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Review of audiobook Dragon Ever After Here Be Dragons Series, Book 1 By: Louisa Masters Narrated by: Joel Leslie Series: Here Be Dragons, Book 1 Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins Unabridged Audiobook Release date: 03-15-22 Language: English Publisher: Tantor Audio The Here Be Dragons Series is set in the same universe as Louisa Masters' Hidden Species Series. The story starts several years after the events of the last book of the Hidden Species Series. Percy is relieved not to be in the middle of all the chaos and stress of the Community of Species Government. He also misses everything but especially his friends from CSG. Percy has been struggling to decide what he wants to be when he grows up, which has nothing whatsoever to do with age. He is at loose ends when a dragon fledgling crashes and destroys his shed. Brandt, the leader of the dragons, comes to retrieve the fledgling in the hopes of getting Percy interested. One conversation full of innuendo later, awkward with a teen in the room, and Brandt has invited Percy to visit him in the United States. Their relationship is sweet and hot. Joel Leslie is one of my favorite narrators. Dragon Ever After is a good illustration of why. The voice that Mr. Leslie creates for Percy is great. He combines all the strength Percy has previously shown with the vulnerability of a man questioning if he is enough. Brandt, the leader of the Dragons and ten thousand years old, is someone who has control of his life. His voice is strong but playful. The playfulness that the narrator brings out not only in the main characters but the others is wonderful. For example, Alistair whining about anything he isn't a part of. I find it easy to recognize each character, not only the main couple because Mr. Leslie has given them unique voices. I truly enjoyed this audiobook. I started it this morning while I had breakfast and continued listening to it until I finished it. It was a fun book and definitely kept me interested. I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, and this is my honest review. #DragonEverAfter #NetGalley #TantorAudio #LouisaMasters #JoelLeslie Raven’s Hart Book 7 in the Haven Hart series Author Davidson King Narrated by Joel Leslie, Philip Alces Publication date Apr 28, 2020 Running time 6 hrs 23 min A reoccurring character in the Haven Hart series is Poe. He is mysterious. Always dressed in black and white. Sunglasses on indoor or out. No firm story on who he is and who the heir of Haven Hart is to him. From previous books we know he is intelligent, artistically talented, and devoted to the Hart family. Finally in Raven's Hart we get the full story, not only of Poe but also of the Hart family. A story arc that began in the fifth book concludes in this book. The story has romance, suspense, mystery and the end of many arcs within the Haven Hart series. Philip Alces and Joel Leslie narrate all the books in this series. All of the characters are well defined. Poe's emotion when he speaks to the Hart heir comes through. Poe has been strong through all the crisis in Haven Hart, protecting the heir and the people of the city. When Poe needs help, will those who has helped come to his side? I received a copy from Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest review. Triple Threat Book 6 in the Haven Hart series Author Davidson King Narrated by Joel Leslie, Philip Alces Publication date Nov 19, 2019 Running time 6 hrs 8 min Triple Threat focuses more on Black's Team than the Manos Family. Lee and Jones are two of Black's top assassins. They are paired with a young new addition to the team, Ginger, who first appears in Snow Storm. Ginger does not have the instincts of a killer. The three are sent on a journey to bring down a human trafficking ring. This is a very dark book. The characters, the events, and the themes involve human trafficking. It is a very real situation with no easy solution. The book maintains this sense of danger from beginning until end. This journey through treacherous waters with monsters lurking above and below the surface is a strong, dark story. Philip Alces and Joel Leslie narrate all the books in this series. All of the characters are well defined. In this book, there are three main characters. The narrators make each of the three voices district. The darkness of this book is evident in the voices of the characters. I received a copy from Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest review. Heart Beats is the third book in the Joker's Sin series by Davidson King. Each book has focused on one of the main characters in the Joker's Sin world. DJ Edge (Ledger) is an integral part of the sucesses of the club. His ability to create just the right atmosphere with his music keeps the patrons on their feet dancing all night. In the first two books, he came across as a very private man. Shane was introduced in the first book. He is the new bartender and he loves his job. The club is classy and he is well paid. He cannot keep his eyes off Ledger and freezes when Ledger is around. Just like high school, the romance will never start if someone doesn't take the first step. The book is a nice mix of romance and suspense. John Solo and Philip Alces do a good job narrating the book. If you have enjoyed any of the Haven Heart universe created by Davidson King, you will find this book a nice edition. I received a copy of Heart Beats from Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest review. Writing this review was very difficult. NoX is an amazing book and my review will not do it justice. That being said, NoX was a great read and a wonderful audiobook. While the book was available through Kindle Unlimited, I did purchase it after my first read-through. Then I bought the Audible. I have relistened to it several times and each time picked up something I had missed. Wilder has created a book that has elements of horror, suspense, thriller, romance, fantasy, and science fiction.
