Jon

Meh....

Revisado: 04-11-24

Listen to a sample first. As a Tau player I really wanted to like this book but couldn't get in to it. The primary narrator's voice is very grating to me. He has a halting way of speaking and I feel like he doesn't "get" 40k. In the first chapter Farsight is fighting a Bloodthirster. The narrator reads "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" in a tone that'd be more at home in a rendition of Othello than in the grim dark future. Weird pronunciations for words too. Myopic is mee-opic. Cadre is kah-dur. I could keep going. Parts of the original story are clearly written to be read, not spoken. Example: The Tau infomercial and inquisition report sections really did not translate well to being spoken. Bizarre all around. As far as the story goes... It takes a long time to get anywhere. The first few chapters kinda set the stage, but really drag on. Early on there's a 10 minute conversation where you just listen to a main character get bullied by some snooty water caste guys and not defend himself. Doesn't advance the plot, doesn't expand the world. Pointless. Other meandering sections and conversations early on too. Once it gets going it's cool, but man... I really don't think the payoff is worth it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great voice acting, as usual

Revisado: 04-10-24

Voice acting was simply amazing. Ending was incredibly disappointing. Basically it's all been for nothing and nothing happens as a result of this three book series. Sign.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fantastic acting

Revisado: 03-28-24

The best acting in a 40k audio book I've heard yet. The story is short but it's absolutely worth it. Both actors are amazing and really get in to their roles. The story is solid too, and ties up a loose end from the first book. It always bothered me that Crowl saw Lermentov as a traitor. This gives you some insight into Crowl's thinking.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great narration. That's it.

Revisado: 10-01-19

Listen to this book if you want to hear hours of Ron, Harry, and Hermione getting made fun of, bullied, and railroaded while doing nothing proactive. You're basically signing up to listen to hours of bullying with sprinklings of magic. It's bad.

The narrator does a great job, maybe too great of a job. Umbridge is unbearable. The writing is unbearable. The three main characters are basically punching bags for Malfoy, Umbridge, Snape, etc. every single chapter. They never fight back. Never do anything. They just lie there and take it.

I often find myself in a bad mood after listening to one of the chapters. I listen to audio books to be relaxed and entertained, not to get angry, annoyed, or frustrated.

I would not recommend this book unless you desperately want to read every book in the series. For everyone else, just watch the movie for this one and move on to book 6.

This is one of the very rare instances where the movie is much better than the book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Even better than Daemon!

Revisado: 08-13-19

I wasn't a huge fan of the writing in the first book (I gave it 3 stars). Too much unnecessary jargon, techno-babble, and other things made it less enjoyable for me. The plot, and premise, was on point though, and that's what kept me reading. Utterly unique and shockingly prescient for the time it was written.

I'm pleased that the second book stepped it up by quite a bit. Much more discussion about the impact the daemon had on societies, way more character development, and more general world building. It really gets you thinking, and some of the added action helps too.

My only qualm is that the Loki/Gragg sections can still be too over the top/tastelessly graphic and gorey. And being an audio book, those sections are tough to skim or skip if your hands are busy.

Otherwise a fantastic book! I'm sure I'll be reading (listening) to it again.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting premise, poor execution

Revisado: 08-08-19

Very interesting premise, which is why I finished this in the first place.

Unfortunately, it can get fairly graphic (and it takes a lot to get me to say that) and being audio you can't really skip/skim those parts.

It also has a ton of forced techno-babble and acronym soup. I've been in IT for over 20 years, I understood it all, but I frequently find myself feeling like the author was going out of his way to impress the reader. I haven't met anyone who's been in IT for a length of time who talks like this in real life.

Some examples:
- "there was a spot for the CAT 5" (network cable is a fine, less jargon-y substitute)
- spelling out WPA
- "a map showed up on the car's LCD" (just say display, screen, or navigation)
- "his mpeg video closed" (what value does the type of video file add to the story, plot, or reader understanding? Hint: none)
- Listing out names of programs Gragg/Ross use. (just say the function, ie "port scanner app", "password cracker", "sniffer", etc. There's no need for that much specificity. Though this is the most tolerable of the bunch)
- "In his hurry, Ross knocked over the PBX phone." (outside of an exam, work, or textbook, there is zero reason to specify what type of system a phone is running on. Adds no value.)


If someone is "in the know", they don't need the type of cable or specific program spelled out. We know pretty much everything in the last two decades is CAT 5, for example. It goes without saying. Programs don't need to be specified, we know the best ones to use for what we want to accomplish. For those who don't have that knowledge, it becomes meaningless jargon that hinders readability.

Additionally, due to this heavy handed use of technical jargon, the book is starting to show its age much sooner than it would've otherwise. CAT 6 is becoming the new standard, many programs or exploits mentioned (the ones that are correct at least) are obsolete, WPA is something my grandpa used, etc. This wouldn't have happened if he just kept things slightly less specific.

The performance was good, not great. The narrator spoke very quickly (and I listen to podcasts at 1.5x speed). I had to turn this book down to 0.9x for it to sound normal.

With all this being said, if you're in a technology field I recommend giving this a read. The premise is very interesting and it's fairly fast paced. Just read it so you can skim over the jargon and other such areas.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona