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Category Archives: Audiobook Review

Audiobook Review – At Grave’s End – Jeaniene Frost

12 Nov

At Grave’s End
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Series: #3 in the Night Huntress series

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
Run Time: 9hrs and 28 minutes

Book Description:
It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

Review
This is a hard book for me to review because my thoughts on the narration have completely taken over my thoughts on the book itself, and I am having a hard time separating the two. So I am going to break from my normal mode, and review the audiobook narration first and then hopefully touch on some of the book specific comments. Many of these audiobook comments can also be found on the Audible.com page for this audiobook. Having read the previous 2 books in the series on my kindle, I decided to try something different and listen to book 3 for a challenge. Going into it, I had heard varying opinions about the narration, specifically focused on the voice of Bones and after listening I would definately say that I fall into the negative. I have to wonder if my opinion would have been changed if I had listened to all of the books, but i don’t know.

Typically I like Tavia Gilbert’s narration, but something with this just didn’t work – I HATED Bones voice – he sounded like an Australian teen high on something – now admitedly based on the backstory, he did spend some time in Australia before he became a vampire and after, but he is also supposed to be British, so the voice just didn’t work for me. I imagine him more sounding like James Marsters who played Spike on Buffy way back when. My other, albiet small complaint, was about some of the word pronunciation. One of the main secondary characters is Don, but for the life of me every time I heard her say his name, is sounded like Dawn…and then on the one occurrence when Dawn is said, it sounded like Don…

But that being said, narration aside, I didn’t mind the book. Cat was a bit more whiny/clingy in this book than she had been in previous ones. She wasn’t as kick-ass as I was expecting her to be and oh the drama and the death. Without disclosing any spoilers, some serious shit went down in this book and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in later books. I can say that I will be reading the rest of them and not listening.

Overall, i’d give the narration only 2 stars, but the book itself 3.5-4. So adding them together about 3 stars over all. I do think that people who like UF should read this series if they haven’t started yet.

 
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Posted by on November 12, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Timeless – Gail Carriger

09 Nov

Timeless
Author: Gail Carriger
Series: #5 in the Parasol Protectorate

Narrator: Emily Gray
Run Time: 11hrs and 29 minutes
Producer: Hachette Audio

Book Description:
Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire’s second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell’s acting troupe’s latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia’s enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

Review
This has to probably be one of my favorite series that I had read/listened to in the recent past. I loved all 5 books and while various ones had their ups and downs, like can be expected in a series, overall, they were well worth my time. I can’t wait to see how the spin-off series featuring Alexia’s daughter is going to turn out, as well as the other series pending that is set in the same world, but 20-ish years prior. But I digress. Timeless picks up 2+ years after the end of Heartless – but not much has changed in the world. There are still vampires and werewolves roaming loose in London, but Alexia isn’t just having to cope with that, she also now has a toddler to chase after. Adding a twist to this installment, Alexia travels abroad to Egypt (and all that entails). I really want to say more, but it could easily turn spoilish and I don’t want to ruin this series for anyone.

As I was listening to Emily Gray’s narration, I realized that sometimes, it felt like the author had just reached into a hat filled with various sounds and pulled several out to make names of some of the characters. I also loved Lord Ackeldama – he has been one of my favorite characters through-out the whole series and I can’t wait to see the influence that he has had on characters in the later books. I have to admit to being a bit disappointed by the Biffy/Professor Lyall scenario – I don’t think that it really added anything to the book overall – but maybe it will be needed in the future.

Emily Gray’s narration for all 5 books was spot on – I felt that she managed to capture the British accents perfectly and I felt like I was there. Her narration of Lord Maccon was great and well, Lord Ackeldama…all I could do was laugh because it was perfect. I highly recommend her for future narrations and will be looking out for her when I pick audiobooks in the future. Overall, 4 stars and a high recommendation

 
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Posted by on November 9, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Ice Cold – Tess Gerritsen

07 Nov

Ice Cold
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Series: #8 in the Rizzoli and Isles series

Narrator: Tanya Eby
Run Time: 9 hrs 51 minutes
Producer: Brilliance Audio

Book Description:
In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness—someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless—and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate.

