Tag Archives: Reviews

Sep 6 2016

AudioBook Review – 36 Hours

Great shorter listen this week, by a narrator who I’ve had the pleasure of listening to before. Kevin’s voice is really deep, gritty but easy on the ears 🙂

Review as follows

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  • 36 Hours: The Blackout Series, Book 1 | [Bobby Akart]
    36 Hours: The Blackout Series, Book 1
    UNABRIDGED
    Reviewed: 06/09/16

    “Thought provoking”

    It was nice to listen to Kevin again, and this premise interested me a lot due to the science of it. I must admit there was a lot to take in at first. But as each first chapter introduced us to the characters and to what was coming, I got more and more sucked into the story.

    Preppers do have the mentality attatched to them of being a bit on the wacky side, but I think in all honesty having some sort of stock about you really isn’t. Especially with the way the world seems to be heading. Maddison was a fab Mom and did everything she could to help calm her daughter down and protect her from even her own thoughts at first.

    Alex totally different gal, you think she’s this quiet kid who just wants to do what kids do, but she rescues her mom from a mugger with a golf club! There were some really tough moments in this story. And the more we got to know Maddy and Alex, and her husband Colton. The more we were routing for them being re-united.

    I think my only grip is that it’s so short. I know there’s a sequel, but I feel it’s actually really part of this story. It stopped at a good place after they met up, but the only thing that led me to want more was the bonus chapter/teaser.

    Still excellent listen, Kevin has a deep, but soothing tone I really like. He puts great twists with his male and female characters and I’m happy to listen to anything he narrates because of that. Next one please 🙂

    This audio book was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.

Sep 2 2016

AudioBook Review -Full Share

Back with the crew on the Lowis! If you love sci fi character driven stories, this is the one for you….

Review follows.

Full Share: A Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Book 3 | [Nathan Lowell]
Full Share: A Trader’s Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Book 3
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 02/09/16

“Excellent Listen”

I was so excited to get back to Ish and the crew. What a fantastic series this has been.

However, this was a great listen. There’s so much going on here, with a new crew member coming aboard and the uncertainty of Ish losing his place on the ship. This novel defo has a much sadder undertone, and Jeffery did a fab job as usual, with all the characters and especially the woman, it amazes me how much each person really has their own twist and voice. I am in awe of what narrators do. But the amazing writing, and drinking and food also still makes me want to drink more coffee and find out how to make spicy beefalow 🙂

I really did enjoy the full journey though, and the fact that Ish and Bev get together is just perfect, I wondered of the three who he actually might end up with if the opportunity arose. At most points through this book, I kept thinking, come on, I’m routing for him… the ship and almost dying, wow, really great writing and really awesome deductive work from Ish and the crew to get to the bottom of that problem. A mystery I was happy to follow, as I was with the problems they were having with the new crew member CC.

I was looking forward to the next one, but now I’m not so sure. And I have to say, I think the only thing with it that’s bothered me is the preview chapters and then subsequent wanting to skip the first few in the next new book. I also got a taster of the next book, (book 4) before I cut the off switch. And I’m sad if there isn’t anything really written of his academy days, I mean to skip 4 years of his life… seems a huge switch. Maybe it will work or not, but sigh. I really wanted to see what happened there too.

I am very much still looking forward to hearing the next book and following on with Ish and maybe Pip and Bev…. guess we’ll see when I get there.

Thanks for the great entertainment this week already pre ordered the next 🙂

Aug 18 2016

AudioBook Review – Years best Hardcore Horror

 

I’m really behind on posting my audiobook reviews, so I kinda just jumped a few. Sorry.

There are a few really good ones, I’ll get to linking in here, but for now, this has been one of my fav this last couple of weeks.

You can check out the review or buy it from –

http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Years-Best-Hardcore-Horror-Volume-1-Audiobook/B01IIHMUEK

 

Review is as follows 🙂

“Horrific! but so good.”

I did write this review the other day, can’t remember exactly what I wrote though, but for some reason I either didn’t push send or something went wrong.

So here goes.

This was a fantastically horrific and just gross out collection of horror stories. But they were so so good, and in bite sized chunks that were great for listening at work. There was a couple of them I really wished were much longer and this was the only reason I marked it down a bit. We only just got a good feel for the characters and what was going on around them that when it ended it was too soon.

I also felt there wasn’t quite enough time in-between the stories, because if I put it down at the wrong time, and it moved to the next I sometimes found myself confused.

The two stories that stuck in my mind more than the others were the opening one, Worth the Having. Which I found to be so sick, but crazy awesome at the same time, and Eleanor, because it really made me think.

For a collection to contain everything you can think of. Babies born from the worst possible thing, to suicide pacts, to going ghost hunting only to be murdered. This was a great collection.

What also set it aside were the amazing difference in characterisation from Joe, as a narrator I follow and (buy a lot from) I loved each one, there were distinct differences, some funny voices and tones and even laughter in each tale.

For anyone who loves horror, gore, and a good surprise, this is a good audiobook to buy, you won’t be disappointed.

Looking forward to more 🙂

Jul 7 2016

AudioBook Review – Man of War

Great listen this week, with author M.R Forbes and narrator Jeff Hays. It has been an interesting week. But at least I had one great book on the cards. As soon as it was live, I wanted to listen. So I finished the audio I had on the cards and dived right in. I wasn’t disappointed. By the author or the narrator. Which to me says a lot.

You can pick up the audiobook here

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Man-of-War-Audiobook/B01GQO9R4S

I am already a fan of Jeff, so now I can add the author to my list of who to follow, and have already picked up some other audiobooks he’s had done. 🙂

 

Review as follows —– with some spoilers sorry….

Man of War: Rebellion, Book 1 | [M. R. Forbes]
Man of War: Rebellion, Book 1
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 7/7/16

“Excellent listen!”

I think when you start to listen to AudioBooks in the way I have, you do become fans of people. Jeff’s books were some of the first I had the pleasure of listening to, even within a genre I wasn’t a lover of, and I am a fan of his.

Add in the sci fi element and well I’m sold before I even know the premise. 🙂 Some things you know are just going to be a good listen. The fact that a story can be written so many ways just excites me.

You might say that I’m biased, but no I’m not. I love a good story and these are my reasons for enjoying this audiobook and yes, it does include some spoilers.

– ——- —– apologies for the spelling of names… and in no real order, just as I remember my fav bits.

I think one of the best decisions that M.R made was to keep the POV’s to two really amazing characters.

You have Donovan, and Gabriel. Both very strong men, and totally different in their upbringing and beliefs. I liked that a lot.

And saying that… the writing entwined these both so vastly different worlds perfectly. The supporting characters.

For Donovan, there was Diaz, who was not just an amazing runner, but an awesome strong woman to boot. Even if she had fallen in love with her superior. (I can’t blame her, what a totally full on hero and stubborn man he is)

For Gabriel he had Miranda, Daphnia and her husband Soon. The of course the old gater, his father General St Martin. Who I must admit I never expected to make a come back. When he went to his room on Major Choi’s hint/order. I was so surprised but in a nice way.

I must admit that I do think the start is a little slow, but I believe the characters saved it there. I wanted to know more about them and why they thought and acted as they did. The ‘science’ in here is a little over exaggerated, and for someone like me who isn’t that much in the know over it, it might well prove to be a very entertaining story. But, I did have to knock it down a peg for some of the things that didn’t quite add up in my head. Still it was one of the better books I’ve listened to so far.

So yes, character wise, I really enjoyed the interaction between Donovan and Diaz, I knew she had a crush on him even before he mentioned it, because it was defo going that way. Though I’m still very glad that they stuck to military protocol and didn’t do anything, even if she kissed him towards the end. It was just a step over the line that I could live with despite the circumstances.

Gabriel I think went through the most in my mind being the pilot who lost everything in the woman he loved to just existing to evade the Dread, and to do his missions. The last one almost cost him his life, but was also the downside to the decisions on the colony he was settled in. If it wasn’t for Major Choi and a few others, Sturges.. I think he would have stayed in his hole and never come out to rescue the scientist, and to then go about and take the Majellen with his father. Which of course I’m glad he did.

The story did pick up in the latter half, but I do believe that the story had to be done this way, we wouldn’t understand the characters as much nor would we want ton get to know or understand them without seeing what they went through before the big battle etc. Could it have started a lot sooner too, yeah maybe. General St Martin and his wife’s story are also very compelling… even that of Rodriguas as the 17 year old back when the first evac happened. All just depends on what the writer wants us to witness…

I do think that Donovan and Diaz in the Dread mothership seems a little weird at first. Too good to be true… thought they were both gonners. but I was so glad they got out okay with the help of another.. a clone, and a clone no doubt of Gabriel’s mother… It’s like you can see all the pieces the author wants you to put together, and you come up with 10 instead of 12, but the fact is you’re kept guessing and wanting and needing more.

I do think that the ending leaves us with a lot of questions and a lot of them might never be answered for a while, but I think they’re really good ones. This is the kind of book I would listen to, wait for the second and then listen to this again before I dived back in for more. This is to me because there were hidden depths to all the characters and some i might have guessed wrong and others I know I guessed right. Because they did things as I expected.

I had hoped that Aria wasn’t a spy, and that the trip into the Dread’s mother ship was as unexpected as it seemed, but the more things she did and the more she seemed to give them in their escape the more I doubted her. Again though a great turn around for her, when she admits to the ProDom hunters that her plan worked and yet she still turned around and helped the rebels. 🙂 fab…

Gabriel meeting her… well that’s something I really do want to listen in on as he tells his father. We only learn after his departure what his mother meant to the Dread and to Aria… even if she didn’t meet her. And I think that is the saddest part. General St Martin, hopes his wife is still alive, or is it just that kind of blind hope…

Overall this is an epic start to something much bigger, and of course there will be parts some don’t like and others love. All in, this was a great book, well written, voiced and delivered by Jeff… I couldn’t ask for more in the genre. And I totally look forward to more..

I even went to check out other titles by this author… and low and behold Jeffery Kafer is the narrator on the others. I have tagged these for the future, but all in, please M. R Forbes, you have to write more on this, and soon… I can’t wait too long. 🙂

Jul 3 2016

AudioBook Review – The Exodus Trilogy

 

Great to be listening to this and although I didn’t get to finish it off during the week. A very late night last night, gone 3.30am…. and a lie in (I never do that) left me still wanting to sleep at 9am…. so I got to finish this off while in bed, tucked up and awake enough to enjoy the last hour! bonus.

 

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  • The Complete Exodus Trilogy: Books 1-3 | [Andreas Christensen]
    The Complete Exodus Trilogy: Books 1-3
    UNABRIDGED
    Reviewed: 03/07/16

    “A great Sci Fi”

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Three books in one, bargain! So here are my thoughts, never really in any order, especially as this was 14 hours plus, but here goes.

    Spoilers.. of course…..

    Book 1

    Exodus.

    Always takes me a little time to get used to the way a writer switches between POV characters, and to work out who and what they’re fighting for in my head. With this trilogy, I won’t lie there’s a big cast and a lot happening. What struck me the most through this book was that even though it did take me a while, it was still so very easy to follow with Jeffery’s easy sounding voice and character distinctions. That I was very grateful for.

    I’m defo not a political person, though I do have my beliefs, and this book was an amazing look into what could be a possible future for us as the human race. I found the writing though at times a little repetitive. (there’s always something that sticks in your head that a writer uses as a crutch. Even I have my own… of that I’m sure. But the politics and the action were spaced out enough to hold interest and keep me enthralled with the many characters that started to shape up.

    This book was exactly what we’d expect, and so much more. There are people who we know are going to make it to the next one, and then there are others who sacrifice themselves for the greater good. I of course wonder what happened to the ones left behind. After all we got to know some of them to… did they really all just die? A horrible thought for those left in the training prison afterwards who faced such hope only to have then failed.

    There is so much that does happen through this book, could it have been longer. For sure, but then maybe the story could have taken a different role. So, even though I would have liked more of the threads to have been slower. As an AudioBook it was very entertaining and as such as easy listen, even with all the politics.

    But Exodus, left the planets solar system, with 35 more people than it should have! amazing. I was almost sure that the kids were going to be sent back to Earth. Thankfully Tina and Greg came up with a viable plan. 🙂

    Book 2 –

    Aurora

    Through the many trials and tribulations to actually get to this new home world. The fact they’re there is brilliant. Over 1600 people and a new world to explore and get to know. The facts that there is such diverse life already on the planet is a little concerning, and not being able to breathe the air. (which I did know was going to happen at some point, accidents happen after all)

    The biggest issue that the survivors face if of course themselves. And this Thomas Dunn…. set out already to destroy or renew… I don’t think I liked his motives at first, thinking of course that he was out to kill off the last of the human race. (I did get to like him though) Such political angles still even though so many years ahead and such a diverse world to explore. I was sorry to see that the colony split, but glad at least that Tina and Greg where the ones who had their heads screwed on.

    Maria and her parents also divided, not sure how a family would have ever been able to stay with the survivor program, and I certainly don’t think that other colonists would either, but I think that Ramone and Isabella’s history with the company just about won me over there.

    I think that’s where the first book does let us down slightly, because we never really understand the selection process, only that it’s so hard and horrific for those who don’t make it. We never got to know who would be on the ship until it actually was in space and the characters were woken. A mystery but it just about carries itself off.

    The split between them however is really had to take in, knowing that they are so few already….

    Book 3

    Genesis

    With so much already at stake. And the new discovery by Maria over the Akaab (sp) I was heartbroken over so much in this book.

    There were some really horrid moments (not sure if the poison gas at the Trickler was in this or at the end of the second book) but it defied my mind that humans could even bring that sort of rubbish on a ship supposed to be their last hope of survival!

    The introduction to Shavanya and her ‘seed ship’ and other things were truly interesting. A thread at least we got to learn of as the book finished, but there were still so many things I wanted to explore with these characters, and the new sentient species…. maybe there is more, I need to go see but this review is based on not looking around the net… haha.

    I was totally sure that Maria was going to be the first pregnant lady on Aurora! and I was right, Thomas really started to grow on me with his heroics at disarming the first two nukes and in betraying George to the rebels. 🙂 so that was a great union although wish they’d had more time together. Such dangerous place they live.

    Ben, Lisa and Drew. wow. three kids who take off their masks and Ben is the worst off for it. Although he does redeem himself in some ways after all he’s the biggest asset that Tina has while they’re fighting George… but I felt so so sorry for him, listening to Jeffery narrate him losing his mind was harsh…. and then to think he killed his two best friends, so sad.

    I was glad he saved Tina from Henry though, even if he did lose his life there… and yes, I had tears in my eyes. A very emotional moment between the two.

    The new federation of humans is a life changer to, although they don’t want to be involved with the two warring factions, when the Chinese descendants attack they do offer to step in. I am very glad that even though it looks to be the easy option… that Kenneth doesn’t accept it. I wonder what conditions the humans on Aurora would have had if the Enderans had come to their aid…

    So, yes wrapping up.

    I really did enjoy the three books. Could they have been 14 hours long each. Of course. So many amazing characters, and just not quite enough time to get to know and hear all their worldly hopes and desires, but still it was a great listen.

    I do hope there is more though… finding out that the humans on Earth were in fact an escaped ship already called LifeBringer…. from a whole different world. And that this is why the Akaab know them and trusted them… ooo just so much more to this, and I hope it is explored by the Author, and of course the fabulous Jeffery Kafer…. there are a few guys who I could just listen to for hours and hours, and he’s one of them. 🙂

    So, now going to search and see if there is some more about… and if not you guys better get cracking on some. I love a good series.