Will

Amazing book with great narrators

Revisado: 07-31-19

I had been waiting for this book for many months. I had a set idea in my head of what this book would be about, what it would try to achieve, and how it would get there. It was none of the things I wanted it to be. Instead, it was the most beautifully written work of fiction I've ever read.

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Well researched and engaging bio of Campbell

Revisado: 10-31-18

Anyone with a passing knowledge of the Golden Age of science fiction knows of the four men named on the cover, but the amount of details available about each of them varies. Little has been published about John W. Campbell, but this book remedies that, using Campbell as a central figure and telling his story, both alone and through his interactions with the other three. The product is a great biography that is both readily readable and wonderfully satisfying.

In the case of the Asimov, Heinlein, and Hubbard, all of whom have the subject of previous biographies, Nevala-Lee expands their stories by showing their faults along with their virtues. One of my favorite aspects of Astounding is the amount of attention paid to the women. Many of these women wielded vast influence on the four men and on science fiction itself. With the exception of Virginia Heinlein, previous works have, at best, relegated these women to the sidelines, or worse, cast them into the role of villain and hung all of the man’s faults and missteps on them.

Astounding tells the story of these figures instead of just chronologically listing facts about them, resulting in a book that even a casual fan will appreciate.

Rennette previously narrated Heinlein's The Number of the Beast, which is an homage to the Golden Age, making him an excellent match for this book. His reading added an extra element to the story.

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Sometime difficult; Always amazing

Revisado: 06-30-17

What did you love best about Too Like the Lightning?

The philosophy. Many reviewers are bored by what they think of as this book's rambling, and are annoyed that it rarely touches on the plot. If you pick one of the storylines as "the plot", then this is completely true, but if you view this as a study of the world the characters are in, and how they interact with it, then the philosophy takes center stage, and becomes vitally important to all the stories.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Too Like the Lightning is incredibly dense. You need breaks just to process what has happened.

Any additional comments?

If you want a book that is driven by direct action, then you should skip this. Too Like the Lightning spends a lot of time on the history and philosophy that led to the existence of its world, and how that impacts the people who currently live there. There is a lot going on, but it isn't always physical action.

The narrator, Jefferson Mays, navigates the multiple languages and accents with ease. His performance adds to an already excellent experience.

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I really wanted to like this book

Revisado: 05-15-16

Allen Steele has done a lot better. The first section was overly dramatic for no reason. The main character could have simply been told what was going on instead of dragging it out into an ordeal lasting several momths. Later parts just read like tired family drama.

The narrator was ok, but I think there would have been better choices. Not that he mattered much since the quality of the recording was so poor. It sounded as if it were produced in someone's garage using cheap, amateur equipment.

A bad story paired with a terrible production make this the worst experience I have had with Audible since I became a member nine years ago.

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Reads like a textbook

Revisado: 02-07-16

Yes, I know there is a plot reason for why it reads like a textbook, but that doesn't make it any easier to plod through. There were a few times that I detected a possibility of the book going somewhere interesting, but Robinson quickly blocked those paths in favor of the monotony. Overall Aurora is a depressing book written in a dull manner.

The narrator does a fairly good job with what she has to work with. While her droning is not easy to listen to, she sounds just like the narrator was written. The effects that were used on her voice were annoying and distracting.

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Very Satisfying

Revisado: 02-07-16

The first two thirds of Seveneves did not seem like a Stephenson novel. It read very much like The Martian, and almost comes off as merely being the backstory for the final third - the book he really wanted to write. While that sounds somewhat negative, I don't mean it that way - I love this book. I can understand why many people dislike the final section since it is a sudden, jarring switch from the earlier narrative, but I was fascinated by the 5,0000 years of changes.

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Pinchot was great. The story was not.

Revisado: 02-20-15

There are a few Heinlein books that aren't to my taste, but this is the only one I truly dislike. There is no way for me to describe why Glory Road is so bad without a lot of spoilers.
Bronson Pinchot turns in a great performance, but he wasn't given a lot to work with.

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Great story and Weiner's best narration

Revisado: 11-04-14

The book won a Hugo award and is one of Heinlein's best, but the narration makes the audio version required, even if you've already read the novel.

I've listened to several of Weiner's narrations before, and always considered him a competent performer. My perception of him has been greatly elevated after hearing this work. It is easily the best performance I've heard from him, and probably one of the best by any narrator.

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Audio Quality Issues

Revisado: 08-07-14

The volume of this audiobook is very inconsistent. At times the narration is incredibly loud, but a while later it will be so soft that it is difficult to hear. I have over 200 books in my Audible library and have never experienced this before. This appears to be a technical problem, and not an issue with the narrator, who does a fine job.

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Excellent Narrator

Revisado: 12-24-13

The overall story of the series is a lot of fun. The writing does occasionally get bogged down, but Campbell's ideas and plot twists more than make up for it
Christian Rummel provides perfect narration for these books. He provides believable personalities even for the characters who are minimally fleshed out in the writing. His portrayal of Geary is spot-on with my imagination.

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