David
- 26
- reviews
- 69
- helpful votes
- 183
- ratings
-
The Art of Destiny
- A Novel (The War Arts Saga, Book 2)
- By: Wesley Chu
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once there was a prophecy that a chosen one would rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, an immortal god-king. But the prophecy was wrong. Now Jian, the former chosen hero, is just an ordinary young man trying to find his own way. But he may yet have an extraordinary destiny, because he joins forces with Taishi, his grumpy grandmaster, who instructs him in the ways of her family’s powerful war art. Jian still has a long way to go before he can become her heir, so she recruits a band of elderly grandmasters out of retirement to whip him into shape and help with this one last job.
-
-
I don’t want to say perfect but…
- By Caleb Rindfleisch on 10-11-23
- The Art of Destiny
- A Novel (The War Arts Saga, Book 2)
- By: Wesley Chu
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Well I had a lot of fun with the first one….
Reviewed: 02-28-24
Felt like I was about 15 hours in before things started happening. This one is much less tightly edited and plotted than the first.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Harlem Shuffle
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Ray Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.
-
-
Best Read/Listen on Audible
- By Henry Posner on 09-22-21
- Harlem Shuffle
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
Great
Reviewed: 01-11-24
Really exceptional performance. So much dedication and thought in it, so many clever decisions masterfully accomplished. Great material to work with, of course.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Translation State
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Enae's grandmaman passes away, Enae inherits something unexpected: a diplomatic assignment to track down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. No one actually expects Enae to succeed; it's an empty assignment meant to keep hir occupied. But Enae has never had a true purpose—no one ever expected hir to do more than care for grandmaman—so sie is determined to accomplish this task to the best of her ability.
-
-
Single themed and not on par with the series
- By Andrew Pollack on 07-01-23
- Translation State
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
Fantastic performance
Reviewed: 12-12-23
Not so easy to choose a voice for aliens for whom human language is a strange imposition—done brilliantly here. Real talent and craft from narrator, who uses Caribbean and African accents along with British RP. Fun story and characters one roots for.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Menewood
- A Novel
- By: Nicola Griffith
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 28 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Making a much-anticipated return to the world of Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Menewood transports listeners back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change. Hild is no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking’s court with her seemingly supernatural insight. She is eighteen, honed and tested, the formidable lady of Elmet, now building her personal stronghold in the valley of Menewood.
-
-
So Bad It Almost Hurt
- By RelizzScholar27 on 10-19-23
- Menewood
- A Novel
- By: Nicola Griffith
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
Worth the wait
Reviewed: 11-22-23
Listen to Hild first, if you haven’t. What a world to visit. You’re in for a treat.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Witch King
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Eric Mok
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence? Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
-
-
I gave up
- By Mara P on 06-26-23
- Witch King
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Eric Mok
Good story, but narrator doesn't sell it
Reviewed: 06-27-23
The narrator has a pleasant voice, but doesn't seem to view it as his role to act dialogue or enliven narration with emotion and tension--or at any rate his approach to doing either is far too restrained for my taste. I enjoyed the book nonetheless. It's an original fantasy setting with an engaging found family at the heart of the action.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Into Everywhere
- By: Paul McAuley
- Narrated by: Rosie Jones
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humanity's future has been disrupted and shaped by the mysterious alien Jackaroo. We spread to the planets they gave us, and we discovered the ruins of a dozen previous civilisations. All previous clients of the Jackaroo, all dead. So far we have escaped that fate - but we have also escaped from the Jackaroos' planets and begun to explore the galaxy. The discovery of ancient spaceships and the unlocking of their mysteries has led to a new way of life. But humanity's failings and conflicts are always with us.
-
-
Listened to last 2 chapters twice
- By Ron A. Parsons on 08-29-16
- Into Everywhere
- By: Paul McAuley
- Narrated by: Rosie Jones
Solid but not quite as much fun as the first.
Reviewed: 12-16-20
What I particularly enjoyed about book 1 was the genre mashup—police procedural, gangland warfare, first contact. This is much more a recognisable space opera. Narrator remains excellent in her own and British isles accents but US regional ones not her forte. If you liked the first this is a good follow-up.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
The City We Became
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power. In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her. In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.
-
-
I don't understand the hype
- By Joe on 04-13-20
- The City We Became
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
Awesome audio production
Reviewed: 08-17-20
I really enjoyed a lot of the story, even though this isn’t my kind of premise. Fantastic characters, observation, and craft in expression. But the audio production is just beyond amazing—whoever did the sound effects is a wizard, and the narrator’s chops are unreal. She clearly loved doing this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
The Vanished Birds
- A Novel
- By: Simon Jimenez
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A ship captain, unfettered from time. A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power. A millennia-old woman, haunted by lifetimes of mistakes. In this captivating debut of connection across space and time, these outsiders will find in each other the things they lack: a place of love and belonging. A safe haven. A new beginning. But the past hungers for them, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.
-
-
Character driven, tech minimum space opera
- By David on 02-08-20
- The Vanished Birds
- A Novel
- By: Simon Jimenez
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
Character driven, tech minimum space opera
Reviewed: 02-08-20
Unusual book about chosen families and memory (and colonialism, too) in a space opera setting. Some beautiful writing. Will look forward to author’s next book. Narrator conveys story well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
The Whole Art of Detection
- Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
- By: Lyndsay Faye
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Internationally best-selling author Lyndsay Faye became enamored with tales of Sherlock Holmes and his esteemed biographer, Dr. John Watson, as a child and later began spinning these quintessential characters into her own works of fiction - from her acclaimed debut novel, Dust and Shadow, which pitted the famous detective against Jack the Ripper, to a series of short stories for the Strand Magazine, whose predecessor published the very first Sherlock Holmes short story in 1891.
-
-
Marvelous!
- By Gentleman Gamer on 05-16-17
- The Whole Art of Detection
- Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
- By: Lyndsay Faye
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
Perfect Holmes pastiche
Reviewed: 02-04-20
She’s got the Doyle diction beautifully, and H&W here feel exactly like H&W. Quality of the mysteries up to the original too (so some great, others ok), but real pleasure is H&W relationship. Vance can be too orotund sometimes, but he’s perfect for this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Milkman
- By: Anna Burns
- Narrated by: Bríd Brennan
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unnamed city, to be interesting is dangerous. Middle sister, our protagonist, is busy attempting to keep her mother from discovering her maybe-boyfriend and to keep everyone in the dark about her encounter with Milkman. But when first brother-in-law sniffs out her struggle and rumours start to swell, middle sister becomes "interesting" - the last thing she ever wanted to be. To be interesting is to be noticed, and to be noticed is dangerous. Milkman is a tale of gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is a story of inaction with enormous consequences.
-
-
Like the writing, not the audio issues
- By Criticalthinker on 12-31-18
- Milkman
- By: Anna Burns
- Narrated by: Bríd Brennan
Well-deserved Booker
Reviewed: 11-19-19
A great performance of a great work of literature. One for the ages. I started this in print and found that the unusual narrative voice made for a challenging read, best enjoyed in small portions like dark chocolate. But the narrator does a wonderful job with the narrator’s speech and it carried me right along.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!