Librarian 35

For Kids!

Revisado: 04-20-24

I read the overview and didn’t see this aimed for children but it is. Lots of voices, jokes, humor. Adults might enjoy but I found all the extra distracting. I was looking for a brief history of Vikings but there’s too much side fluff in this to wade through.

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Too weird to enjoy

Revisado: 04-20-24

I like medieval mystery. But the people in the story were all so strange. I get the desire to create a mysterious atmosphere but it felt unreal. No village has this many people who can’t answer simple questions or treat the Lord like this. The narrator did a good job but this was tough to get through. I wanted to like this more.

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Delightful story

Revisado: 06-22-23

Hard to beat hearing this classic mystery brought to life. Good narration of one of Christie’s best.

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Beautiful performance and intriguing story

Revisado: 12-09-20

The story is dark fantasy and follows Tea as she grows into her powers as a bone witch. There is a lot here that feels like reading from Memoirs of a Geisha but set in a fantasy. Some readers may find the description of dresses, hair, etc to be dry. At times in an effort to keep the suspense the plot seems strained. The story is from Tea’s view, and she generally seems to come across as confused and bewildered. Then suddenly at the end she has these phenomenal powers. If we are in her head, this should have felt like a more natural growth.

However, the story builds in power and depth. Perhaps the best is that she begins to question the traditions that govern her life and her entire kingdom. The solution she comes up with seems extreme but plausible and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

The reader has an absolutely lovely speaking voice and brings a sense of magic to the story. Others commented that her voice seem to fall from regular to a whisper but I didn’t have that problem.

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Intriguing and fun

Revisado: 11-10-20

The story was intriguing-all the permutations of what it could mean to “come back” from being murdered (quick travel home, for instance). Zachary Quinto was a good pick for narrator-his voice matched the main character.

I liked this enough to go looking for other books by Scalzi as well. I hope he does more Dispatcher books! Highly recommended!

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Great performance but only an okay story

Revisado: 11-02-20

The narrator did a great job and made the characters come alive. The story starts of intriguing and is a good mystery. I learned a lot about the office of coroner.

What grew irritating was that every step made to solve the mystery met with failure. It got boring to listen to whatever new idea Jenny Cooper, the coroner, had to break the case because they always failed until the very end. Since I knew nothing she did would work, I just wanted to skip to the end. It’s not adventure to see the character fail and fail and then-presto-win!

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Good story but hard to understand narrator

Revisado: 09-29-20

This was my first Inspector Morse mystery although I’m familiar with the mystery genre. I liked the story and characters. At times, the narrator was hard to understand, as he used various accents or tried to sound “gruff” it just sounded garbled. I checked out the ebook to catch the parts I missed in the audible version. But I’m going to get another Morse mystery.

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Some good thoughts about kids and the pandemic

Revisado: 08-26-20

This will not give earth shattering insights, but Dr Gupta does a good job of describing the confusion most parents feel in trying to help our kids. He offers some good insights about structure, how kids “mirror” us (a valuable concept), about human touch and so on. Common sense advice and easy to listen to.

The narrative does not address kids in crisis—those whose parents are unemployed or fearing eviction, etc. It’s got an upper middle-class feel to it, but the underlying ideas are of value.

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Must be great to be totally blamesless of addiction

Revisado: 05-30-20

The recording is clear and well-read. There is important information here about the opioid epidemic which is worth knowing, well researched. Exploring the myriad ways in which the US is not prepared to help addicts is crucial.

But you have to wade through such a biased, one sided agenda, it’s hard to sort out the good information. Let me summarize. Pharmacies are to blame for addictions and should have to pay for treatments if people abuse their drugs. Addicts are not responsible for getting addicted.

Tess made many, many bad decisions that led to her tragic ending. All this is laid at other people’s feet-treatment centers, government, pharmaceuticals, siblings, etc. Everyone but her. In one interview she expresses outrage that she had to do community service when she was caught accepting OxyContin from someone else. How unjust that she should be penalized! The author directly compares pharmaceutical owners to the Sinaloa cartel. I wonder if she’s ever needed pain pills for chemotherapy or surgery?

My father was clean 22 years when he died. I know first hand the wounds addiction inflicts on children and families. There is much that must change to make a better system, but this message isn’t a part of it.

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Quick entertainment

Revisado: 05-24-20

I was hesitant after reading negative reviews but I’m glad I got the story. I listened while exercising. The reader is crisp and clear, not distracting. I guess the violence in the story (a dead girl is found) didn’t signify some deeper female violent theme for me, although I get the critique. But given the really dark popular novels that glorify serial killers and violence towards women, this didn’t even seem in the running. The book is meant to be light and it is. The insecurity of the narrative is weird and distracting-like the author didn’t quite know how to make the story interesting so picked this? The story isn’t strong but was okay. The reader was good.

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