Rusty Ship

Good, but filed a little rushed.

Reviewed: 01-25-21

Could have more and better developed and longer, but entertaining nonetheless.

And no CIA leader would use a Taurus handgun.

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Enjoyable, but starting to feel repetitive.

Reviewed: 11-19-20

Ennotable, but BV's charactersare starting to feel like recycling of previous characters. that said if it turns into a series, I'll at least try the next book.

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Hugely Resonate With Current Events

Reviewed: 06-27-20

A good listen that resonates with what is going on in this country politically and socially. Released before the George Floyd murder, and yet the historical narrative she paints draws a direct line from Floyd and subsequent protests and political responses back to the civil war and further back to the first colonies. The main things I got out of this book:

*The American Paradox - When "all men are created equal" was written, it really did refer to white Christian men, which is counter to the idea of a Democracy.

* Though the players are different, the same economic and political forces are at work that were in play 150 or even 400 years ago. Similar arguments, narratives, myths, and tactics to gain power. Fundamentally, it boils down to individualism vs collectivism, which she argues is in political practicality, Oligarchy vs Democracy.

* Those in history that sought to defend (or do nothing about) racism, white supremacy, slavery, oppression of native Americans, Latinos, and Chinese often used individual liberty, state's rights, and property protection as their defense.

* Establishing a class hierarchy, with a class lower than your target constituents, is critical for the oligarchy to stay in power. Not only did that lower class refer to certain races, but also women.

* Despite the fact that I've read about it and seen it in media and movies, the continued oppression of minorities after the civil war, really hit home. It gave me a deeper understanding of what minorities have gone through historically and why they are where they are today. In conjunction with Floyd murder, I have a better understanding why black people have a right to be angry.

And make no mistake, in the end she goes after "movement conservatism" hard. Not with myth, vignettes, and false narratives like that side likes to use, but with an actual contiguous historical narrative based on events and words that moves the listener from one period of time to another, from the 400 years ago to now.

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Still trying to decide if I liked it or not

Reviewed: 03-05-18

Interesting, different story. Narrator did okay with the story that was probably pretty hard to narrate. It may be a week or two and possibly even an alternate reality before I decide whether I actually liked it or not.

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Entertaining, but feels geared toward young women.

Reviewed: 08-31-17

Good story with good action. Great narrator. But feels geared toward young women. Hard believe that the greatest assassin trained since she was a child would be so girly and emotional sometimes and the male costars would be a little wimpy. That said, it was a little refreshing to have a strong female character that didn't behave like a man.

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Great story and narrator, but too short.

Reviewed: 11-12-16

I feel like this is the first half of the book that it should have been. It just got getting going and then it ended it felt like. The price was right though and looking forward to the next book soon.

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1 person found this helpful

Was afraid it might be too juvenile, but...

Reviewed: 07-18-16

What did you love best about Monster Hunter International?

...I got past the title and found it to be great fun. Not just simple monsters, but a variety of interesting ones. One thing I really appreciated over many other similar works of fiction is that the author really knows his firearms. He doesn't just throw around cool-sounding gun brands and models, he knows a wide variety of less know guns that the characters being gun nuts would know and respect. He also avoids the TV/Movies over exaggeration of the effects of bullets (I'll give a little leeway since it is a fictional novel about monsters).

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Interesting plot, but ...

Reviewed: 03-21-16

Characters too one dimensional, major characters just cast aside in the first book. Interactions sometimes not plausible. Events and motivations sometimes just to move from point a to b. characters often simply choose killing as solutions to problems without consequences.

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2 people found this helpful

A better Hunger Games concept.

Reviewed: 04-19-15

Wasn't sure where it was going at first. Then it got interesting. A very novel approach to a dystopian story.

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