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Disappointing, With Moments of Promise

Revisado: 10-19-23

I want to be careful, because I don't want to discourage readers who might really enjoy "The Writhing," from downloading it, but this audiobook didn't do it for me.

There is a lot good about the book. First of all, it's an interesting concept. I believe another reviewer said something to the effect that this book is "Misery" crossed with "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," and that's spot-on.

When taken on a scene-by-scene basis, Moss' writing is clear, enjoyable and unobtrusive (but only on a scene-by-scene basis; taken as a whole, there are issues with plotting, pacing and setting, which I'll discuss in a moment).

Hillary Huber's narration is the highlight of the production. She does a range of voices, male & female, adult & child, all distinct and credible.

Despite these plusses, the book's flaws (at least as I perceive them; your mileage may vary) downgraded the reading experience.

The plot, despite its intriguing premise, is all over the place. It takes a long, long time to get moving, with two seemingly unrelated threads eventually being not tied together, but squished together. The book gets more enjoyable toward the middle and end, but nevertheless continues to move slowly.

My biggest issue with the story (and this may be a non-issue for other readers) is the frustrating lack of detail in the setting. This doesn't extend only to the physical setting, but also to the time period in which the book takes place.

For location, we're only given the name of the small town in which most of the story takes place. Nowhere throughout the book to we get any kind of clue as to where this town is, except that it's probably in the United States. There are mountains and a river nearby. However, not once does the author mention a state, a region or even a mid-size to major city nearby. As a reader, I was discombobulated by this.

Worse, from my point of view, I was unable to determine in what time period this book takes place. For the majority of the book's length, there are very few news or pop culture references (i.e., politicians, popular music or TV shows, etc.) that could help determine the story's time-setting. Until the final pages of the book, the only clues I had as to the era were the mention of touch-tone phones and Spider-Man. I had the book pegged as being written in 1990 or so.

However, in the final ten minutes or so of the production, cell phones are mentioned several times. It seems like this book was written many years ago, and then quickly updated for publication. This lack of a substantive setting made it difficult for me to immerse myself in this novel.

At any rate, while I didn't hate this book, it just didn't do it for me. I'd advise readers to also check out some of the more positive reviews, because as I said earlier, I think this book might appeal to a different reader.

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The Story of the Champawat Tiger

Revisado: 07-10-23

The Champawat Tiger, which terrorized parts of India and Nepal for the better part of a decade in the early years of the 20th Century, has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the most lethal man-eater in history, with over 400 kills. For such an exciting, richer-than-fiction historical tale, this story remains relatively unknown. Indeed, I hadn't heard the story until recently, which prompted my purchase of this book.

I wasn't disappointed. "No Beast So Fierce" gripped me from start to finish. Although I was most interested in the Champawat Tiger herself, and to a lesser extent other man-eaters of the sub-continent (there have been quite a few), I also appreciated the biographical information on the remarkable Jim Corbett, as well as on the region itself--history, industry and geography, all of which are essential contributing ingredients in the rise of man-eaters in the Indian subcontinent.

I really enjoyed this book, and plan to read further, not just about the Champawat, but also about many of her lesser-known contemporaries and metaphorical descendants.

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An All-Time Great

Revisado: 07-10-23

I've loved "Of Mice and Men" since I was forced to read it in the 10th grade. I was delighted to be able to share the story with my own children on a recent car trip thanks to this audiobook. Gary Sinise does a fantastic job, capturing the various character voices and lending them authenticity and depth. Really wonderful.
My one quibble with this production (and it's a very small quibble) is that the intro music is overloud, and continues too long, going on over the opening lines of the story.
This is a wonderful text, a story of friendship and sacrifice that won't soon be forgotten.

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A Claustrophobic Ghost Story

Revisado: 05-20-23

This was an enjoyable, well-written book. It is an incredibly intimate, almost claustrophobic book, centering on a single protagonist, and lingering over her thought-process. This singular focus at times made the book difficult to listen to, not for any lack of skill on the writer's part, but because Nevill was able to create and maintain such an oppressive, menacing environment that it felt that as a reader, I was never able to find my balance. When I finally finished this book, it was with a breath of relief. This is a great book, but by no means a "light" listen.

