OYENTE

C. Cowan

  • 29
  • opiniones
  • 4
  • votos útiles
  • 149
  • calificaciones

Solid addition but not quite as good

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-24-25

I was looking forward to more of both this world and Xander, but somehow this installment didn’t grab me the same way the original trilogy did…perhaps because it didn’t feel like there was much new? I can’t quite put my finger on it. It was still solid and I might even listen to it again to see if I can figure out why I wasn’t swept up into the world and humor and romance, and will amend this if I figure it out.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting story, Imbalanced characters

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 10-15-24

First, this is romantasy with a dash of humor, so I’m reviewing it relative to that genre and the other Villains and Virtues books. Context matters! Sadly this book was somewhat disappointing relative to the original series. I didn’t feel like there was enough character development, and perhaps the story would have been better as a duology. My biggest gripe is how deeply traumatized the characters are - horrible abuse in many forms takes place, and the resulting psychological damage is all over the page for both MCs. There is some healing where they share their stories with each other, but the breakneck story line and ending really glossed over how broken these two characters were. It’s not explicit that their trauma is magically healed by the power of love, but pretty strongly implied bc it’s like their baggage and negative self talk just *poof* is gone and suddenly the FMC has confidence to vanquish…well, you get the idea. While it’s true that healthy loving relationships go a long way in helping people heal from deeply rooted trauma, it’s not a magic antidote. I was taken aback that this story would go that way, when I felt the primarily trilogy was a lot more grounded and honest about human emotions and interaction dynamics….yeah ok that’s perhaps a weird thing to expect in a romantasy, but it was so refreshing to read such an amazing series with great world building AND complex characters with messy but realistic emotions…and NOT wish-fulfillment subtly toxic shadowdaddy-bratty teenager relationships!! So yes, I was a bit surprised and saddened when this book threw two deeply broken characters together (seriously, the negative self talk was getting painfully repetitive) and magically healed their traumas with love (and spice of course). It’s not bad, just not to the level of the original series. As far as performance, the narrators did a great job, no notes!

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Damnit why was this so good?!?

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-23-24

First context - this is romantasy, and it’s impossible not to compare it to other romantasy. If you don’t know what you’re getting into, you’re more likely to be disappointed. This entire series was a lovely romp that I think did a near perfect job balancing fantasy world building, main characters with authenticity and complexity, humor and just a hint of self-awareness that wasn’t over done, romance and spice, and action/plot. The relationship serves the plot and vice versa. Yes there’s drama and angst but it’s also not overdone THANK GOD. Somehow the author embraces the tropes and also subverts them, and also makes fun of them - I really don’t understand how she managed to nail the tone to accomplish all within the same series but I think she did! The action gets a little breakneck, but even that is hilariously acknowledged and I much prefer the speed vs slogging along through first person angst for pages and pages. The writing isn’t formal or perfect all the time but also there aren’t glaring stylistic holes or inconsistency. Language style insertion is intentional but I didn’t find it abused as a tool. If you squint too hard you’ll find some plot holes but really, why would you analyze this like a freshman trying to impress their hot TA with their critical reading chops?!? Just enjoy it! I love fantasy and sci-fi, and appreciate romance and spice thrown in rather than romances with a hint of fantasy, so I totally adored this series and really appreciate the quality of the writing which made it absorbing and never took me out of the story. The narrators were pitch perfect so audio format was stellar - with the one warning that the fast paced action required attention to the listen, rather than my frequent multitasking.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A very solid 2nd entry!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-20-24

A fun wild ride, slow burn, romantasy without glaring plot holes or terrible writing that takes you out of the story?!? Yes please!!

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Took a little while, but ramps up!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-17-24

In the category of adult light-hearted romantasy, this is excellent! Yes the relationship is a primary plot driver but the world building and characters are equally enjoyable and compelling, as is the major plot conflict…it’s more organic relationship arising within the overall plot, rather than just angsty feels and porn with little else. If you’re looking for hot and heavy, this isn’t it. I prefer more plot with just a heavy dash of relationships and spice, and this hit the nail on the head for me. The writing is humorous and fun, and more importantly well done without glaring plot holes, character inconsistencies, or other mistakes that tend to pull one out of the story. My only gripe is it took about half the book to really be sucked in…might be the audio format and my tendency to multitask tho. The narrators were excellent, I liked their voices and they read at a good pace IMO (but I often listen to books at 1.2x and find a lot of romantasy plots and narrators to move too slowly). I’m immediately diving into the next book!!

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Why isn’t this more popular?!?