Review
I figure after greatly enjoying the last few books in the series, I was about due for a dud. But even saying that, Ms Gerritsen’s dud’s are still better than a good majority of other fiction out there (oh the irony). I can’t even really describe what it was about this one that made it only ehhh for me – I think it was because I had pretty much figured out the who done it early-ish in the book (like not long after the introduction of said character). I also think that it might be the fact that one of the things I love the best about the series is the interaction between Jane and Maura and that was decidedly lacking in this series as they spent 90% of the series separated by several thousand miles. It made me realize how much Jane is the dominant character in the series – while Maura has this quiet strength and perseverance, which was highlighted in this book – Jane is like the gun powder – explosive and on the go. Which is what I prefer – maybe because she is opposite to me – I definitely identify more with Maura than with Jane, which is why I like reading about Jane’s antics. The one interesting thing for me in this book was how various cult’s and the development of Cult’s were discussed. It made me want to read more about some of the ones that have become famous in history (Jonestown specifically), so I am on the look-out for books (if anyone has any ideas – let me know).

Going into the narration, I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of Tanya Eby’s work. I had heard a few negative reviews about some of her work and I was a bit worried – but I was pleasantly surprised. I can’t say that this was my favorite narration ever, because its not, and it definately wasn’t my favorite of the series (Anna Fields has that spot all tied up), but it was enjoyable. One of the comments other listeners had made was on a lisp – but I didn’t hear anything that wasn’t easily gotten used to in listening. However, I wasn’t a fan of how Jane sounded in her parts – she didn’t have the Boston Irish accent that I had gotten used to in previous narrations, so that was lacking. However, I didn’t mind her narration of Jane and thought that she did a pretty good job with the narration of the various males voices that occurred through-out.

Overall, I would give both the book and the narration 3 stars. I liked it, but didn’t love it. It will be interesting to see how I enjoy the narration in future books, as it appears that Tanya Eby may become the primarily narrator (she has done the two most recent books).

 
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Posted by on November 7, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Audiobook Review – The Toll-Gate – Georgette Heyer

31 Oct

The Toll-House
Author: Georgette Heyer

Narrator: Daniel Hill
Run Time: 9hrs and 15 minutes
Producer: AudioGO

Book Description:
Captain John Staple’s exploits in the Peninsula had earned him the sobriquet Crazy Jack among his fellow Dragoons. Now home from Waterloo, life is rather dull. But when he finds himself lost and benighted at an unmanned toll-house in the Pennines, his soldiering exploits pale away besides an adventure — and romance — of a lifetime.

Review:
I have come to the conclusion that I am just one of those people who can’t appreciate Heyer’s work. In the romance community, she is the one recommendation that people come up with for realistic romances, but they just leave me feeling not quite complete. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t bad, they just aren’t for me. In this instance, I have to admit that I preferred the mystery aspect of the story (what happened to the Toll-Gate keeper) to the romance which was a bit ehh. It almost ended up being an insta-love situation, I never truely felt like there was any romance between the 2 main characters.

In conjunction with the iffy romance in the storyline, I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator. I think he did an ok job with the various adult male voices, but the female ones, as well as the young kid who was fairly significant in the book were only ehhh. They all just started to blend together after a while, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. I had debated actually DNF’ing this at one stage, but decided to see it out. The ending was satisfactory with how the mystery was solved, and the narrator’s voice sorta grew on me, but not enough for me to want to seek him out again in the future. Overall, i can only give the book and narration 2 stars.

 
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Posted by on October 31, 2012 in Audiobook Review, Book Review

 

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Classics Challenge Review – The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier

29 Oct

The Chocolate War
Author: Robert Cormier

Narrator: Frank Muller
Run Time:5hrs and 34 minutes

Book Description:
Jerry Renault ponders the question on the poster in his locker: Do I dare disturb the universe? Refusing to sell chocolates in the annual Trinity school fund-raiser may not seem like a radical thing to do. But when Jerry challenges a secret school society called The Vigils, his defiant act turns into an all-out war. Now the only question is: Who will survive?

Review
When I originally picked The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier to read for my 50 classics in 5 years challenge, I thought that it was because I had read it as a teen and wanted to re-read it to see how my opinion of it had changed over the years. However, I soon discovered that it wasn’t the book that I thought it was…(and unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out what that damn book it yet!!). But at the same time, I am glad that I chose to read/listen to it, but have decided that I need to pick up the second one (Beyond the Chocolate War), because I wasn’t all that impressed with the ending – it was too vague and unfinished for me.

However, the quote that continually shows up through the book – “dare I disturb the universe” is key to the events that unfolded through-out the course of the book. It is a question that so many people who engage in social protest ask themselves – is that one small action I might engage in, worth it. Will I succeed in what I am about to do? What are the consequences for me engaging in this action? It was interesting to hear, in the authors own words, how he came up with the idea for the book (his son who refused to sell school chocolates) and how his various what-if scenarios played out in the development of the various characters. Not only does the theme of social protest appear through-out but the idea of the role of bullying in society.

It was bullying by the group called the Vigils that started the chain of events that led to the events that occurred in the books; it was the bullying of Brother Leon of many of the students at the school that led to the culture where the Vigils flourished and were allowed to behave as they did. Like i mentioned above however, my main problem with how the book finished was that there was no real ending – the good guy (in this case, Jerry) didn’t prevail, we were kind of left wondering what happened or worse yet, left with the impression that evil will prevail and that it will beat good out every time. So I am curious to see what happens in the second book.

I found the narration by Frank Muller interesting – it seemed much more like a performance than the straight reading of a book. This isn’t something that I often run into when listening, so it was interesting. At first it was weird, but it kind of grew on me as the book progressed. He did have a good ability to have some fear inspiring voices like his rendition of Brother Leon. i have to say though, that since the entire cast of characters are male, there was really no way for me to judge how his female voices would sound – so I would be curious to listen to other narrations by him to find out how he renders those.

If the other books in my classics challenge are as thought provoking as this one, I look forward to reading more.

 
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Posted by on October 29, 2012 in Audiobook Review, classics challenge

 

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Audiobook Review – Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery

28 Oct

Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Series: #1 in the Anne of Green Gables series

Narrator: Susan O’Malley
Run Time: 10 hours, 41 minutes
Producer: Blackstone Audio

Book Description
As soon as Anne Shirley arrived at the snug, white farmhouse called Green Gables, she knew she wanted to stay forever… but would the Cuthberts send her back to the orphanage? Anne knows she’s not what they expected — a skinny girl with decidedly red hair and a temper to match. If only she could convince them to let her stay, she’d try very hard not to keep rushing headlong into scrapes or blurt out the very first thing she had to say. Anne was not like anybody else, everyone at Green Gables agreed; she was special — a girl with an enormous imagination. This orphan girl dreamed of the day when she could call herself Anne of Green Gables.

Review
I think most girls growing up probably read the story of the red-haired orphan adopted by Matthew and Matilda Cuthbert, set in Canada. For me, it had been nearly two decades since i had read it, but I still had fond memories, so after listening to my previous audiobook that had me bawling, I decided that I wanted a feel-good book to listen to. (Unfortunately, I forgot how moving and cry worthy AoGG was). But this is definitely a book that to me has stood the test of time – I laughed and I cried along with Anne as she struggled to find her place in life and society.

I do have to admit that I was surprised by how much my memories of the book were jaded by the movie version that I had seen. While I have planned on writing a book to movie post, a few thoughts. Anne and her dress with the puffed sleeves – this was probably one of the parts of the book I thought that I remembered the most, but I was surprised to find that what i thought occurred in the book, was primarily in the movie. The same with how the book ended and the death of a main character (I mean, I could spoil it by saying who it was, but there are still people out there who haven’t read this classic, so I won’t).

It has been a while now since I listened to the audiobook, so I really don’t have much to say about the narrator – it wasn’t bad enough to stick out in my mind, but at the same time wasn’t one the best narrators I have listened to in the past. It was only good – I wish I had more to say about it, but I don’t. The production of the audiobook was a bit funky in that you could hear where it had been re-mastered and the quality of the book changed through-out – there were parts where it was super quiet, and others where it got really loud – I’m personally not a fan of having to adjust the volume on my ipod in the car like I was having to with this verison.

 
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Posted by on October 28, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Review – Breaking the Rules – Suzanne Brockmann

21 May

Most of the time by the time a series book gets to the sixteenth installment it is starting to get a bit weird.  While I was glad that Breaking the Rules didn’t really run into that issue, I am also glad that the author decided to end it on a high note and not let the series go down the drain like other authors seem to have done.