“It resembled a wolf, only it was twice as big as a man, and the paws were more like fingers. Black fur covered its body, the color so flawless it became devoid of light. High shoulders and a lower rear allowed it to spread its stance. And the very space around it held weight.” The main characters are NoX and Luca are excellent. Luca is a young man who has never lived because he has been dying since he was eight years old. NoX burst into his life and everything changes. NoX is the most original character I have ever encountered. The side characters are written very well (looking at you Vic). The story was original. The epilogue caught me before I had solved anything. The author mentions wanting to write more in this universe. Please and thank you. But even if NoX is a standalone forever, it is complete in itself and well worth the time. Kirk Graves does a wonderful job of narrating. His distinct voices for NoX, Luca, Dr. Reese Dante, Colonel Harrington, and Mrs. Laura Phillips. He makes the story very easy to follow. The moods of the characters are reflected in how Graves brings them to life. Dante’s voice varies between soul-crushing exhaustion and profound sadness. It really is a masterful narration. I chose NoX as the best book and the best audiobook of 2020. In a year where I read or listened to 511 books in total, NoX easily outshone the others. Married to the Mobster (Morelli Family, #1)
Leighton Greene Oh my gosh! I love this book. I picked up Married to the Monster through Kindle Unlimited. I was looking for an entertaining read. It was that and more. The book kept me turning pages. It made me care about the characters and kept the mystery under wraps until the end. I finished it and preordered the next one even though it is on Kindle Unlimited. This series is now an automatic order for me. Finch and Luca are two of the best characters I have read. The book was a mafia story with suspense and mystery. It was also a romance with men from different worlds who were more alike than even they knew. The second book and the just release novella also have the same high quality of storytelling. I am hoping this series moves to audio soon. Beowulf: A New Translation Maria Dahvana Headley Can I just say how much I enjoyed Maria Dahvana Headley's Beowulf: A New Translation? If I was teaching Beowulf to my kids now, I would use both this book (including the introduction) and a classic translation like Tolkien or Seamus Heaney. Approximately one thousand years after it’s creation, Headley makes Beowulf accessible. Beowulf was meant to be heard, as it was by it’s original audience. Do yourself a favor and get the audiobook of this fantastic translation. Imagine a smoky bar and the older man at the end as he begins to tell this story of magic and bravery. Shelter Mountain (Virgin River, #2) Robyn Carr Shelter Mountain is my favorite book in the Virgin River series. The main character, Preacher, is the shy, quiet, giant of a man we met in Virgin River. He is loyal, well respected in the community, and lonely. Paige, pregnant and taking her four year old son, is running from her ex-husband whose next beating will undoubtedly kill her. Bad weather and poor navigation bring her to Jack’s Bar with no one there but Preacher. That night begins the journey Preacher and Paige’s journey with no happy ending guaranteed. Preacher’s evolution from the beginning of the book till the end is wonderful. More importantly it is believable. I have read the first twenty books in the series but Shelter Mountain is the only one I have returned to again. Tallowwood (Tallowwood, #1) N. R. Walker Tallowwood was a great audiobook and I delayed finishing the last several chapters. The solution to the mystery, the suspense that had built to nail-biting levels, and my fears for my favorite characters caused me to hold off listening to the end. Tallowwood has it all. The mystery, which kept me guessing until almost the end, the suspense was intense, and the romance was well done. I enjoyed the growth of August Shaw's character. Antony Ferguson's narration was well done. Against the Grain (Auckland Med #4) Jay Hogan Jay Hogan is a New Zealand author that I have enjoyed reading. Auckland Medical is a series about the men who work at the medical center. Each book has focused on a different couple. In Against the Grain, Miller is an avid wheelchair rugby player. The wheelchair version of rugby seems much more physical and dangerous they the regular kind. He is a new hire at the medical center as Clinical Governance Coordinator. He loves his job and has had very few negative reactions to his disability. He is gay but only out to his family. After a rugby accident, he runs into Sandy Williams in Emergency Room. It is not a meet-cute. It is literally running into each other. Sandy is the RN who works as the Pathology Assistant. He came out as a teen. He is very strong in his identity and does not let others bully him. The relationship between Miller and Sandy is written so well. Starting with antagonism, the pair moves slowly and cautiously to friends. As they move into more than friends, there are issues that both men must deal with, issues that can make or break them. I really enjoy how Jay Hogan's characters are not cookie cutter. No matter how far from cisgender a character is, Jay never treats them as less than. I suggest reading the entire series because every book is strong and well written. I won a free copy in a Facebook contest. Writing a review was not required to win. Books and audiobooks were so much better than anything else in 2020. Honestly, the year sucked. Reading and/or listening help me cope with anxiety and depression. Thankfully 2020 provided me a wealth of choices. I have chosen my "BEST" of the year based on when I read them, not when they were published.
I will begin posting the titles that made my Best of 2020 list. There are ten titles. Each title's qualification was based on: * Rating after my first read or listen * If rating changed after a second time * If the title stayed with me in the days after completing Reading/listening a title for a second or third time is an indication that I truly enjoyed it. I will continue to post my selections here as well as Goodreads. BEST SHORT STORY There is only one short story on my list. Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse (https://apex-magazine.com/welcome-to-your-authentic-indian-experience/) rated five out of 5 stars each time I listened to it. Nothing I can say will do justice to Rebecca Roanhorse’s short story masterpiece. You must read it for yourself or find LeVar Burton reading it on YouTube. Deadwood A Novel by Peter Dexter and narrated by J. Rodney Turner was a very interesting audiobook. Let me start by saying J. Rodney Turner has an incredible voice and I would listen to him narrate the phone book. He did a great job of creating distinctive voices for the main characters.
Deadwood is historical fiction. Not being a historian, I cannot speak to how accurate it is. If you are looking for the characters of HBO's Deadwood series, they are here but not the same as in the series. Each, the HBO series and the novel by Peter Dexter, interpret the characters in different manners. The story still involves Deadwood being a very dangerous and evolving town. The main characters are well defined. The character that the book follows is Charlie Utter beyond the death of his friend, Wild Bill Hickok. The author does a great job setting the scenes so that the reader/listener can picture them. Warning - the language of the book has profanities. It also has several offensive identifications toward individuals or groups. Both the profanities and the offensive terms are part of the language usage of the time. A copy of Deadwood was provided by Tantor Media in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed One Way, the first book is S. J. Morden's Frank Kitteridge series. I purchased No Way, book #2, the day it came out. I just finished it. So much action and surprising twists. Just excellent. It is very hard to comment on this book at all without giving away the major points of the first book. S. J. Morden and William Hope created another "cannot stop listening" audiobook that I truly enjoyed. One Way was a fantastic book. Wonderful premise, a Complicated main character, so much action, and enough gray morality to staff a campaign for president. The main character Frank states several times, "Mars wants to kill you." But what is it is not only Mars trying to kill you? Where one mistake can cause your blood to boil off into the thin atmosphere. William Hope handles the narration perfectly. The voices are all wonderful. My favorite secondary character was Zeus. One Way is a wild ride and a fun one. Meddling Kids is not for kids, meddling or otherwise. Edgar Cantero writes and Kyla Garcia narrates a delightful, easter egg filled, action-packed story that had me from the first chapter. If you replace Scooby Doo and the gang with the Summer Detective Club, you have the foundation the story is built on. Instead of a Great Dane named Scooby Doo, the book has a Weimaraner named Sean. Many rubber masks were pulled off and many traps set by the Summer Detective Club until their last case in 1977. Something went wrong and the Club never solved another mystery. Now, adults, the Club must reunite to fix what was broken in the last case, namely each individual in the club.
The book never takes itself seriously. It has fun and wants you to have fun too. Some of the delights are the names of the traps they engineered and consider using again. The river is the Zoinks River. The language is colorful. The F-word and many of its derivations are included. Two of my favorite quotes that I think illustrate the general attitude of the book are: “Peter sat as powerless as an overwhelmed female character in a Victorian drama.” “The novelty of bare rock walls instead of concrete had become old at the speed of SNL material.” Kyla Garcia does a great job narrating. Ms. Garcia handles several accents, voices that are alarmed, dispirited and determined. I enjoyed her narrating and will look for her in future purposes. Meddling Kids is a love letter to those of us that watched Hanna Barbera cartoons on Saturday morning. Even if you are younger than the original Scooby Doo program, you will enjoy this very funny book. I checked out the audiobook through Overdrive at the Lane Library in Oxford, OH. The Providence Rider is the fourth book in McCammon's Matthew Corbett series. Matthew is astounded to find his name painted on walls near where buildings have been blown up. His latest refusal to Professor Fell was not graciously received. Matthew is told that the bombings will continue until the town is destroyed or Matthew accepts the professors "invitation" to visit him in the Caribbean. When Matthew decides he has no choice but to accept, he reluctantly sets out to board the ship. What Matthew finds in Professor Fell's domain is the nastiest group of villains. He must fulfill the professor's demand for help and survive the other guests. This book is part spy and part historical fiction. The Providence Rider is enjoyable but not as enjoyable as the previous books in the series. Edoardo Ballerini is a terrific narrator. He helps bring the story to life through his wonderful accents and distinct voices. This story had a huge range of accents. I have recently begun reading books in the romance genre. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong was highly recommended by several members of a Facebook audiobook fans page. I thought if the romance angle was overdone or poorly written, at least there were werewolves. I needn't have worried. The entire book, romance, and werewolves is fantastic. The action is often fast-paced. When it is not, it is weighted with dread and foreboding waiting for the next strike to come. The main characters were enjoyable although some of them had anger management issues. The villains ranged from intelligent to evil idiots. The sexually explicit passages are just a few and are part of the story, not just gratuitous sex added. Aasne Vigesaa does a nice job narrating. She handles the male and female characters well as well as a multitude of accents including Ontario, Louisiana, and New York to name a few. As long as I can find books of this quality, I will continue reading in the romance genre. Note: There is a consent issue but it does not involve sex. I was excited to see what Peter Clines's next book in the Threshold series was. I really enjoyed 14 and The Fold. As I began seeing reviews for Dead Moon, I was dismayed by negative reviews with references to zombies. I downloaded it to my Audible account and started listening. I finished the audiobook in less than twenty-four hours. The connection between the first two Threshold books and Dead Moon is not revealed until the last third of the book but it is incredibly fun and exciting getting there. The book takes place over two hundred years in the future so the cast of characters is all new. I loved Cali and Jake and the rest of the crew from Osiris Cemetery. The mayor of Luna City reminded me what my 7th-grade teacher said when I gave her my book report on Jaws, "The shark isn't the monster." There are several monsters in this book, including very original zombies. Ray Porter's narration is terrific. He gives distinct voices to the characters. He also conveys the fear, frustration, and humor. Keep in mind that in Dead Moon, the moon itself is trying to kill you, not just the zombies. R. C. Bray is a fantastic narrator. I have listened to several of his books including Burnt Offerings, The Elementals, Gilded Needles, and one of my all-time favorites, The Martian. He does an excellent job of creating discernable characters. His females are never falsettos. They sound natural. Bray’s accents are incredibly good. He excels at communicating emotion including snark, which is actually hard to pull off. There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.
Last year I listened to The Hospital: The FREE Short Story: The First Mountain Man Story. It is a short listen that can be listened to at any point but chronologically between book 1 and 2. It got me interested in the series. When I was given the opportunity to review Mountain Man: Prequel for Audio Book Reviewer (https://audiobookreviewer.com/), I started listening immediately. Gus makes a living as a house painter. He lives in a small town in Canada near the Bay of Fundy in southeastern Canada. Gus lives a simple. He hopes to make a life with his girlfriend Tammy. He tolerates and encourages his young coworker Toby. Life is going on in a normal trajectory until it takes a sharp, violent turn. As a virulent strain of flu starts to hit the area, Gus’s boss signs Gus, Toby, and another coworker Gord up to paint the manager’s office at the local Mollymart. The manager’s office is on the 2nd floor overlooking the sales floor. While not thrilled to be working from 7p to midnight after working all day, Gus is glad to make the extra money. As the painters start their work, the world crashes quickly outside. Individual’s dying from the flu strain are resurrecting as mindless, eating machine zombies. Individuals bit by zombies die and become zombies. One of the stricken runs into the store screaming. What follows is a wonderfully constructed scene. The reader/listener has a good idea of what is happening outside. The people in the store do not. They are confronted with a raging man who does not respond to any type of deterrent and argues with how to proceed. Even though no one can reach 911, the people still are unaware of how violent and dangerous it has become outside the store. Mountain Man: Prequel is an exciting start to a different take on the Zombie genre. The Canadian location adds some subtle tweaks to the known geography of American towns and cities. The book tracks Gus and friends over the first few days of the outbreak. No explanation is given for the dead rising. Honestly, Gus does not have time to consider anything other than surviving minute to minute. A good story paired with an excellent narrator creates an accessible and exciting entry into a new series. I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. This review and many others can be found at https://audiobookreviewer.com/ . Rock, Paper, and Scissors. It is not just a game anymore. The triplets all have their different dreams but Paper is the one with the biggest dreams. She wants to go to Mars. She makes her own rockets from scraps and for homemade contraptions, they fly well. Paper has read everything she can find on space and Mars. She should be in college but instead, she is in Fill City, a massive dump on what used to be Staten Island. She cannot leave. Along comes a contest for participants to compete on TV to win the only open seat on a trip to Mars. Millions of red scarab pendants are sold. Only thirty contain the winning message. The contest is sponsored by Zach Larson, the richest man in the world. Think Bezos and Musk but much cooler and actually in touch with the lives of common people. The contest will be like all reality shows, the lowest in each round goes home. Paper just has to find a winning scarab, escape Fill City, get to California before the competition starts and win the competition. All without anyone finding out that she is a Filler. Easy peasy, right? Khristine Hvam is a marvelous narrator. Her snark is so strong, she could have grown up in my family. This is the first title I have listened to narrated by her and it will not be the last. My husband, who does not usually listen to audiobooks, joined me for the last 75% of this book and loved it. Andy approved - 5 Stars. I would listen to it again. Repeat value - 5 Stars. Marvelous narrator - 5 Stars I won a copy of You're Going to Mars from the Dab of Darkness (https://dabofdarkness.com) and Rob Dirks, the author. I have written an honest review of the title. I haven't added any new content since April of this year. I have not given up on the blog or on adding new content. It just is not possible at this time. I have spend weeks deciding how to write this post, this difficult post.
