters, I cared about them and felt they were quite three-dimensional. The Evolution of the story was quite good keeping your interest all the way through.

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2 people found this helpful

Wow! What a ride in that Rolls Royce!

Reviewed: 08-24-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

My husband and I loved this book! The villain was deliciously evil, but the best part is he really thought he was a good guy taking all the good children to "Christmas Land". He was sooo creepy and evil and the henchman he chose was just smart enough to be dangerous but not smart enough to get away from the bad guy in the end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Charlie Manx! He was delightfully evil and totally unrepentant! The stories he told those poor children trapped in the back of his Rolls would sound good to a child, but the dawning horrible realization they were trapped and going to a nightmare place was slow and terrible.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved when Victoria, the mother, came roaring in on her motorcycle, freed her child and destroyed Christmas land.

If you could rename NOS4A2, what would you call it?

Nothing can beat that name. It is a play on the famous seer Nosforatu and is the perfect name.

Any additional comments?

A thrill all the way through. Virtually no set up, just right into this engrossing world as told by the very talented son of Stephen King. Joe has his own voice very different from his famous father. You would never be fooled into thinking he was anyone else.

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1 person found this helpful

I saw the movie and wanted to read the book.

Reviewed: 08-24-15

Would you try another book from Pittacus Lore and/or Neil Kaplan?

I'm not sure I would. this book was YA and while I can sometimes enjoy that genre I found this one to be somewhat slow. the development was laborious and I kept waiting for the fateful aliens to come down and finish off"4". It just moved way too slow for me.

Would you recommend I Am Number Four to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably not. I might tell them to read it if they saw the movie but I would tell them that the set up is long and the action slow.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I enjoyed the story of an isolated young man coming into manhood and having his first real relationship. Those stories are always sweet and romantic.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I did see the move. I remember the movie being mildly entertaining as well. I would give that a 3 star rating too. for the same reasons.

Any additional comments?

Worth reading if you can get past the long set up.

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