F Sparverius
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Steel World
- Undying Mercenaries, Book 1
- De: B. V. Larson
- Narrado por: Mark Boyett
- Duración: 12 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
In the 20th century Earth sent probes, transmissions, and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers....
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A 14 year old boy’s idea of a “Real Man”
- De C. Brown en 04-16-19
- Steel World
- Undying Mercenaries, Book 1
- De: B. V. Larson
- Narrado por: Mark Boyett
Know your audience
Revisado: 05-04-25
This story and its characters are formulaic and flat. The adventures and attitude are well crafted for a target audience of (I guess) twenty-something males, gamers, people who live in their heads and don't need details, believability, context, narrative purpose, and other things that enrich good writing (but some readers would regard as boring distractions from the action of the single thread of this narrative). Speaking as a grown-up with broader real-life experience, I recognize that this book is not meant for me. That's fine; not everyone has to like the same things.
As a genre, it's as if the author asked, What if a novel could be like a video game? The protagonist goes through his life like a video game, killing and seeking advancement. There are convenient technologies that allow each character to get killed and rejoin the game. People who worry about video games will notice that for all the violence and wanton killing, there is no element of pain, remorse, conscience, feeling, strain, tiredness, indecision, fear, hunger, loss, beauty, personal interactions, details, or emotion. Just a cartoon on an infinite loop.
It was the narrator who kept me engaged as long as I lasted, but unfortunately still not very far into the first book.
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Another Time, Another Place
- Chronicles of St Mary's 12
- De: Jodi Taylor
- Narrado por: Zara Ramm
- Duración: 12 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
It's long been known that if a thing can go wrong, it will. With knobs on, usually. Disasters start to pile up. A new colleague with no respect for the past and a great deal to prove. Historians lost in time. And - worst of all - Rosie Lee on her very first jump. Then there's the small matter of Max's dishonourable discharge. From Tudor England to the Tower of Babel - it's all going horribly wrong. Jobless and homeless, Max receives an offer she can't refuse. Another time, another place. A refuge, perhaps. She's got that wrong, too.
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Another winner!
- De M. Hester en 04-28-21
- Another Time, Another Place
- Chronicles of St Mary's 12
- De: Jodi Taylor
- Narrado por: Zara Ramm
disappointed fan
Revisado: 04-23-25
I have enjoyed the story up to chronicle 11, but Book 12 is a disappointment. These stories are hard to create, so I am always willing to overlook inconsistencies, but there are just too many internal contradictions this time that I can barely follow narrative with WHY DO THAT? distracting my attention.
You can always tell when the author of a favorite series is under pressure to turn out more volumes. This one seems hastily constructed. There is more dialog than description or felt experiences. The "historical stuff" seems as good as always, but the specifics don't seem important to the story, which is kindof horrible for all the characters we care about.
Sorely hoping the next installment is back to the high standard. The narrator is wonderful, as always.
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Close to Death
- A Novel
- De: Anthony Horowitz
- Narrado por: Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear
- Duración: 9 h y 12 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong, and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate. It is the perfect idyll, until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, gaggle of shrieking children, and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and quickly offend every last one of the neighbors.
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The book personified: “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”
- De Jane M. en 04-19-24
- Close to Death
- A Novel
- De: Anthony Horowitz
- Narrado por: Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear
unlikeable in a deliberate way
Revisado: 10-15-24
These mystery stories are interesting enough to stick with, at least in small doses, but it feels like the author must be trying to make his characters unlikeable. Far from "larger than life," admirable characters, the inhabitants of these books are not even realistic people with flaws and strengths. The stories are told from the perspective of a character who is a writer with the same name and similar background as the author, but portrays him as a distastefully selfish and craven individual. Speaking in his own voice on one of the tapes, the author sounded the same, dropping in names of his other works way more than necessary. It is puzzling why anyone would write characters of a mystery-solving series who lack attachments, goals, or priorities, and don't even try to have a positive impact on their world.
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The Peacekeeper
- A Novel (The Good Lands)
- De: B.L. Blanchard
- Narrado por: Darrell Dennis
- Duración: 9 h y 39 m
- Versión completa
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Against the backdrop of a never-colonized North America, a broken Ojibwe detective embarks on an emotional and twisting journey toward solving two murders, rediscovering family, and finding himself.