Sometime late last year when my depression began a downward spiral, I began to notice that my writing process was not as smooth as before. More often I found myself stalling for long periods. By February of this year, it has screeched to a halt. Writing at this point is similar to trying to write in a language I do not speak. Every word searched for like using an English to whatever language dictionary. I do not know when my writing will return to normal. My physician has two theories. Hopefully in the near future an answer will be found. If I owe you a review (and I owe 4 audio and 6 e book reviews), I apologize. In most cases, I have completed reading or listening to your item. I just cannot write the review. I will continue trying until they are all complete. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Forty stories set in the Star Wars Universe. Forty stories on the periphery of the main stories we all know. Whether you are a Star Wars fan or a true Star Wars all out nerd, these stories are enjoyable. For example, the first story Raymus by Gary Whitta was an enjoyable story for me, a Star Wars fan. My daughter-in-law, who was listing with me, told me one of the characters mentioned is the Stormtrooper Luke and Han knock out when they are freeing Leia from the prison. I would have missed that but it was still a good story. Ultimately that is why this collection works because it has something for everyone. Just looking through the authors in the table of contents is a sci-fi fans dream. Chuck Wendig writes a great fun piece called “We Don’t Serve Their Kind Here”. Based on that one line in A New Hope, Wendig creates an entire piece that changes how you view the character that speaks that line. Wil Wheaton’s Laina was incredible. Just so many feels, especially bitter and sweet. There are too many stories to list them separately as I usually do with anthologies but they are more hits than misses. Authors such as Delilah S. Dawson, Glaudia Grey and Alexander Freed who are already familiar with Star Wars fan, extend their writings into the universe in this collection. And who can pass up on the story told from the viewpoint of the monster in the trash compactor? This audiobook does have sound effects, which is something I am not usually fond of. In this particular case though, the sounds effects do not overwhelm the dialogue and are a nice addition. Each one of the narrators does a great job. Jon Hamm, Neil Patrick Harris and Janina Gavankar are just three of the very talented bunch to narrate the book. Every story is a fascinating trip into part of the beloved universe that finally have a light shined upon them. This review and many others on Audio Book Reviewer who provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Acceptance is the conclusion to Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. It is told from multiple view points. The Biologist, Control, the former Director, the Assistant Director are all woven together to create the most complete picture of Area X readers will be given. There are still questions when the book is finished. Some may be answered by a second listen. Others may remain because Area X is still Area X and as such is till a mystery.
Carolyn McCormick, Bronson Pinchot, and Xe Sands do a fantastic job as narrators. The alternating viewpoints are clearly voiced and it is no problem deciphering who is speaking. I really enjoyed this changing of narrators in this book. It helped make the mysteries of Area X more believable. There is so much about the book that cannot be shared because of spoilers. I highly recommend the entire Southern Reach trilogy. Authority is the 2nd book in the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. I highly recommend reading the first book Annihilation before Authority. Otherwise it will not make much sense.
While Annihilation was told from the viewpoint of The Biologist, this book is told from the viewpoint of Control. Control is the third generation of spies in his family. He is sent to the Area X administration to assume the position of Director. His job is to find out what is wrong with the Area X explorations and fix it. First up is to interview the three members of the 12th expedition who returned, including The Biologist. Control is challenged at each step by the Assistant Director who loyalty is to the former Director. He is also given orders by The Voice, a faceless, nameless male that he must give progress reports to daily on the phone. As Control struggles to do his assigned job, he discovers there is as much hidden in the administration of the Southern Reach as there is behind the barrier of Area X. Bronson Pinchot does a fantastic job narrating Authority. He creates distinct voices for Control and The Voice as well as the female characters. He is one of my favorite narrators. Authority leaves the reader/listener waiting for the solution to Area X. Jeff VanderMeer creates a very realistic and at the same time foreign world in Annihilation, the first book of the Southern Reach Trilogy. The world is real. It seems to be set in contemporary times, with cell phones and no radical technology that screams future world. The premise is that an area called the Forgotten Coast, which is predominately rural, has suddenly been cut off from the rest of the world. Some type of invisible force field came down and the area became inaccessible. No one knows what happened or the fate of those behind the barrier.
The Southern Reach is the administrative body created to monitor and study Area X as it is called. This first book deals with the 12th expedition sent into Area X. The story is told from the viewpoint of The Biologist. The expedition members are referred to by their functions, not their names. As the story details the expedition from The Biologist viewpoint, we learn about the strange life forms in Area X and the byzantine administration that continues to send expeditions in Area X even after disasters. The narration by Carolyn McCormick is very good. Although this is the first in a trilogy, it does have a rational ending. Trust me, you will want to continue. Trying to find the secret, the reason for Area X will get under your skin. I saw the Psycho movie multiple times over the years but this was my first time with the book or audiobook in this case. The story is so much more than the movie ever covered (no surprise). There is an entire backstory to Norman and his mother. Norman is described as being overweight, not the thin good looking Anthony Perkins from the movie. Mary, the character Janet Leigh played in the movie, also has a more complete story. I really enjoyed the write style of Robert Bloch. Even though it is somewhat dated, the dialogue is not stilted at all. The suspense was maintained until the very end. The narration was good but not great. I cannot quite put my finger on what in the narration bugged me but something was enough to cause me to rate it 4 instead of 5 stars. I will be checking out the rest of the series soon.