As with all of SB’s previous books in the series, Breaking the Rules uses the multiple story-line approach – specifically, Izzy and Eden’s struggle with the future of their marriage; Dan Gillman (who was a royal ass in previous books) and his woo-ing of Jenny Lyn Lamae (yes, I totally agree with the fact that this would be a great stripper name…) and then the random storyline of Nisha, a girl who is the victim of human trafficking (I have noticed that this seemed to be an common theme over the last few years, and this is the third book I have read in the last three months that used it – the other 2 being Vanish by Tess Gerritsen and The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham).

One of my main complaints about the book and I might have noted this on previous ones, is that they have become much more politically minded, almost to the stage of lecturing on GLBT rights which gets to be a bit tedious.  I can understand where the author is coming from, but at the same time, there is a fine line between presenting a point of view that fits a character, demonizing others who don’t share the same point of view, and lecturing your readership…it might have been more apparent to me in this one because I was listening to the audiobook – but it is something that irked me.

This is the only book in the series that I have listened to in audiobook and I felt that the narrators (Patrick Lawlor and Renee Raudman) did a good job of voicing the wide variety of characters.  However, at times, Patrick would voice a female perspective and Renee a male, so that was a little bit off putting…rather than doing a switching back and forth by part – an actual identification of male/female characters might have worked better I think.

A very good ending to a long-running series (I think I started reading this when I was in college nearly over a decade ago), and I’m glad to see various loose-ends tied up.  I do hope in the future, if she decides to go back and visit SEaL Team Sixteen that we get to see Jay Lopez’s story, because he is really the only other person I would love to see get their HEA.

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Review: Sizzle and Burn

20 Mar

Sizzle and Burn
Sizzle and Burn by Jayne Ann Krentz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Review of Book
having liked the first book in the Arcane series (Second Sight) and been a bit more ambivalent about the second one (maybe due to the narration). I wasn’t so sure how I would like the 3rd, but I figured I would give it a try. I have to say compared to the second one, I was pleasantly surprised. While the dialogue still had a bit of a cheese factor, it def. wasn’t as bad as the second one. Although, if I had to hear again about Raynne flashing them a “fuck you grin” I might have screamed…anyways, interesting entry for the series and i’m intrigued to see what happens in the next one, which goes back to the historical setting.

Review of the Narration
Looking back on it, I think the second book for me was almost ruined by the narration (at least the female narrator), so this entry was a significant improvement. Narrated by Sandra Burr, I found myself much more involved in the story-telling and wanting to listen to more, whereas with the second one, it was like, oh, ok…time to stop for the day. My only comment would be that this could have done with a male narrator at times – even if it was just limited to the male voices over the phone, there was something a bit disconcerting about how they sounded.

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Posted by on March 20, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

Review: Prey

01 Mar

Prey
Prey by Linda Howard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book Review
I would probably give this more like 3.5 than 3, but not quite to the level of a 4. I don’t know if i’ve ever read a strict RomSus from Linda Howard, I’d read some of her traditional romances though. I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying this book. I could tell that she had def. done research into the way certain things happened in the book with the bear kill etc, but it wasn’t so much that it over-powered the story/ caused a data-dump for the reader. My one comment would be that Angie kinda prove me nuts with her woe is me, I don’t like sex, its never been good for me, my boobs are too small routine…it was repeated many times through-out the book.

Narration Review
Abby Craden’s narration def. drove me nuts at first, but as the book progressed it got better. Her rendition of female voices was good, but her male ones not so much. I think this is def. a book that would have benefited from 2 narrators, a male and a female. I’m not sure if i’ll seek her out as a narrator in again in the future, it will have to depend on the book.

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Posted by on March 1, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Review: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

29 Feb

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book Review
I joking remarked that the sub-title for this book should be everything you ever wanted to know about peeing, pooping, puking and screwing in space, but were afraid to ask. But in all seriousness, there is at least one chapter if not more devoted to those major bodily functions, intertwined with the history of the space program, not only in the US, but also Russia and also a little bit about Japan. It also looks at what the future of the program might be, but since NASA has had huge budget cuts in the last few years, who rightly knows.

Audiobook Narration
Sandra Burr provided a lite, easy narration style that went well with how the book was written. I don’t know if I would have been able to keep a straight face during the reading aloud of this, but overall a really good job.

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Posted by on February 29, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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