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-30-24

First note - this series falls firmly in YA, and I’m a middle aged adult fan of fantasy, romantasy, and sci-fi. The while YA category is so confusing these days bc of the breadth of books it includes, so I wasn’t clear that this would be definitely targeted to a younger reading audience…but that said, holy moly it was such a joy to listen to!! The meh aspects: the prose and plot are straightforward. A bit too much telling, not enough showing. Not enough complexity of other characters or the world building. The great aspects: DRAGONS AS CHARACTERS AND NOT PLOT DEVICES. Young main characters that are actually smart and show they are most of the time…are decent people and written with good complexity for this level of story, and are not horribly inconsistent in behavior, power, or intelligence (yeah you can guess what authors I’m side-eyeing). They wrestle with some meaningful questions of honestly and forgiveness in a fairly realistic way. The world is also fascinating and while I would have loved more info, I was happy enough for all of the DRAGONS!! And even with the straighforward YA writing, I was caught up in the action and bombed through the audiobooks. The bad (SPOILER ALERT): the one inconsistency that killed me was that they didn’t figure out the resolution of the end, well, until the end. It was GLARINGLY obviously the solution from early in the second book…like, c’mon guys!! I get that the world set up was such that supposedly they couldn’t consider that particular solution…but that excuse felt really forced and the fact that it wasn’t even ever discussed as a possible solution between the MCs had me tearing my hair out. That was totally inconsistent with the level of smarts and problem solving skill established for the characters otherwise. That unfortunately was so glaring I docked a star for the story line. Regardless, this was a very enjoyable and surprisingly well done YA series - you won’t be disappointed if you know it’s YA/basically no spice but want the romantasy vibe in a fascinating world with all the dragons!! I’m def listening to the next books from this world. Also the narrator was solid - I didn’t love how juvenile the FMCs voice was (she made her sound like she was 10years old), but she technically was a young woman so it’s kinda unfair to criticize that choice too hard. I just found it a bit incongruous with the personality in the text.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Magical realism YA, shows its age

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 07-29-24

While I am old enough to have read this at the target age, I’d never heard of it before and so am listening to it in middle age…which certainly provides a different perspective. Knowing it was published in 1985, I had already braced myself for disappointments around the heroine’s arc. Overall I did enjoy the characters and plot - the magical realism is OK. There is a way in which it robs the main female character of agency, making her actions not direct choices but the result of some magical instinct or perhaps even someone else’s “hand”, without demonstrating her capabilities. I very much did appreciate that the romantic storyline avoided being tropey love triangle, but there was a certain sense of “woman chooses duty over passion” that I’ve read in a variety of other female led fantasy from the same time that is a bit irksome. It seemed the author was trying to avoid that by reminding us that “she really had loved him all her life…” but there was quite a lack of chemistry on page, and strong older brother vibes. Oh and the relationship age gap immortal and young woman, plus him being her unofficial mage teacher, was just a bit worrisome messaging for YA young women. All that gave it a very strong “throwback” fantasy storyline. These are relatively minor criticisms that many won’t mind, but with the breadth of complex heroines in modern fantasy and storylines that aren’t so simplistic or problematic, this falls a bit short.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Overall great, minor holes and annoyance

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-13-24

Like the first, the world building and magic systems are unique and overall the duology is great and I’d highly recommend to any fantasy/romantasy fan. I was able to overlook some plot holes…and thank heavens there wasn’t annoyingly drawn out periods of character miscommunication or of characters making idiotic choices…those tropes are way too common. Particularly for the romantasy genre, these were very well written. The narrator did a solid job of voicing different characters, however continued to mis-pronounce “hearth” the entire book - same as in the first book. How did someone not correct her or at least ADR it?!? The word appears frequently enough that I was gnashing my teeth every time I heard “herth” said…UGH. I will still recommend the series but will warn any audiobook listeners.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Serkis nails it again!!!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-30-24

I’m just reviewing Andy Serkis’ audio version of the Hobbit here - and I loved it as much as I loved his narration of LotR!! Listening to his narration brings me back to the best parts of being read to as a child - distinct voices for characters, dramatic emotive enunciation….the Hobbit has always struck me as a bit more children’s tale and this reading of it fits perfectly with that general vibe. It’s interesting to me bc Serkis’ reading of LotR was also dramatic and with great voices, but he gave those more gravitas, fitting of the more serious and adult stories. I couldn’t point to one specific thing, but he just manages to adjust his reading to match the slightly different tone of each book/series perfectly. Bravo!! Will re-listen many times no doubt!

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Slow burn….and slow everything

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-12-24

Oof…predictability, obnoxious first person narrative, painfully slow moving story yet somehow still underdeveloped characters. I think this would be a much more interesting story from anyone else’s point of view. The narrator also spoke so slowly that I listened to the book at 1.3 speed and eventually increased to 1.5. Redeeming qualities were the interesting world building and central conflict/mystery. The narrator’s voicing was great other than the slowness.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup