Douglas Weller

Great story, pretty good narrator

Reviewed: 05-12-19

I really enjoyed the story. I liked the narrator and unlike someone else was happy with the voice of the senior detective.
But - there were times when the narrator's pronunciation jarred.

For instance - talking about the "Backerloo line" to "Baker Street" Backerloo?

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Ben Travers saves the world - with Ben's help

Reviewed: 01-12-17

I loved the first two books - and I loved this one. First I should say that I listened to the audio version and didn't read it. Sometimes that's a bad thing, but not in this case. Narrator Neil Hellegers was brilliant and brought the book to life in a way that reading it might not. His ability to differentiate the various characters was exactly what you need in a book like this one, especially when several of the characters are versions of Ben Travers and when at times you are in the 'real' world and at other times in the Neverwhere.

This time (sorry) we travel back to the far past and forward to what the not-too-distant end of the world when it encounters a Black Hole - unless Ben can save it. The second book ended with Ben Travers dying to save his girlfriend Mym Quickly. This one starts with "Dead Ben", calling himself "a time traveller who broke the rules". We meet him as he finds himself in the Neverwhere. Expect to spend a lot of time wandering through space and time in the strange world of the Neverwhere. Hellegers' narration does a brilliant job of conveying the otherness of the Neverwhere and excels at making it clear when you are listening to Dead Ben and conveying the otherness of the Neverwhere. While in the Neverwhere Dead Ben meets "ragged me", Benny, and travels with him to his childhood home in Oregon, to the far past and to the future, learning that the Neverwhere is made of memories and that it can be manipulated through them. We also discover that we first met Dead Ben trying to communicate during the Chronothon.

Some of my favorite characters from earlier books play important roles in this one. I love Tucket, who we last saw helping Ben at the Academy of Temporal Sciences during the Chronothon. He plays a jester role and shows up early in the story having remembered Ben's off-the-cuff invitation to come visit him when he graduated from the academy. Tucket's in love with the late 20th/early 21st century, and boy does it show. One of his first bits of dialogue is "Do you have a landline? I read about landlines. I really love rotary phones." Cowboy Bob, Dr. Quickly, Mum of course, and a variety of other characters including another version of Ben

We also meet some new characters, and they aren't all human. Captain Mira Jumptree is a starship pilot who is a synthetic human who isn't exactly fond of humans, until Tucket convinces her otherwise. I also loved the Henry Drexel the elevator mechanic. Not the space elevator, although that's pretty cool, but the Tempus Mobilus elevator. We only meet him for a short time but his explanation of the Neverwhere and the role of memories cleared up a lot of unexplained questions for me.

And then there's Zurvan and his cult followers, the Eternals. Quick lecture: Zurvanism was a Zoroastrian heresy which had a deity called Zurvan, the god of infinite time and space. Our Zurvan isn't a deity but a mysterious figure leading a cult of "Eternals". And remember Jonah (the boy with the dog and the snail helmet)? We meet him again, his father (watch him, he isn't what he seems), and his brother "Jay". Dead Ben sees Jay being sacrificed by Zurvan, who uses Jay's death to communicate with his followers, saying: "The Lost Star returns as I have promised your prophets. You will bring it to me and I will grant your reward—spare you from the fate that consumes humanity. Those who would be saved should heed my words. Bring the Lost Star to the eternal fires of Yanar Dag. Restore me to my body and assure your eternal salvation.” The identity of the "Lost Star" was a big surprise.

Some of the reviews express unhappiness with the Zurvan/Eternals part of the story, and I admit I found it hard to grasp at first. My advice is just to be a careful reader and don't ignore anything because you don't understand it. It does come together, although it does take time and I was as lost as Dead Ben for a while. And to be honest, I hope in any sequels or related books Nathan avoids any more long excursions into the Neverwhere. I really enjoy the time and space travel bits, the Neverwhere and the role of memories, not so much.

The story is drive by several story lines. Besides of course saving the world, a major part of the story is the attempt by Dead Ben to communicate with live Ben (something live Ben sometimes fights against) and to somehow escape the Neverwhere. Then there's the struggle against Zurvan and his followers. A driving force throughout the book is Ben's love for Mym. As Dead Ben says at the beginning of the story, "I came here for one reasons, I came for her."

Disclaimer - I was given a copy of the audiobook to review. I then bought the Kindle copy to help me with this review.

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2 people found this helpful

Good story, poor narration

Reviewed: 01-02-17

I enjoyed the story. I spent virtually all my childhood 3 month school vacations in the area north of Mount Mitchell around Burnsville and knew quite a few of the people referred to here as 'reivers' and can confirm that Forstchen's depiction of the ones John Matherson deals with in the story is realistic. I've even been shopping recently in the Asheville Sears store mentioned in the story.
But the accents are a problem. Ironically I see that someone has praised the narrator's BBC accent. I've spent the last few decades in the UK and no BBC journalist sounds like that. Hardly anyone in the UK does. I suspect the BBC during WWII might have, but that's a long time ago. It really grates on me. And until I saw these reviews I thought I might have imagined a character from Massachussetts saying "bidness" instead of "business", now I'm not so sure.

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Fantastic read and listen!

Reviewed: 09-14-16

This book is definitely not a filler. It's about a major change in Faerie and I think moves the story on considerably. Definitely one of my favorite October Daye books and one of my favorite Audble books overall. Mary Robinette Kowal brings Seanan McGuires great writing to life and makes me feel as though I'm there. I like the comment about it being "like visiting friends" made by another reviewer.
I can't recomment this book enough. And I can't wait for the next. I hope there will be one!

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2 people found this helpful

Fun innovative time travel book

Reviewed: 08-30-16

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

Definitely - entertaining and extremely well read. One of the best time travel books I've ever read.

What did you like best about this story?

Interesting characters and adventures.

Which character – as performed by Neil Hellegers – was your favorite?

Ben - although I wished the alien, Bozzlestitch, had a bigger role/

Any additional comments?

His new book, The Day After Never, is out now but not as an audiobook. I really hope to see it on Audible. The first book is now free on Kindle, but no audiobook.

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2 people found this helpful