Anonymous

I want more

Reviewed: 02-18-24

I love listening and to my favorite books on audio, so I had this on preorder as soon as I could. The story is my favorite Watt yet, and the Jane Ajia Ajia is more than up to the task of reading Adam's story.

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1 person found this helpful

This is NOT an audio adaptation, and it's painful

Reviewed: 09-24-22

I don't think anyone even *tried* to adapt this for audio. Act I was tedious, but this is just painful, and there is no way I am going to be able to finish. Gaiman-the-narrator is essentially giving a panel by panel description of what is happening while the voice actors pipe up for the speech bubbles. It's dire.

As listeners, we do not need to be told that people are still sitting if they were sitting a few sentences ago, and we don't need Dream's black clothing and star eyes described every single time he shows up. In this format, it's clutter that slows everything down and gets in the way of the story. At one point, people are dreaming, and in each case, the narrator describes the dream, and then the dreamer describes the dream.

It's a pity because the actors are really good and are doing a great job, but the narration just bogs everything down.

If there is some reason why you cannot read the comic, then this might be a helpful piece of work. If what you want is an audio that does justice to the story--dont bother.

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1 person found this helpful

cozy plus

Reviewed: 09-18-22

I love this series so much. It's undeniably cozy without denying life can be hard. There's a backbone assertion that all the tea and scones and friendship help battle the darkness.

And it's funny, and beautifully written, and the cast is growing nicely.

These are now on my comfort read shelf, the books I read and reread.

And I cannot wait until they are all on Audible

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A Perfect Cozy

Reviewed: 09-17-22

I love these books so much. The only thing better than reading them is listening to them. Watt writes with warmth, humor, and dragons.

Patricia Gallimore has a lovely voice and varies the speakers just enough.

I want more.

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OK up to the Gospels

Reviewed: 07-19-22

This is my first real forray into this subject. It's a decent overview of the Old Testament, though with less actual archeology than I would have liked. When it gets to the Gospels, he just retells the stories minus the miracles. There are a few comments about the historical circumstances, bur not much.

By the way, the lecturer assumes there were no miracles and Jesus wasn't God's son and basically invents Jesus's motives and beliefs.

I wanted more.

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The best of the best cozy mysteries

Reviewed: 12-14-21

Look, this is a cozy mystery series set in an idyllic English village complete with tea, cakes, and dragons. I can't think of anything more to want, except perhaps a formidable Women's Institute and an intelligent police force, both of which this series also has. The series is on my comfort reading shelf and on my automatic pre-order shelf.

Being able to have it read to me by a narrator like Patricia Gallimor is just icing on the cake. I can't wait until more of these mysteries are available on Audible.

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Falls Flat

Reviewed: 07-02-21

I rather enjoyed the first Cascadia. Sure, it could be a bit heavy handed, but overall, it was a pleasant read and it had some interesting ideas.

Then I read the third and circled back to this one and the series has a BIG problem. It posits Tyger and Bushar as extremely important figured, ultimately a kind of prophet. Neither one is nearly as charismatic or vital as the authors appear to think they are. Tyger shows up in the first story of the first book as some sort of mysterious figure with a powerful charisma. It's never clear to the reader why he is such a compelling figure. All the characters say he is, though. What he does: Makes stew, has some sex, dies. Bushar, one of the guards/enforcers at the city becomes so enthralled with him that he writes a book which then becomes *the* text for many of the characters in following stories.

Mostly, it isn't quoted, which is fortunate because the bits that are quoted are banal and entirely forgettable.

Books 1 & 3 I could kind of ignore this problem, though it simmered annoyingly in the background. In Cascadia, everyone is running around clutching the book and talking about Tyger's greatness. Apparently he did something off the pages? Between the stories? By the end story, it's going head to head with the Bible and winning (look, no matter what you think of the Bible as a spiritual guide, every single one of its authors can write circles around anyone in this book).

There is some interesting environmental stuff, and some great images, but the reader is asked to believe that two shadowy, cardboard figures inspired great and lasting change in the world and--no.

Also, these stories are massively long. I don't remember the tales in the other Metatropolis series regularly running over an hour as these did.

The only moderately enjoyable one featured a wine maker trying to keep her vineyard and waxing poetic about the importance of place and the art of wine. That, at least, did not require shadowy savior figures.

With the exception of Levar Burton (who has had experience reading books, and who also had the misfortune to read the worst story in all of the METAtropolis series) none of the Star Trek actors were particularly compelling readers. They weren't ghastly, but they also weren't notably outstanding. It could be hard to hear the difference between speakers at times.

Skip this. There are far, far better books otu there.

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Good if you are already interested

Reviewed: 02-22-21

I wanted to know more about China and Rome. This is well researched and I am happy with that. The writing won't draw you in if you do not already care. The narrator mostly sounds bored.

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Now I have to listen to/read the rest!

Reviewed: 02-22-21

The magical system here is a new design to me. I am interested in reading the rest. More than a sprinkling of romance to come makes this enjoyable.

I'm not sure what to make of the way this tells a story within a story--that is, some of this is Ceony's story but there's also a good chunk of her spectating on Emery Thane's life in an odd way. It's not intentionally voeyeristic on her part, but it is a strange way to tell a character's story and I'm not sure what I think of it.

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So much fun, so much information!

Reviewed: 01-03-21

These two know their stuff & have fun sharing their knowledge. They cover history, science, taste, and travel with flair. They invite plenty of knowledgeable people to share as well. And the production value is good. I have been listening to Gastropod for a couple of years now and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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