Kitt Johnson

Every author has a “not my best” book

Revisado: 11-18-22

I own most of the Haddock audio books and this one seems a little bit “off“. It isn’t “bad”, it’s just OK. The central character lacked the personal motivation most of his MCs have.

When I am feeling down, I often turn to one of his books and binge on it. This one just lacks the enthusiasm and purpose that his MCs usually exude.

If you are not one of Haddock’s fans, I’d recommend you choose one of his other books… such as Lord of the High Reaches or even Hand Made Mage.

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A delightful romp

Revisado: 11-14-21

This is, at best, a 4.5 …but it doesn’t pretend to be great literature.

The audio conbo of books 5 and 6 of the series is a superb execution of a storyline that follows some overworked tropes, but uses them surprisingly well. I suspect it flows more smoothly as a result of getting a competent editor.

(Sadly, the next volume is devoted to bringing a new cast on stage and lacks the tongue in cheek of these two episodes. Volume 8 for an Audio combo Vol-4 seems unlikely before late 2022.)

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Narrator Further Enhanses Great Story

Revisado: 11-06-20

The story line and characters continue to develop. The writing is excellent, fully equal to the last two volumes. And Thomas May’s narration adds depth and nuance to the prose that you just don’t notice when you are racing through the kindle book.

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Main characters are TSTL (too stupid to live)

Revisado: 01-29-20

No one should buy this attempt at the Harem Fantasy trope.
The publisher's summary sounded promising.
But after three hours of listening, I gave up...
1. the MCs have inappropriate voices (one of which is so breathy as to be inaudible)
2. character actions are ridiculous (e.g., wagering their entire business against a small sum they don't need)
3. the world building is trite
4. the dialog is bland
5. the writing style is on a par with "See Spot run. Run Spot run!"

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Mildly entertaining, but absorbing?... Nope.

Revisado: 08-07-18

The storyline is OK (Ward is a pro), but it doesn't grab you … It's a story that will entertain you, but you will NOT be reluctant to put it down if something needs your attention. The narrator does a competent job, but again ... nothing special. The dialog is vanilla, it has no particular sparkle.
I bought the book on sale ($2.95) and it's worth that... but I am glad I didn't spend a full credit on it.

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Childish writing; monotone performance

Revisado: 11-20-16

This is a mediocre book. The text outline of the plot in the publishers description looks interesting, but the writing is all 'tell, tell, tell' by the author.
"The men now respected the Captain. "
"The men were proud as they marched."
"The men could carry their gear for hours."
"Steiger told the men they did well"
The writing style sounds as if it is the output of an average sixth grader.

The narrator delivers the limited dialog with a single voice, you have no clue which characters are speaking. And the delivery has all the variety of a metronome.

Don't waste a credit unless you are trying to create a complete collection of all the 'really, really bad' Roman Empire derivative fantasy audiobooks on Audible.

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This is Horrible, (Book 1 was Good)

Revisado: 08-04-16

In contrast to book one, this was characterized by cardboard characters speaking lines from a 1950s TV show, a heroine too stupid to live, a plot moved along by one miraculous coincidence after another, all of which was narrated by a voice that sounded inappropriate 60% of the time. A very sad development. The first book, Rookie Privateer, was very good.

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Very Solid Storyline well performed

Revisado: 08-03-16

This is a straight forward coming of age adventure story set in an easily imagined future. It is a cut above the typical sci fi space opera and makes no pretense of being anything other than fun reading. Nothing mystical, no paranormal stuff, no characters that are too anything to be believable.

So what if it is not a candidate for best science fiction book of the year. It's definitely 4+ entertainment. And if it is somewhat predictable (the good guys do win), the characters are not cardboard, the resolution is not preposterous, and it leaves you with that 'feels good' feeling that we all like to have now an then.

Rookie Privateer is a good start to series that can probably support about 5 books to play out the current loose ends. (Book 2 chases down one of those loose ends.) I have listened to it twice and I suspect I will give it another listen somewhere down the line, perhaps to refresh my memory when book 4 appears. No regrets about this purchase.

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Satisfying resolution of a lingering question

Revisado: 05-19-16

This is a terrific listen for fans of the Portland Storm series, but you should have read at least some of the earlier books. Many of the central characters from earlier stories play a role in this story and thus their appearance here will be a bit of a spoiler if you go back to listen to those books later. Fortunately, if you haven't read the six previous stories, they are collected in two "omnibus" volumes with some novellas for total cost of only two credits. An awesome bargain.

Ms. Gayle some how avoids the usual problems that plague most series. She manages to to keep her writing clear, her characters engaging and the plot moving along briskly. The situations remain plausible and the conflicts are neither contrived nor insignificant. While her books are entertaining, she provokes us to think about difficult realities facing many of us or our loved ones.

If you enjoy sports romance that is also technically accurate and not just a vehicle for descriptions of copulation, I would confidently recommend this book as well worth spending a credit or as a cash purchase.

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Unfortunately, the narrator ruins a weak book

Revisado: 12-18-15

I failed to heed reviewer references to a "not the right one" narrator on these novels. I figured "Hey, how bad can it be, since I like sports romances ... a lot."

Well it turns out that it can be very bad. The character voices are Very similar, to the point of creating a puzzle regarding who said what. Then we have the manly athletes throwing lots of fowl language around while sounding like asthmatic young girls ... or the occasional asthmatic little old lady when they are expressing strong feelings.

A great narrator probably could have salvaged the prose portraying a whining protagonist's endless introspection about lusting after his room-mate's girlfriend and other topics. But it was pretty tedious, even though I usually can summon a high tolerance for sub mid-list prose.

This book is possibly better as a print book; then you can just skim through the repetitive introspection (aka filler?). At least this would omit the distraction of a bad narrator. But I think most people will regret spending anything on this audiobook.

I'll be curious to see if Audible will leave this review up after I return this mistake.

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