Category reading

May 4 2016

AudioBook Review – Chains of Destiny

 

Chains of Destiny – Episode 2 – The Pax Humana Saga written by Nick Webb and narrated by Greg Tremblay.

This AudioBook had a little break in-between because of the UK bank holiday and I have to admit it killed me to leave it alone for the 3 days, but it’s the way it goes.

I was very glad to get back to it, and 100% loved this one. It’s by far one of the most interesting and character driven books I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. Because of this I actually will put it on my ‘listen to again’ list…. although I really enjoyed the other series of Nick’s this one has exceeded that.. and I think I’m going to have to really think about which one I like the most, or which characters, haha.

Anyway, you can of course find the AudioBook here – UK of course…

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Chains-of-Destiny-Audiobook/B00UXIP2MK

and my review will be posted soon. (depends on if Audible are being nice to me) haha

 

 

“I loved it! 100% “

Okay, thoughts as follows.

After the first Audio, I still admit I wasn’t totally sold on this series. But, this second Ep, totally blew me away. (I listened to the first 6 hours last week, and because of the break at work. UK may bank holiday I had some time away from it) and I was very eager to finish off as soon as I was back behind the wheel.

I was totally blown away by the depth of character to this episode. The MC’s Megan Po, Ben Hemez, (sp) and Jake Mercer were almost alive in my head!… I felt everything they were going through, and the story just kept on and on surprising me and making my head hurt all at the same time. Great job to both writer and narrator here 🙂

Some of the best moments for me – SPOILERS

Jake – We all know he’s making the biggest ‘daft decision’ of this book in going down to the planets surface with the pirates. The little altercation with the November family is very interesting though… a hint for book 3 there and that of course, Pritchard is alive. Hope on a different level.

But even though Jake has now been captured along side Alexandro and Ben, (plus two guards) he still never gives up in thinking and plotting to escape. This kinda of punishment and place would break so many and I do kinda wish that there were a few more destitute thoughts from him, but still with Ben elsewhere they have a plan, and a good plan. Not many of the decisions down in the mines are Jakes, some are just circumstantial and to me for this episode he does play a more downsized role.

LOVED LOVED LOVED – Megan leading the fight against Admiral Trajan. What a woman! what an absolute star and fighter she is. They all kinda question what Jake did for them in the previous book, but here she is and she’s doing death defying moves under the ocean to prolong their time to prepare to kick the Admirals’ behind.

I really enjoyed her story, as a character she’s such compassion, and yet such depth to her decisions. Maybe just as much reckless as Jake, but fab job and good on her!

The scenes with Ben, were just awful. I cringed, I hated it, but it was brilliant writing and just as brilliant in the narration department. Greg really delved in deep I think to become this crazy psychopathic doctor, as he scared me so much, I kinda wanted to skip those parts, but couldn’t because I wanted to know what would happen to Ben. I felt everything that they did in that room, and ugggh so so glad that Six eventually helped him to get out.

So on the whole this Ep really came alive for me. I am being honest though as I did have a couple of moments where I was jarred out of the story by a couple of repetitive words and phrasings. I do think that comes part and parcel of listening to something as opposed to reading it, reading it takes much longer, so anything that can be perceived as a crutch word/phrase is easier spotted and makes me want to avoid them myself. It’s just an observation, that’s all.

This book written by Nick and read by Greg is one of my fav so far, it has all the elements of an epic space opera and characters that you just can’t help but feel for and love.

PS I already started on the next… 🙂 Thank you both for an amazing ride.

Apr 28 2016

AudioBook Review – The Terran Gambit

I had been scouring around for something else to tickle my fancy and I went for another nosey over at Nick Webb and Greg Tremblay (cant help it if I like already proven writers and narrators haha… 🙂 so I took another look at this series. Below are my thoughts as per usual. Took me a while to get into this one, but started to enjoy it a lot.
You can pick up the Audio from here –
http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Terran-Gambit-Audiobook/B00RW0TXFO
: )

“Great SF!”

I first listened to a sample of this series, (before buying the other one) and wasn’t 100% sold on the beginning I have to admit. It started off a little slow for me, and I didn’t think I liked Jake at all. (and it’s my fav character name ever)

But I do love Nick’s other series, and thought it deserved a chance. So, I dived in. After getting over the beginning and the backstory behind the Pax Humana and the world he’d created, I did start to like the story and Jake, even though he’s a bit of an idiot.

Nick weaves a pretty solid world here, but it does take some focus to understand all the different worlds, and how they’ve come to be where they are, with the resistance. Perhaps it was the depth of the world that just didn’t quite flow as well for me as the previous audiobook’s I’ve delved into, or it could just be, that this was his first, and he was finding his feet a bit more 🙂 either way, it’s still a very enjoyable story and one that I will listen to again and pass on the ‘amazon kindle’ versions to my mum, I know she’ll love them, haha.

There were a great number of characters in here, and Greg always delivers a fab performance, his voices and acting is a pleasure to listen to and suits this genre very well. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Military SO and Sci Fi.

Some of the more distinct ones, have to be Po and Ben, considering what they all go through, they form a great team and as characters they really do grow, I can’t help but feel for them, in their situation and in their pain. It’s a really harsh world they’re in. And lots of people die, for all the wrong and right reasons. Some really hard decisions for Jake, and though they’re the better ones, it’s a tough call to do it still, he’s got some huge kahonas doing it.

So, on to the next, I’ve already gotten about an hour into it, 🙂 and I also bought the third. thanks both to Nick and Greg for the entertainment, it makes my life so much more interesting.

Apr 26 2016

AudioBook Review – Riders of the Purple Saga

Written by Zane Grey, narrated by Ann M. Richardson.

A western… oh my goodness I actually listened to nearly 12 hours of a western. Where were the space ships and aliens…. haha.

Seriously if you love westerns this is a total classic, and a joy to listen to. 🙂

 

Review is ————-

 

“Different….”

The beautiful thing with Audio Books is that you can listen to them and do a hundred other things. For me it’s driving.

I used to watch and read westerns when I was much younger, but I admit I’ve never picked this one up.

It is a classic, and beautifully written, with long descriptive prose and imagery. This is the first book of Ann M Richardson’s I have listened to, and despite the genre not being something I would avidly seek out, I was totally swept away in her narration of Jane. Ann, has a fantastic ability to perform both side, male and female and to draw you in with the characters wonderful accents. It really was a joy to listen to, and I would defo look out for more books by her.

As for the genre and story, I think what surprised me more than anything because of the era and generation of the characters in the book, I really wasn’t expecting there to be as much sex, romance and violence, haha, but they were all very pleasant surprises, and I can totally see why this was a book that marked the era from which it came from, it’s so distinctive and well thought out. jane’s got so much going on, she turns to one person and things go from bad to worse, for her personal character I could only wish that many of my friends were as strong and had as much courage as Jane. With her religious beliefs and her upbringing she really stands out. I couldn’t help myself but like her.

The author tied in so many smaller plots, and wove the whole world together so very well that even though this was a long piece for me to listen too, it was still very much an enjoyable audio.It also left me thinking about picking up another western, I guess I’m not totally against any genre now. I’ve listened to so much more than i’d ever thought I would by becoming an Audible member : )

I would highly recommend this for someone who has already read and loved the book, or for those who would like a taste of life back in this era it is just so full of life, it’s hardships and it’s loves. A fab tale to become totally engrossed with.

I was given a copy of this audio in exchange for an honest opinion by the narrator.

Apr 22 2016

AudioBook Review – The Anonymous Source

A very stressful week in work, but I’ve had this amazing book to listen to. Not one I’d normally pick up, but I can’t help but be a Jeff Hays fan now 🙂 hhahaa
This book by A.C Fuller and narrated by Jeff Hays is well worth a listen if you already love the genre!
Review is as follows —————-
“So interesting…. “

One of the best things I’ve loved about AudioBooks is that I’m really opening up the kind of genre’s I usually read etc. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised about a lot of them.

I’ve never really read anything in the crime/thriller category. So this was a first for me. What I enjoyed the most has to be the character element in here. Alex and Camilla are so deeply drawn that they could almost be my next door neighbours. There were some amazing character flaws that they both had, Alex so uptight over food and the fact he was fat, totally resonated with me, suffering with Anorexia for 16 years. But Camilla’s almost nonchalance over what she put in her mouth was brilliant. They are chalk and cheese and their being in this awful situation, and investigating it puts them each others pockets.

Jeff really does bring this story to life in the most amazing way, from their voices, to their eating and running. The food side of things, very distracting, when you’re listening to the book and driving a food van, I’m sure I ate more than usual this week, and I’m blaming this book!

I found that the whole AudioBook was alive. Both characters had deep problems, and inner turmoil which was played with great attention to detail by the writer and tone by the narrator, this really made the exciting scenes, tense and fast, and the slower scenes, where Alex and Camilla talked to each other about their lives deep and meaningful.

There were many twists and turns in here, and I won’t spoil it for anyone, especially the ending.I have to admit that one of my fav moments was when Alex admits to Cam, that he’s falling in love with her, and she tells him not to.

I’m a sucker for a really good story and with it being around 9/11 which even for me from the UK was hard to watch (I’d had major knee surgery the day before) and was at home when it hit out news. It was well crafted, brilliantly paced and full of little tips and hints for Alex and Camilla.

The only reason why I marked it down a little was because of the ending, maybe it’s just the genre, but I did expect more from it. I think this is something I need to listen to more of before I can totally judge it though.

Very glad I picked this one up still. 🙂 and will look out for more.

Apr 20 2016

AudioBook Review – Broken Skies Book 1

Getting through my Audio list, haha but it’s tough, so so many good books to choose from. And the last couple of days I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Broken Skies by Therresa Kay and narrated by Andrea Emmes. I’m a fan already of Andrea and this was a must listen to in my book because of the premise, I just adored it.

So review as follows, and I admit, this is the first one in a series I’m totally disappointed that there’s not a second narration for me to buy. boo hooo….

🙂 you can pick up the book here – http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Young-Adults/Broken-Skies-Audiobook/B00LSYXFZY

and my review is –

—————–

“Very cool!”

There were several things I really loved about this story, and a few I wasn’t so keen on.

I did receive a code from the narrator for one of her books in return for an honest opinion, but I can’t remember if it was this one or the last one I listened to, so I’m saying this one, and either way all reviews off me are honest wether they be gifted or not.

Jaz-Jasmine was a good character for the most part, but her panic attacks and personal weakness grated on me quite a bit. I have to admit I loved the story line and most of what she’s been through, but there were moments when I really think especially towards the end of the book that she would just get a grip and start to process things and move forwards as her own person. She was almost there when she first faced her brother, but she almost insisted with real conviction that things were the same, and they really weren’t. I had hoped she really knew and understood that before that moment.

The whole Lir storyline was very interesting and well written. (I do wish that Jax was a little more grown up with it, but she’s a young, and love struck teen who knows nothing about the aliens or their love/bonding rituals, so I can kinda forgive the writer for some of these things.

For the most part this story kept me on edge and I wanted to know what happened. I can’t believe the Author hasn’t had the narrator back to do the second book, I’m just gutted, so much so I had to buy the book, and I don’t often do that. I don’t have the time to read a real book. So I do hope that the author will have this on the cards next.

The narrator brings such an abundance of life, joy, love and heartache to Jax, that you just can’t stop listening even though sometimes, or most of the time she’s a pain in the butt and really can’t see the wood for the tress, silly girl.

So yeah, I was left with a book/narrator hangover. and I’m not used to that. You both make the best combination. And I do hope you’ll work together again.

~ Dawn