Sarah

Patchy, Rushed, You Can Tell It Was Written Quickly. SUPER Glottal Narration

Revisado: 07-16-21

I’ve listened to books from this series and by this narrator before, but this one for some reason really bothered me.

The story was laughably absurd. The hero makes multiple stunning/stupid intellectual leaps and by the end of the book I was scoffing at his continued near-death experiences. The sheer number of disasters he personally averted were ludicrous. I’d literally rather go watch a Fast & Furious movie, which should tell you a lot.

The tone between the first half and the second half were dissimilar. The first half was laid out carefully and had a pretty measured pace. The second half was very rushed and seemed like the author was just trying to get it over with.

I would have liked to know a lot more about the specifics of the archaeology. At one point (SPOILER, you’ve been warned) one of the characters was like “This stained glass window has… Egyptian hieroglyphics!” and I burst out laughing. It was like someone pulled it out of their butt. No mention of Egypt at all before that, not one time in the entire book, and now 7/8ths of the way through, SUDDENLY, EGYPT.

The narrator was SO GLOTTAL. It bothered me a lot and distracted me from the actual content of the book. His pronunciations of hard C and G sounds were literally like listening to someone choke during a sleep apnea episode.

And!! When he spoke a different language at the end of the book he didn’t put nearly that kind of emphasis on the hard C and G sounds, so why did he do it when he read this book in English??!!!

It was extremely irritating. “Celtic cross” became “CeltiC CRoss”, “Christian” became “CHRistian”, “scrambled across” became “SCRAmbled aCRoss”, and so on. The harshness of his pronunciation on just those sounds was absurd to the point of making me angry. The narration greatly reduced my enjoyment of this book, to the point that I will not buy another he narrates.

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Not For Me

Revisado: 03-13-21

The narrative voice is interesting enough to make it readable. I liked how fleshed out the specific voices of each sister are... but it was also, at times, dreadfully predictable and cliche. There were some huge leaps of logic and at times I thought the book had skipped a part because the heroine would say something and I’d go “What? When did that happen?!”
It’s definitely a “written for teens” book, or maybe for someone who has not read a wide variety of literature and can’t see the plot points coming.
Some of the narration written out made me laugh because it was like something a talented college freshman in a creative writing class would churn out. “She always had her nose in those tattered romance novels!” when the books in question were well-kept and rarely handled. How could they be tattered then?
There were so many different plot points that some were left unexplained by the end of the book. I didn’t like the ending at all. It felt rushed and I had some questions that weren’t answered.
I strongly disliked some of the characters as well. Some were absurdly one-note. Others the author kind of pumped up as important in the beginning of the book, only to dump them by the end.
In her bio at the end she says this is her first book she’s ever written. I’m not surprised. There are good elements but I think it needed more work before it was published. A LOT of the things in the world she built are still unexplained.

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Just Wasn’t That Great, Casual Racism

Revisado: 01-26-20

With my limited amount of free time I need to listen to books I love. This just wasn’t one.
It tries to come off as a lightheaded and funny novel, but it’s got very “adult” themes, so don’t let your kids listen. Examples: frequent mention of sex and hookups, mention of prostitutes, a plot point where cyanide capsules are offered for suicide, main character often wondering how certain superheroes excrete or have sex.
There’s also a BIG casual racism moment with an Asian family in a hardware store. I was honestly shocked, and I live in the South. I’ve heard/seen just about everything, unfortunately. The racism towards the Asian characters was extremely off-putting for me and made me stop listening.

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Important Subject Matter, But Oh My God, The Vocal Fry

Revisado: 10-31-19

I’m a millennial and I got this because I thought the content would be relatable and important. It was... but I could only get through two of the “life story” chapters before shutting it down in disgust.
The narrators. My God, the narrators. John was fine, he had a good voice, but the author, Anne, has such a terrible ‘Alicia Silverstone in “Clueless” ‘ manner to her voice. I wanted to claw my own eyes out when I listened to her. I cannot state enough how absolutely fucking irritating her voice is, AND the voice of her first female guest. They were incredibly, massively irritating. I don’t understand why they speak the way they do. They sounded like Keith Richards if he gargled with whiskey immediately after an all-night rager.
I can’t finish this. I don’t even care that it’s free. If I could return and exchange it I would, but for now I’ll settle for just deleting it.

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Great Research & Outlook, OK Narrator

Revisado: 07-14-19

This book’s depth, breadth of knowledge, and intrigue are simply amazing. I feel like I’m reading an alternate history of our universe. I love this book.
The narrator... if you have a thing about pronunciation, maybe skip him. He has a pleasant voice, but it’s impossibly plummy. He pronounced all his “ti” (as in ‘question’) and “sh” sounds as “ch”. I can’t listen for too long at a time because this guy sounds like he’s auditioning for a role as a butler or something. Every word from his lips sounds pompous and self-important. It irritates me A LOT, but I really love this book, so I stuck with it and just gritted my teeth.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Good Storyline, Fair Narration

Revisado: 02-22-18

I can’t get over the narrator. She’s almost unbearably plummy. The “r”, “sh”, soft “g”, and “lt” (as in “fault”) sound like “ch” sounds. So “shrug” becomes “chrug”, “fault” becomes “faulch”, “shirt” becomes “chirt”, “tapestry” became “tapestchee”, and “drying” becomes “chrying”.
I very much like the story and I enjoyed listening to all the voices and accents that the narrator created. But... it’s just difficult for me to listen to because everything sounds unbearably overpronounced when that “ch” sound keeps popping up.

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esto le resultó útil a 14 personas

Fantastic Book, Terrible Narration

Revisado: 02-07-18

I love this book more than I love Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” novels. It has been on my Top 10 list of Favorite Books since I was in high school. I was so excited to purchase it... and then I started listening.
Y’all, I would rather listen to a tween record his own wet farts than listen to this narrator for one more minute.
If you enjoy hearing a jowly old man with bad Southern accents (I am from Texas, I KNOW the accents) and too much spit on his lips flub his way through one of the best novels ever written, be my guest. When you hear the narrator say anything with a “p” or “b” sound, and his gross wet lips pop together disgustingly because they’re slick with his own spit, as if he’s a toddler blowing saliva bubbles, don’t come crying to me. I warned you.
I wrote an email to Audible offering to record this entire audiobook myself, for free, on my husband’s high-tech audio engineering equipment. I haven’t heard back yet, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed. A first grader learning how to read would be better listening than this dude.

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Still Good, Felt A Little Short

Revisado: 01-20-18

I felt that this one had a different sort of pacing than the previous two books. There wasn’t as much action or verbal sparring, which I heartily enjoyed, but in their place were kinder and more deeply felt scenes. Overall it was a very good book, and a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining listen. As always, the narrator is incomparable.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

A Great Listen

Revisado: 01-06-18

The characters really came through in this for me. I would change one thing- give the contemporary heroine a little more gumption! She seems too perfect. Make her a little spunky or doubtful or something.
Other than that, FANTASTIC and an easy listen! You’ll definitely enjoy it! I loved curling up to knit while wrapped a shawl to listen to this during the cold weather we’ve been having.

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Not With a Roar But With a Whimper

Revisado: 05-06-17

I wanted to like this book. I really tried.

The entire thing was inordinately dragged out. I actually prayed for the ending of the book to come swiftly. I fell asleep listening multiple times. Hell, I fell asleep listening to the last 10 minutes of the book!
(Spoilers ahead!) Conflict resolution was weak and predictable. All of a sudden, after making a HUGE deal about portals to Earth in the first book, there are suddenly and conveniently more. New and vibrant characters were introduced, only to receive shoddy dialogue and poor performances.

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