Alexandra P. Fors

Narrator’s racist accent is distracting

Reviewed: 07-23-24

I love this author and the voice actress has a nice voice, but about an hour or so in the MC encounters Latino characters and I am on the verge of DNFing this book because the accent she’s affecting is heavy and super uncomfortable to listen to.

** Update: The crummy accents keep coming up throughout the book. It is so distracting. I can barely hear the story because the accents are so bad.

*** Finally DNFed my first Jason Pargin book with 8 hours left in the reading. The reader really did kill it for me.

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Couldn’t finish it because of the sound effects.

Reviewed: 04-26-24

I had to DNF this story, which is a bummer because it was a very gripping and interesting performance. If you struggle with mouth sounds, though, this story will not treat you well. There is a point where one of the actors clear his throat and coughs several times in a row (as part of the performance) and I finally had to give up. Too distracting / irritating. Misophones beware.

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A fun, spooky little science fiction thriller that knows which questions to answer and which ones to leave open.

Reviewed: 04-25-24

I loved this story. The only improvement I could have asked for was for it to be longer! The author did a good job showing and not telling (something that makes or breaks a horror story for me) and transmuted the mysterious parts of the ocean into creepy, unknowable chills that made me want to pull my legs up under me for fear of what might brush my ankle. The ending took it from sci fi adventure to sci fi horror. Definitely a fun listen, and easy to tackle in an afternoon.

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More of a thriller.

Reviewed: 04-24-24

If you enjoy stories about doomed excursions, wilderness thrillers, malicious spirits and A24 vibes, this may well be your book. There is a rising feeling of hopelessness, the deeper in to the novel you get, with the reader aware well before the characters that nothing good is waiting for them in the woods. Will I read it again? Possibly, as a lazy comfort read. Would I recommend it to seasoned horror fans? Probably not; it's fairly tame. I might, however, recommend it as a starter novel for people who want to get into horror but aren't sure what their spooky tolerance level is.

The good: if you like monster movie casts (a walking buffet for the plot to dispatch in a series of gory and graphic ends?) Check. You get four characters with enough surface-level development to be invested in whether they live or die. If isolation as a horror element interests you? Check. The backdrop to this story is, itself, creepy and not a place I'd be in a hurry to spend a night in, and the further the novel goes, the more claustrophobic the environment becomes.

The not-so good: I've seen this title compared to 'The Ruins' and while I agree that I'd likely keep them on the same shelf, I was disappointed to find it somewhat toothless in its horror element. I picked it up hoping for spine tingling, page-turning chills and thrills, and the story just didn't get me there. There are definitely creepy moments, but not the 'dread inducing horror' I'd heard advertised about it. I also found the nature of the 'monster / entity' to be inconsistent and unclear. By the end I had more questions than answers, but because the novel failed to really engage me, I didn't really care that I didn't get those answers. I felt like the story was setting something up and the conclusion felt weak underdeveloped. I didn't get the sense that the author was confident about what they wanted it to all mean.

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2 people found this helpful

A slow burn that would be engaging if not for the voice actor.

Reviewed: 01-28-24

Without spoiling it: this is a slow burn, with unreliable details that aims to keep the reader mystified up to the end and leaves plenty of questions unanswered / up to interpretation. It was definitely interesting and gripping, with plenty of ‘WTF’ moments, but I will say that it is not a book that picks up speed and any point. The pacing felt fairly punishing, especially in the last two hours or so.

What killed the book for me was the voice actor reading it. She goes about it with a slow, nasally delivery that is very alienating on its own, but also tries to have distinctive voices for each character. One character, Bunny, who is important to the entire book and whose dialog comes up often, had such a puppetish caricature of a voice that I almost quit the book multiple times.

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1 person found this helpful

This book is a boomerang

Reviewed: 07-12-23

Whenever I think I’m done, it finds its way back to me. I have listened to the story at least four times now. It evolves for me every time. The experience will probably be different for readers who are parents or intend to become parents, more-so if you’re a mother, planning to become a mother or want to be a mother. (It may also be triggering in that aspect if you have trauma related to motherhood / parenthood)

I enjoyed it as a lover of fairy tales. I enjoyed it as a lover of modern fantasy. I even enjoyed the parallel story of the investigator trying to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the mother and her misplaced children, as questionable as some of her ethics were.

The reading is solid. The voice is pleasant to listen to and the reader does a good job capturing emotions.

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An engrossing continuation from the events of ‘Cold Forge’

Reviewed: 03-01-23

This novel respects the brutal, violent nature of the Alien franchise. No one feels safe in the cast.

All the themes that make the universe grim and scary are present: corporate espionage, fragile human flesh-bags and murderous bugs.

The pacing is slow, to be fair. I was often surprised to see how much there was left in the book, but I do think it author cares a lot about the narrative and the characters and that really comes through. Give it a shot if you liked ‘Cold Forge’

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I had no idea how many things could bark.

Reviewed: 12-27-22

Literally every body part in these books ‘barks’ at least once. There’s a whole freaking kennel. I wish at least one fingernail had meowed or hee-hawed.

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Beautiful and bittersweet

Reviewed: 12-29-21

I resisted this novel for a while because hype always kills fun things for me. I picked it up on a whim because nothing else in the refrigerator looked appetizing. In doing so I found a new favorite food. I loved every moment of this book. The story unfolds in multiple very satisfying reveals. The author and the performer create addictive tension. Andy Weir is an expert at when to let the reader relax and enjoy the moment and when to pull things taut and make you question where the story could possibly go. If I could rate it higher I would.

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One of my favorite contemporary fantasies

Reviewed: 05-29-16

Well crafted and engrossing. Great cast of characters. Rich modern fantasy environment. I have listened to this book no fewer than ten times since I found it as a kid. I finally had to download it when the library disc-copy began skipping. One of my most satisfying purchases with lots of replay value.

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1 person found this helpful