Walsh

Terrible AI-style narration

Revisado: 02-08-25

The narrator is a soulless AI voice. There’s no way it isn’t. If I’m wrong and they actually paid a real person to narrate, then they got ripped off, because the person they paid clearly used an AI narrator. No human could read in such lifeless staccato. Humans need to breathe. The narrator eschews breathing. One sentence runs into the next so quickly that there’s not a moment to process what’s been said. Quotes are indistinguishable from narrative. The ideas are deconstructed into a series of randomly-inflected syllables loosely resembling sentences. It’s awful.

Read the book yourself if you want to absorb any of it.

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Great, thorough overview of the founders of AWD

Revisado: 06-22-24

Well researched and sourced. The interviews are excellent - showing how so many real people are victimized by radicalization, even when they are not its targets. Thorough coverage of all aspects of Arthurs’ radicalization. Good analysis of how it happens and the what to focus on to prevent it.

It would be great to see a follow up now that Arthurs has been convicted, Russell has been released and rearrested for attacking electrical substations, and leaks of online chats and international arrests have revealed more about AWD and other accelerationist groups.

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One of the best Star Wars books

Revisado: 10-16-23

Zahn is one of the best Star Wars authors. I prefer the Thrawn from these books to Thrawn from the Thrawn Trilogy or or Rebels/Ahsoka Thrawn. I’m not sure how to reconcile them all, and I hope Filoni and Favreau will figure out a way to do it, Regardless, the Thrawn of the canon novels is outstanding, and this is the book that introduces him.

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Okay

Revisado: 09-11-23

This story held my attention less than most Star Wars novels. At several points I wondered how some event had unfolded as it did and whether I had lost the thread or whether there was a gap in the narrative. But it wasn’t compelling enough to bother skipping back to find out. It was okay and the characters were interesting, but mostly meh.

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One of the best SW novel’s I’ve listened to

Revisado: 09-15-22

If you can do without Jedi, the Alphabet Squadron series and the Battlefront series are some of the best Star Wars novels. They’re war novels that excel in character development and story telling. It’s been a while since listened to the first two in this series, but I think this one may be the best. And January Lavoy is one of the best narrators. She’s perfect for this one.

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Painful

Revisado: 03-31-22

I’m less than an hour in so far, but it’s painful. The dramatizations are hard to listen to. The production is not up to par. The cadence of conversations is unnatural, the sound effects are unnatural and overdone, people apparently talking a few feet apart sound like they’re in completely different environments, and since there is no narration, the story has to be told through unnatural dialogue. It’s pretty awful. My story rating is provisional, since I’m not far enough in to give it a fair rating. I’ll stick it out to the end and update the story rating at the end. I want the context for the next book. But I don’t expect to enjoy it.

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Broken audio

Revisado: 03-30-20

The audio file has many garbled sections, like a scratched CD skipping around. It’s annoying.

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Feels abridged

Revisado: 01-02-20

I generally don’t like abridged books, but sometimes the abridgments manage to edit out only fluff and leave you feeling like you didn’t miss anything important. This abridgment didn’t accomplish that. It felt choppy and abrupt and was obviously skipping meaningful details. I ended up buying the kindle book to fill in gaps. Far from ideal. Still, it passed the time, and I’ll carry on to the next one and see how that goes.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Disappointing

Revisado: 06-04-19

Overall, a bit weak and disappointing.

When I heard that it was performed by a full cast, I was excited. And the full cast includes the three best Star Wars narrators: Jonathan Davis, Marc Thompson and January Lavoy. Unfortunately, it did not work well. At times the men’s voices were so similar that it was difficult to tell who was speaking. And because it was performed instead of “read”, there was very little narration, so the story seemed a bit thin. I’m not sure whether the book is written like a novel or a script. The audiobook gives the impression of the latter.

The editing and production were not great. In parts, the cuts between characters was a bit abrupt, and the acoustics were different. It lost any illusion and became obvious that they were recording their parts separately in a studio.

Finally, I find some of the backstories a bit weak and unsatisfying, and sadly, this was one. I wasn’t a fan of the way it was written, the way it unfolded or the limited character development.

Ultimately, just thin and disappointing.

Too bad.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Not a great listen

Revisado: 03-24-19

After getting used to Marc Thompson, Johnathan Davis and January LaVoy, it’s very difficult to listen to Anthony Heald. It seems like he’s often rushing to get through the story, and his various voices are not that various. But it’s his rushed cadence that is hardest to endure. Given that it’s an abridged story, you don’t have to endure for very long, but the story is choppy as a result of the abridgment. Unfortunately, it appears that a ton of the early novels are abridged and narrated by Heald. Unfortunate. Most unfortunate.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas