Angelic Beaver

Kind of an icky story

Reviewed: 07-06-17

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Reduced misery.

Any additional comments?

Pretty well written. I'm just not into stories that drag you through so much muck to get to the resolution. I was satisfied with the conclusion (and it wraps up well enough that you needn't continue), but I dread the next story, wondering what terrible things might befall the characters. There just wasn't a good balance of positive to negative, in my opinion. If you like grimy reality in your stories, it may be your cup of tea, but it isn't mine.

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2 people found this helpful

Great, unique story, narrator is very appropriate.

Reviewed: 06-05-17

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

Absolutely.

Any additional comments?

The narrator is difficult to understand in places, but she lends an authenticity to the performance that is vital. The story is clearly steeped in a culture that is not often seen in fantasy works, with names that benefit from someone who is familiar with the pronunciations. Just like a story set in Ireland benefits from Irish readers, so this story benefits from the accent of its narrator.

I really enjoyed this book. I'll definitely watch for more books by this author in the future.

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Very satisfying ending.

Reviewed: 05-24-17

Any additional comments?

I wrote a series review for the first book, but I always look to the third book reviews to make sure the author didn't spike the ball at the one yard line. Grossman doesn't. I thought the ending was about perfect.

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"Harry Potter for Adults" is misleading

Reviewed: 05-24-17

Any additional comments?

This is a review of the series. First of all, those comparing it to Harry Potter only read part of the first book. This book series is like the Chronicles of Narnia for disillusioned adults. It reminds me of when you visit some place you found to be magical as a child, and it seems smaller and more flawed, not as grand as you remembered.

The characters in this book are horribly flawed. Bad things happen to them, and they do bad things, but there are character arcs for most of them, Quentin in particular, where they change and grow over time. This is a series about broken people figuring life out. By the way,the weird sex scene someone else mentioned is early on, and not repeated in the series. There is a lot of language, and other sexual situations, but if you can get past those, the book has a very satisfying ending.

MINOR SPOILER....
A word of warning to Christian readers: I get the feeling that this series is written by an atheist. I enjoyed it for the fantasy that it is, but if you love The Chronicles of Narnia, this series is like returning to Narnia and finding out that Aslan isn't really Jesus, but rather something far less powerful, far less wise, and far less noble. The majority of the series is about the fall from innocence and wonder into cynicism, with a bit of redemption/perspective adjustment by the end.
END SPOILER...

Overall, I found the series to be very well written, and engaging. The first book had parts that made me physically hurt for the characters, but I'm glad I persisted.

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Beautiful storytelling, Wonderful characters

Reviewed: 04-05-17

Any additional comments?

The narrator was fantastic. Perfectly matched to the book, and one of the best narrators I've heard. The characters were well developed and compelling, and the writing is great. I thought it was better than the Blackthorne and Grimm series, which I also enjoyed. Those books suffer a bit from an overly modern worldview overlaid onto an ancient setting. This book has some of that idealism, but more realistically applied for the period, so that where the other felt awkward, this one feels right.

The only other thing I'll add is that the balance in this book, I thought, was well done. It's very character driven. Not a great deal of action. There is a strong romance narrative within it, but I wouldn't put this book anywhere near the romance section. It's fantasy, and well written at that.

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Much better than the first book!

Reviewed: 01-24-17

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The guy who voices Grimm has REALLY grown on me. I've enjoyed Blackthorn's voice since the beginning of the first book. New addition, Susanna Jones, was great. The two women read with emotion and depth. Nick Sullivan's growling bass voice makes the character of Grimm shine.

Any additional comments?

The pacing of this book was better than the first. I never fully unraveled the mystery as I did in the first book. The characters are really growing on me and I look forward to the next book to see how their relationships develop. I'm glad I continued with the series.

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Scarlett Johansson, Movie Announcer, and Will Farr

Reviewed: 01-18-17

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I get the feeling that this could have been a much better experience with a talented Irish cast. As it is, I felt like Scarlett Johansson, Movie Announcer Guy, and Will Farrell were reading this book to me. I quickly got used to the girl, and actually liked her performance, overall. Movie Announcer Guy took longer to get used to as Grimm. I found it hard to follow for the first few segments because it's such an in-your-face, coming soon to a theater near you delivery. It grew on me though. I never got used to pseudo-Will Farrell though. His voice isn't bad when his character is speaking, but when he reads the character's "inner voice", he over-enunciates in a grating fashion. Think Will Farrell playing Mugatu in Zoolander, or the main character in Elf.

The storyline was okay. The main "mystery" became painfully, painfully obvious after a little while, but the characters still had miles of agonizing to do before they could draw the same conclusions.

The prince and the way his kingdom operates strikes me as anachronistic. They have way too many high minded, modern day legal concepts and considerations for the supposed setting. They basically conduct an entire trial inside the book (rehashing the events that were just read in detail the chapters prior). I'm not saying that justice concepts shouldn't exist in ancient Dalriada, but they were so obviously modern as to be unrealistic and out of place... unless the Prince turns out to be a time traveler in a later book.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was pretty satisfactory. I'll admit, I'm probably going to continue with the series, despite my complaints.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

An Irish cast would have been fantastic. I think that really would have grounded the story in its setting. Honestly, I would have been happy with Natalie Gold reading the whole thing instead of just the part of Blackthorn. She does have a nice voice (just not Irish).

Any additional comments?

This book was mostly pleasant. Not too dark or sad. A nice change of pace from what I have been reading. I'd give Lord of the Rings five stars, books I thoroughly enjoyed four stars, and this one gets three, mainly due to one of the narrators and some pacing issues. I might give the next one a try.

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2 people found this helpful

Above average series. (Too long though).

Reviewed: 07-21-16

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It gave me something to listen to. It's no Tolkein work by any stretch, but it didn't have huge glaring flaws like some works.

Any additional comments?

If this series is any indicator, Jim Butcher is a proficient writer, but not a great one. He loves to have his characters discuss all the logic of their plans right in front of the reader, even if they would have no reason to do so. Other than that, the characters make sensible decisions. This really should have been three or four, well edited books. I got tired of the detailed descriptions of every single skirmish and really wanted it to get to the final battle by the last book. A lot of the fight scenes end up feeling like filler material, as they are long with little overall consequence (like a lizard creature attack). Edited down to three or four books, I think this could have been a great series. If you need something to fill time, it will do that.

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant! Complex world, great characters.

Reviewed: 07-21-16

Any additional comments?

The narrator was really great. The story was very well done. The characters were interesting, the plot was believable. After several mediocre trilogies (by other authors), this was a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and I'm eagerly anticipating his newest trilogy, but I want to wait until it's finished before getting into it.

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Best book of the series so far

Reviewed: 03-23-16

Any additional comments?

Jim Butcher has a great sense of pacing. This book delivers emphatic and powerful punchlines to several story arcs that have been building from the previous three books. I actually shivered in anticipation for one of them, and I've never had that kind of reaction from a book before. I'm interested to see if Jim Butcher will be able to top this one, as there are two books remaining in the series. I feel like this one could be a series end all on its own, even with the loose ends it leaves.

My one criticism is that Jim Butcher tends to overexplain some things. For scenes when the consequences are far reaching, I understand and approve, but there are scenes which go on and on about what the characters are thinking and planning, and all the possible outcomes of what could happen when they attempt some action, when it's totally unnecessary. The one glaring example of this was when Amara is fighting some giant lizard. She stabs at its eye and misses, but the description of how she was thinking about stabbing it and all the things that could happen if she didn't stab it right goes on and on and on, and it's a very minor component of the book.

At other times, characters will suddenly become very stupid so that another character will unnecessarily explain all the aspects of their plan to the reader. I like when Jim Butcher has the characters discussing complex subjects and coming to consensus, especially when they are bringing up points that I'm thinking of myself, but sometimes the explanation could have been left off. I found myself, several times, wondering why these brilliant tacticians suddenly needed someone to explain very basic strategy points to them.

Aside from that, I find Jim Butcher to be one of the most thoughtful writers I've read. You can really tell that he thinks things through (and he's happy to show his work). As a result, his characters do things that make sense, and you don't find yourself exasperated and wondering why they're doing X when Y would solve all their problems easily. The quality of the writing is certainly a step down from Tolkien, but the stories are well constructed and engaging.

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