AllisonAngier

Male voice AI?

Reviewed: 05-20-24

The story is inventive and immersive. I want to love the series. The female narrator nails the role and the side characters. The male narrator is so awful that he wrecks the experience and I strongly suspect that it’s an AI substitution because how could a real person style themself as a voice actor.

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1 person found this helpful

I'm not mad at it, but...

Reviewed: 01-07-24

Eternal Reign is the first in a new series by authors in my Top Five insta-buys on Audible.

The setting is well developed as an eerie, menacing, yet faceted post-apocalyptic America run by predatory vampires. Our protagonists are gaunt, malnourished twin sisters whose only assets are a kindly, aging Dad -- and convincing steel spirits.

The early turning point in the story has them separated, captured, and flung far from each other. Each of them nurtures a fierce goal of reuniting their family, and their actions are in accordance with this goal.

CP and SV are brilliant at writing conflict and character arc, which are the main reasons that I relish their stories. Their characters suffer and endure so much...over and over again...to earn their rewards! This book wasn't as strong in this attribute, however. It lacked the delicious, jagged, mean crucible that other of their series has scraped me through as a reader.

Perhaps this was partly due to the narrator. Compared to the apex dynamism of the talent who read their other series, this narrator was disappointing. Not BAD, by any stretch, but on the high end between monotonous and good. She was...pleasant. Lovely for another book, but falling short of bringing this story to life.

So. Not the superstar quality book I was looking forward to, but the next one in the series is already available and it's worth another credit. This review written with affection and admiration.

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Never thought I'd downvote a Bordeaux

Reviewed: 06-08-23

I saw this book was read by Apex Narrators Jake and Bridget Bordeaux, so I immediately bought it, stopped everything else, and put this at the top of my reading list.

And DNF'd it.

The "accent" performed by Mrs. Bordeaux was awful and ruined this book. Who thought that sounding Scottish would somehow add to the experience of this story?

The story was OK but I got to the point that I couldn't take in another word of it. Shudder.

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1 person found this helpful

Sub par

Reviewed: 03-06-23

No chemistry in the relationship. Poor narration by lead female. DNF'd this one. Author's other work is good though so I won't ask for the credit back.

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No stars removed for narration

Reviewed: 09-23-22

Story was a little weak but listenable enough. It's the audio I want to talk about. Thank goodness for JM Webb's talent because she carried this story with a superb performance that should cast her into superstar status.

The male parts were brief, thankfully, because Joshua Schubart, despite a great voice and some delicious vocal impressions, delivered a performance so robotic that it should be played in narrator school in the "how not to" section. He would have wrecked this book if had not been for the female. For this reason, narration gets the full five stars but it cost the "overall" rating a solid downgrade.

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3 people found this helpful

Exceptional...listened to this twice!

Reviewed: 05-26-20

I LOVED this book. The minute it was over, I started from the beginning and listened to the whole thing again to pick up on the clues and nuances I didn't see the significance of the first time. The only other time I have ever done this was after I saw the movie "The Usual Suspects". Remember how gobsmacked you felt after that ending? Same type of situation with this fantastic book, every 28 glorious hours of it.

Masterfully and suspensefully written, it is full of characters you will love --and love to loathe, heartstopping action sequences, and scenery so vividly described you will feel you are standing there. Be warned: there is lots of violence and horror in here and it's described vividly too. I am an experienced reader but some of this stuff made even me squeamish.

Could not have asked for better narration -- it's superb. I mean this: Top. Tier. Performance.

Cover art matters and this one deserves much better. It looks like some sort of cheap stock art that has no resemblance to any place or character actually in this book...and it deserves to be a best seller.

Edited to add: I purchased the books in paperback...they have gorgeous covers.

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5 people found this helpful

The best book I've heard all year.

Reviewed: 11-11-19

I listen to 5-10 audiobooks per week, and this is the the best book I've heard all year. You hit the trifecta: Great cover, spellbinding story, and superb narration. I CANNOT WAIT for the sequel.

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Loved every minute and every word of this!

Reviewed: 10-08-19

What a wonderful surprise. A gritty, thoroughly entertaining story with marvelous, original characters and superstar narration. Literally...fantastic.

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4 people found this helpful

It wasn't bad, it just wasn't very good.

Reviewed: 10-08-18

I purchase this genre for the suspenseful survival scenarios. There is none of that here.

Cast: Ash B., Dust E., Rock E., Smoke E., Scooby DooRight, a bureaucratic baddy named Wile E. and a cameo by our current Preez E. All cardboard characters wandering around a research paper, muttering wooden dialog (not helped by a lackluster narrator).

I have enjoyed other books by Bobby Akart, but will not be continuing with this series.

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11 people found this helpful

A Unique, Bona Fide Thriller

Reviewed: 05-05-18

Catseye

This book is superbly suspenseful with excellent world building. Norton had a gift with language, and I had a mental movie of this world no matter the scene (a teeming, caste-divided city, an eerie, dead(ish) jungle, even travel in a futuristic flitter.

Our protagonist, Troy, is a sub-citizen who gets a week-long contract for labor, and is poignantly relieved to get it. Little does he know that his new employment is about to open up a can of Her-Hers* on him. But he also finds himself in possession of…a gift. As his ability develops, the exploitation of the underclass ratchets up quickly to the intensely personal, and the stakes quickly lead to violence, flight, and pursuit.

This book seems to be a stand-alone novel. It screams for a sequel, though this will never be, RIP, Ms. Norton. There are other books set in this world, however, and I hope that Ms. Norton's estate is arranging to have all of her work recorded. It is well worth it, appropriate for listeners of all ages.

*Not an anachronism, now that I think about it.

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1 person found this helpful