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Interesting Story, Poor Narrator
- De E. Greene en 06-20-22
- The Peacekeeper
- A Novel (The Good Lands)
- De: B.L. Blanchard
- Narrado por: Darrell Dennis
worthwhile premise, mediocre execution
Revisado: 08-31-24
The speculative fiction about what a modern nation state would be like in the Great Lakes region without European colonization is fascinating and thoughtful. The narrator clearly spent time practicing the pronunciation of non-English words because they flow smoothly in the storytelling.
Setting up the modern Native American society as the context for a mystery novel allows an interesting view of restorative justice. Unfortunately, the actual mystery is obvious to the reader for most of the book and it was frustrating how long it took for the characters to figure it out.
Much of the novel is structured as a journey, both externally in the plot and internally in the main character. The story is not very strong; hardly anything happens. Yes, there are events and plot points, but almost the entire book is dialog or internal to the mind of the characters. I was not looking for an "action thriller" at all, far from it, but as I listened and visualized the story, it was almost always just people talking or thinking. No sections or descriptions of people doing things that would engage the reader a lot more. I never felt like I was experiencing the story through the speaker.
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The Sentence Is Death
- A Novel
- De: Anthony Horowitz
- Narrado por: Rory Kinnear
- Duración: 8 h y 36 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
“You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late....” These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine - a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise. Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?
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Fairly intriguing story, BUT with nagging irritations
- De Janine Weber en 06-12-19
- The Sentence Is Death
- A Novel
- De: Anthony Horowitz
- Narrado por: Rory Kinnear
Intriguing, but also annoying
Revisado: 07-24-24
The homage to Holmes and Watson is interesting, but what's confusing is: if an author is going to write a character with his own name and some true background, and tell the story in the first person, why on Earth would he make his character so whiny and unlikeable? I'm not thinking he should be a hero in his own eyes or anything, but a "real" person has more emotional range than one single, frustrated fixation. Can't he just be nice once in a while? Even to his own wife? is there anything in his life that gives him joy or satisfaction?
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St. Benet's
- British Detective Tanner Murder Mystery Series, Book 2
- De: David Blake
- Narrado por: Jonathan Keeble
- Duración: 6 h y 37 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
When the body of an old man is found lying in the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey, his throat cut, a knife resting in his open hand, DI John Tanner and DC Jenny Evans are given no choice but to accept a ruling of death by misadventure. But when the body goes missing from its tomb, after a priest is found nailed to a cross, and another impaled on a stake, everything begins to point back to the murder of a teenage girl, thrown from the top of a church tower, some 43 years before.
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The dumbing of Tanner
- De Ted en 07-28-20
- St. Benet's
- British Detective Tanner Murder Mystery Series, Book 2
- De: David Blake
- Narrado por: Jonathan Keeble
worse than the first one
Revisado: 09-05-23
I tried book 2 to give this series a chance after how weak book 1 was, but I'm not going to finish it. As detective stories go, It might be about mediocre, but the storytelling is unbearable. The only descriptions are of the car and the gratuitous gore, no details about rooms, light, smells, clothing, mood, food, temperature....nothing to pull the reader into the story.
The narrator is amazing. Great pacing, voices, diction, even with such unimaginative use of language in the text.
No third try for me. I'm giving up on this series.
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Broadland
- British Detective Tanner Murder Mystery Series, Book 1
- De: David Blake
- Narrado por: Jonathan Keeble
- Duración: 6 h y 46 m
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Historia
When a girl’s body is found strangled, raped, and horrifically mutilated by a boat’s propeller, deep in the heart of the Norfolk Broads, newly arrived Detective Inspector John Tanner is asked to assist with the investigation. At first, all the evidence points to a man who had a multi-million-pound reason to kill her. But when an alibi is produced from an unexpected source, and another body appears at the base of a slipway, Tanner finds himself turning to local girl Detective Constable Jenny Evans for help.
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Excellent..
- De Trish R. en 03-26-20
- Broadland
- British Detective Tanner Murder Mystery Series, Book 1
- De: David Blake
- Narrado por: Jonathan Keeble
mystery lite
Revisado: 09-03-23
This detective story was barely worth the listen. It was short for a novel, the detectives encountered the culprit early in the story so the reader knew for a long time whodunnit, and the characters were single minded in their purpose in the story, including exposition roles. "Because: crazy." is hardly an interesting motive for a villain. The narrative is streamlined, focusing on the question-answer mystery solution, with very few elements of scene-setting, character development, or side stories, though there were some brief examples.
The author uses an unimaginative writing style, with the same sentence structure over and over, making the listen very boring. 'Glancing over at the passenger seat, he picked up the package. Approaching the door, he went in. Looking around the room, he saw the desk.... ' No variety in the use of language to engage the ear or register as a memorable turn of phrase.
The Norfolk broads have the potential to be a strong story element, and the author must be familiar with that region, but they only come in for geography and location. Where is the sense of what it feels like to live there, the people, the pace, the weather, the culture, the visual appearance, the landscape, the history?
The narrator pretty much saved this book. The reading and voices were excellent: clear, distinctive, and with nice accents and perfect timing. The speaker did the best he could to make the repetitive sentences flow.
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The Tooth Tattoo
- De: Peter Lovesey
- Narrado por: Clive Anderson
- Duración: 11 h y 39 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Peter Diamond, head of Bath CID, takes a city break in Vienna, where his favorite film, The Third Man, was set, but everything goes wrong, and his companion, Paloma, calls a halt to their relationship. Meanwhile, strange things are happening to jobbing musician Mel Farran, who finds himself scouted by methods closer to the spy world than the concert platform. The chance of joining a once-famous string quartet in a residency at Bath Spa University is too tempting for Mel to refuse. Then a body is found in the city canal, and the only clue to the dead woman’s identity is the tattoo of a music note on one of her teeth.
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High flyer quickly falls to earth
- De Maine Colonial 🌲 en 05-05-13
- The Tooth Tattoo
- De: Peter Lovesey
- Narrado por: Clive Anderson
not up to the same level as the previous books
Revisado: 07-11-23
This one is not Lovesey's best Peter Diamond. The storytelling is not engaging, with lots of useless dialog. The Peter Diamond character is not even present for most of the book.
The insights into chamber music are memorable, but the crimes and investigations are really weak.
The narrator is an unfortunate change after I have gotten used to Simon Prebble's voices for the characters.
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The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver
- Middle Falls Time Travel, Book 1
- De: Shawn Inmon
- Narrado por: Johnny Heller
- Duración: 8 h y 20 m
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Historia
All Thomas Weaver wanted was death. What he got was time travel. Thomas Weaver, haunted by a teenage tragedy, lived a wasted life. He closed his eyes for what he believed was the last time in 2016, but opened them again in his teenage bedroom and body in 1976. Now a middle-aged man in his teenage body, he sets out to fix everything he did wrong in his first life. A budding serial killer in home room, a possible new romance, and high school algebra complicate his plans. What would you do, if you could do it all again?
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Familiar Premise, but Superb !! Great Performance.
- De C. Hartmann en 05-06-18
- The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver
- Middle Falls Time Travel, Book 1
- De: Shawn Inmon
- Narrado por: Johnny Heller
intriguing but shallow
Revisado: 06-02-22
I'm having one of those times when I get into a book and cannot for the life of me figure out what so many other people saw in it. I don't mean to rain on anyone else's parade if they enjoyed the book, but I just don't share the "great storytelling" and "quality writing" reactions.
The story is sort of okay-plus. Holds the attention, flows well. Yes, the animal cruelty was a terrible surprise and I had to skip some chapters, but even that is a cliche about the youth of a serial killer.
As for the quality of the writing, the perspective switches from first to third person often, usually within a paragraph. There are very few sensory descriptions and the emotions are shallow.
The concept is intriguing and the story passes the time, but this is not a book that becomes part of you.
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The Cuckoo's Calling
- De: Robert Galbraith
- Narrado por: Robert Glenister
- Duración: 15 h y 54 m
- Versión completa
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After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
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Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- De Tracey en 05-26-13
- The Cuckoo's Calling
- De: Robert Galbraith
- Narrado por: Robert Glenister
good story but fantastic performance
Revisado: 01-16-22
For me this was a good detective story - not great or even particularly memorable. I never doubted that I would finish it yet I could put it down and set it aside at any page. But the performance by Robert Glenister made for wonderful entertainment. It was like like what I imagine an old time radio show must have been like. The listener still gets to create the story in their imagination, but the voices, dialects, and expression of detail that the narrator put in really made it come to life.
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