Jordan

Fabulous and Disturbing

Reviewed: 08-04-23

The book itself is fantastic- informative, accessibly written, and gripping. The narration is passable- not bad enough to make me quit the book, but the random pauses did often make me feel like I was listening to the history of the KKK as told by William Shatner.

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Iffy at times but overall entertaining

Reviewed: 09-07-22

I liked this book just fine. It’s no The Martian or Project Hail Mary, but it was entertaining enough to keep me reading until the end. It has Weir’s trademark snarky humor and interesting, high-stakes problem-solving, both of which I enjoy. What I did NOT enjoy was the oversexualization of the female protagonist. This character read very much like what it was- a male author trying too hard to write about a female experience by making her sexually liberated. ‘I’m a GIRL so I have SEX and a GAY BFF and bad taste in MEN and every man I interact with has to make flirty COMMENTS about my BODY.’ I found it extremely grating and unnecessary, but it wasn’t quite bad enough to make me abandon the book.
And I have nothing bad to say about Rosario Dawson’s performance. Excellent all the way through.

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Not Funny and Too Dark

Reviewed: 02-18-22

This was a promising premise and had some very funny moments at first. But then it couldn’t decide if it was going to be a comedy or some really dark allegory, and the mixture of the two really just didn’t work. I like dark comedy, but this isn’t that. This is just weird and bizarre and slightly unsettling and not funny. I couldn’t believe the ending. Started out funny, ended up as existentially angsty trash.

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Fell flat

Reviewed: 02-08-22

I like Ready Player One, but I was ready to judge Armada based on its own merits, I really was. But it just… didn’t work for me. The characters were incredibly unrealistic and annoying (largely because of the dialogue), nobody’s conversations or decisions made any sense, there was a huge dump of over-the-top emotion without ever creating the connection with a reader that would make THEM feel along with the characters, and the pop culture references got pretty exhausting and list-like. But worst of all, this book borrowed from a TON of pop culture/ sci fi works without actually building on or adapting them. It just takes a bunch of sci fi tropes and strings them together and… that’s it. Up until the very last second, I was sure there’d be some big twist that would make it all worth it and make me say ‘wow, that turned out to be an inventive evolution on the sci fi conventions this entire narrative is built on.’ But… nope.
That being said, Wil Wheaton voice-acted the heck out of it- pretty much the only reason I kept listening.

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Dumb But Fun

Reviewed: 01-17-22

Extremely silly, but surprisingly enjoyable. The storylines are absurd but funny, and the excellent voice acting keeps it from falling into the realm of the annoying. But I was crushed to realize that what I thought was the final FOUR HOURS of Quanderhorn shenanigans was actually cast interviews.

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4 people found this helpful

Best Narration Out There

Reviewed: 09-20-21

This is basically the platonic ideal of an audiobook. When you imagine a gripping story and a narrator who can keep you interested and create separate, realistic, terrifying, hilarious voices for each and every character… this is it. I knew Andy Serkis was a versatile actor, but I had no idea how broad his range of voice acting really was. He’s phenomenal, pure and simple. I’ve read LOTR many many times, and I can honestly say the story and characters have never been brought to life so vividly. More Andy Serkis audiobooks please!!!

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2 people found this helpful

Wow Wow Wow

Reviewed: 09-05-21

To begin, I love The Martian. So you’ll know how good Project Hajl Mary is when I say it’s probably twice as good as The Martian. While there were still plenty of gadgets and technological emergencies requiring speedy thinking by the protagonist, I think this novel had a lot more heart and… humanity, for lack of a better word. The dialogue felt much more realistic, and we as readers get a lot more insight into the actual emotions and turmoil that someone in a life-threatening situation would feel, along with healthy helpings of hope and joy. Cheesy, I know, but the final chapters actually had me tearing up a little.
And then there’s the narration. After listening to the audiobook, I can’t imagine just reading it. Roy Porter perfectly captures the accents, the inflection, the sarcasm, the emotions, everything. And, without giving anything away, I’ll say that there are some special audio effects that really, really make the dialogue come to life without being annoying or intrusive.
I loved it, I’m sad I finished it, and I’ll definitely re-listen more than once.

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1 person found this helpful

Unexpectedly charming

Reviewed: 08-30-21

I loved this radio show! It’s got a lot of heart- it’s funny and charming, but it doesn’t shy away from serious and even tragic issues. The stories and dialogue are well-written, and the voice acting is top notch. Geoffrey Whitehead makes an appearance (as he does in nearly every other BBC radio show), Phyllis Logan (Mrs. Hughes for Downton Abbey fans) is great, and Karl Howman is wonderful as the lead character. Well worth a credit!

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1 person found this helpful

Horrendously Sexist

Reviewed: 08-06-21

This title had so much promise! The absent-minded English professor! Literary jokes! But it devolved in the second episode into depressingly sexist jokes about stifling wives and sexy coworkers, and I couldn’t take it. At one point the main character tells his DAUGHTER that all little girls grow up to trap boys into marriage and make them get jobs and then sit around the house inventing more work for men. Returned almost immediately. What an immense disappointment.

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Phenomenal

Reviewed: 05-20-21

I LOVED this dramatization. I generally hate the term ‘star-studded cast,’ but the lineup here is true talent, not just big names (though they are also big names, of course). If I had to pick a favorite, I’d say James McAvoy as Richard or Anthony Head as Mr. Croup... or Bernard Cribbins as Old Bailey. Or Benny Batch as Islington. There just wasn’t a bad performance here. I also loved the bloopers at the very end- I wish more radio shows would do that!
I will say that I don’t know if I’d have liked it if I hadn’t read the book previously- I can see how it might be confusing if this is your first introduction to this world and these characters. I, however, absolutely loved it and I’m sure I’ll be re-listening often.

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