Alison

Clever, without being engaging

Revisado: 04-03-25

I enjoy Julian Clary, but was disappointed by this. I was hoping to enjoy his delicious voice reading a classic cozy mystery story. Instead multiple actors read diary entries and expositional newspaper clippings. The structure made it dull, even with Clary's inclusion of himself as a character with great theatrical anecdotes. There are some lovely descriptions, even snicker-worthy humour, but that wasn't enough to make me care about any of these cardboard people. I called curtain around chapter 5.

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Comforting listen

Revisado: 05-06-24

I always love a good retelling of a classic tale twisted, and this is definitely that. Likeable characters who have to work hard to make their own happy ever after (if they can), an implacable relentless enemy, lovely world building.

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Wonderful, perfectly written and read

Revisado: 10-16-23

This was a most enjoyable start to what I am happy to see is a proper series of longer novels - but also a perfectly formed and satisfying tale on its own. Told from the perspective of a security 'murderbot' who has disabled the safety system that keeps his kind under corporate control, it is the funny and delightful adventure of someone becoming their own person. Uh, that is a terrible summary, just listen to it. I'm off to download more murderbot

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A perfect slice of fascinating history

Revisado: 07-10-22

This is my favorite piece of nonfiction in a long time. Lindsay Fitzharris has created just the right mix of history and science, horror and redemption, and personal stories of real lives forever changed. The narrator gets it just right too. So good.

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Gentle and enjoyable

Revisado: 05-26-22

Pleasant twist on the Sleeping Beauty tale, from the point of view of a young warrior tasked with protecting her little sister from a magical curse. There's a fiesty heroine learning who she is and what she is capable of, nice secondary characters, a medieval setting, and magic that doesn't solve all the problems. If you enjoyed Mercedes Lackey's other fairytale inspired storytelling, you'll enjoy this too

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Classic Bagley

Revisado: 11-01-20

I remember reading a dusty paperback of this novel forty plus years ago, trapped inside during a very rainy summer holiday at the beach. Told from the viewpoint of a Canadian geologist with a mysterious past, there are rugged manly men (none so much so as our hero), a plucky heroine, and collection of good friends who support the duo against the odds. They must fight the corporation that owns the town and its various villainous lackeys. Landslide starts slowly, but builds to higher and higher high drama. This is still just the right sort of book for a tedious time stuck inside, and I was delighted to rediscover it in audio form - it gets an extra star for the nostalgia.

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Entertaining, classic genre tale

Revisado: 11-02-15

This is a straightforward sort of story. Delno is pleasant likable hero whose only real flaw at the start is that he hasn't been able to settle in a career, mildly disappointing his parents. He meets his dragon, and eventually with the help of friends they do the things that need to be done to defeat the baddies. A story to escape into and enjoy, set in a well built world, I'll be very glad to visit there again when the next book is available.

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Such an annoying heroine!

Revisado: 02-28-15

The premise seemed promising, a classic "fiesty plain looking girl with a secret" meets "rake ready to reform" sort of tale. Sadly for a romance, this couple were remarkably unsexy, and their few moments of passion tepid. The rake wasn't very rakish, and the central female not much of a bluestocking. Her fiestiness tricked away after the first chapter, the one word description for her would have to be "drippy".

Solutions to the her situation were repeatedly offered but she kept refusing them, willing to see the family (who we are told she would sacrifice everything for) thrown out of their home. The plot twists and new elements that kept being introduced sometimes felt like they were ideas for whole other novels, and just didn't fit this one. Also the unlikely (especially for the time) behavior and attitudes of the secondary characters constantly jarred me out of the story.

Finally, the idea that putting on glasses and a hat makes one unrecognizable even to former lovers and friends who've known you since childhood is just silly.

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A delicious take on the world of the Borgias

Revisado: 01-17-14

I finished this book and immediately bought the sequel, I really didn't want to leave the world that the author has (re)created. Set when Rodrigo Borgia become Pope, The Serpent and the Pearl was *very* enjoyable. It's just the sort of historical novel I like, with plenty of actual history wrapped around the tale, but not getting in the way of it. It's written from three alternating first-person points of view. There's the Pope's naive mistress (who shares a household with her mother-in-law and various Borgia bastards), a runaway-nun Venetian cook, and a very short but deadly bodyguard. The voices of each character are quite distinct, both in a story sense, and in the performers reading the story sense. I especially enjoyed the acerbic food-obsessed cook.

It ends on a slightly too abrupt cliff-hanger, though as I now have the next book, I'm not too worried (that was a very effective tactic there Ms Quinn).

All in all fine summertime escapism, also making me want to go back to Rome.

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Delightful medieval world

Revisado: 09-19-12

This story is told from the perspective of a young woman whose greatest wish is to be a proper apprentice to her metalsmith-magician father. Instead, the assassination of the local Duke by a very bad man leads to her father's death. Fiametta has to find her own way, with the help of friends, to defeat her town's enemies. I enjoyed immersing myself in this world - the heroine is bright and appealing, and the secondary characters are rich and interesting, with plausible motivations and reactions. I love Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan sagas, but I would happily visit her version of sixteenth century Italy again.

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