Sleeping Beauties
A Novel By Stephen King and Owen King Read by: Marin Ireland Courtesy Simon & Schuster I went into this audiobook expecting the wonderful hair raising horror experience that I have enjoyed from Stephen King since reading his first book, Carrie, back in the 1970’s. So I did have high expectations. I expected a good story, great characters and something normal morphing into something that scared the crap out of me (example clowns).Sleeping Beauties did not deliver. I did not find the book or characters enjoyable. In a small town in Appalachia there is a women’s prison. Many of the women are there because of drugs or domestic violence that caused them to break the law. A strange illness breaks out at the prison where the women fall into a deep sleep and are enveloped in a cocoon. If they are removed from the cocoon, they become dangerous and homicidal. While the women are in the cocoon they travel to a different place. Time is different. There are no men. They are safe and heal from their traumas. Meanwhile, the men go into testosterone overdrive. There are a lot of guns, a lot of driving around, and a lot of dealing with the situation by violence. I found that I just did not care about the women or the men. I did not find any reason to connect to them. Marin Ireland did a nice job narrating. My inability to get into the book had to do with the story and not the narration. A People’s History of the World From the Stone Age to the New Millennium by Chris Harman11/19/2017 A People’s History of the World
From the Stone Age to the New Millennium Author Chris Harman Narrated by Napoleon Ryan Publication date Aug 29, 2017 Running time 27 hrs Courtesy Tantor Media I love history. I have loved it since childhood. I have favorite eras, like the Plantagenet and Tudor reigns of England. I lack an overall view of world history. How it all fits together. The non-European history and how it connects with the history I was taught. When I saw A People’s History of the World by Chris Harman offered for review from Tantor Media, I thought it would be a good opportunity to fill the gaps in my knowledge. The Introduction begins stating that the book is meant as an outline, a stepping off point for deeper study into specific areas. Although it is an outline, not an indepth look at every moment of history, the book does have a thread that runs throughout all the eras studied. Part One is the Rise of Class Societies. It begins with prehistory. The author posits that at this point in history there were no classes. Every individual was important to the life or death of the tribe so all things were shared equally. There is no way to say for sure this is true or false (unless Doctor Who shows up with the Tardis and the right coordinates). As he lays out the development of civilization, he accompanies it with the development of a classed society. He shows a shift from matriarchal to patriarchal societies, not all but the majority, leading to the subjugation of women. The sections following are The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, The Great Transformations (Reformation and Renaissance), The Spread of the New Order (Enlightenment), The World Turned Upside Down and finally The Century of Hope and Horror. Mr. Harman is a leading socialist in Britain. His writing style is fluid but not simple. This is not a book that can be devoured quickly. It is best to read a chapter at a time and let it percolate before moving one. Mr. Harman’s socialist background is evident in his interpretation of events. That does not mean it is invalid. Very few historians can write without an visible biases. It is not the history you learned in school and will open your mind to possibilities. Napoleon Ryan is a British actor who has done quite a bit of voiceover and narration in addition to theater and screen. His voice is rich and he enunciates clearly. The problem I had with the book was that I tried to start it on a very long road trip. About an hour in I had to stop. I had no idea what I had heard. Mr. Ryan’s voice washed over me and was pleasant to listen to but I could not concentrate on driving and the complexity of the book at the same time. I would suggest A People’s History of the World if you can give yourself the time to take it slow. It is rewarding when you take the time to truly concentrate. You may not agree with all of it but it will give you a new angle from which to explore history. |
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