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Bite-Size Glimpses Into the Hellboy Universe

Revisado: 05-17-23

I had moderately high hopes for this collection, and it managed to exceed them. The stories vary in quality, from the pretty good to the really good, but all are enjoyable. The stories are generally run between 30-45 minutes, which meant I could often listen to an entire story while doing work around the house. Glad I picked this one up.

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Ugh! Don't bother.

Revisado: 04-13-23

I really should have listened to the negative reviews before picking up this audiobook, but having listened to and mostly enjoyed the other offerings in this series, I figured that copious amounts of Xenomorph carnage would make up for the book's deficiencies. I could not have been more wrong.

My biggest knock on the book is that it's a bore, and painful to get through. Well-over the first third of the book is dedicated to establishing characters, and the Aliens don't make an appearance until something like 3 hours and 45 minutes into the story. While this could be seen as dedication to world-building and an effort to establish characters whose lives will matter to the reader, it doesn't work. Their are two separate groups of protagonists in "Inferno's Fall," some of which had been previously introduced (Zula & her crew) and entirely new characters, "the Knot," a family collective of indigenous earthling refugees. It takes most of the book for these two disparate groups to come together. Although Zula's group took up a decent chunk of the story, their impact wasn't felt until the last third of the book.

"The Knot" characters have a compelling backstory, and the author is clearly overly-enamored of them, but they largely remain unrelatable--and worse, unlikeable. With one exception, a young, headstrong male cousin, the members of the Knot are essentially interchangeable super-women without flaws or weaknesses, except perhaps, that they care too much. Males are typically depicted as foolish blowhards, the worst as greedy racists. I found myself rolling my eyes throughout the performance.

If the Xenomorph presence, or at the very least the action, had been more present throughout the book, these self-righteous, insufferable characters might not have exerted such a drag on the overall quality of the story. But things being what they are, this book is a tedious waste of time. I have enjoyed this series immensely prior to this book and I will probably pick up the next one based on the strength of the series' history, but if I had it to do again, I would not have wasted a credit on this book. Yuck. Just awful.

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A Bittersweet and Poignant Horror Tale

Revisado: 03-29-23

I picked up this book based on the strength of the reviews, and Black Mouth did not disappoint.

This story sees four childhood friends reunited in their hometown after a traumatic separation twenty-five years before. Some of them have fared better than others, but all are scarred by their history with a one-eyed magician living in the forest.

Black Mouth was compelling and engrossing throughout, and when the end came, I was reluctant to say goodbye to these characters, and when I did it was with a sense of heartbreak. Many reviewers have noted the similarities to Stephen King's IT, and while these similarities are undeniable, they lie mainly in the exploration of similar themes. In this, Malfi does not simply rehash King's themes, but expands upon them and speaks from a different place.

A most enjoyable book.

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Good info, but suffers from its biases

Revisado: 10-25-22

Like all the Great Courses offerings I’ve yet encountered, this was a worthwhile course. Prof. Bellenoit is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. This course’s biggest weakness is Bellenoit’s insistence on viewing historical events only through a contemporary lens, which is helpful when combined with other analyses, but limited and simplistic on its own. His depiction of Gandhi is close to fawning (Bellenoit calls him “practically a saint”), and wastes no opportunity to connect any crisis or concern to British venality, greed or ineptitude.
This a decent product, but the weakest “Great Courses” lecture I’ve yet encountered.

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7 Cold Years of Night

Revisado: 08-01-22

This presentation was great--a wonderful, well-acted story, satisfying but seeming still to end too soon.
In the not-too-distant future, a meteor strike plunges the world into an endless winter night, creating a vampire's paradise. A group of survivors holed up in a remote UK castle await the end of winter as they try to survive in this harsh new world.

The characters in this story are for the most part likable and well-rounded. Even the antagonists seem to have a reason for doing what they do, even if we as readers/listeners don't necessarily agree.

There are also some novel takes on vampires. Although the creatures depicted here are inspired by "traditional" vampires, there are some nuances which made for enjoyable reading.

Highly recommended.

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"Some of the Marvels"

Revisado: 07-21-22

I'll start off by saying that overall, I enjoyed this book.. I grew up a fan of Marvel Comics, having read many of the pre-2000s comics Wolk discusses, and somewhat curious about the current (at least as of 2018) state of Marvel Comics.
Douglas Wolk's decision to read "all the Marvels" was a herculean task, and the book describes his efforts to accomplish that, resorting to various media and methods to make his way through the thousands of issues published by Marvel in its 60 year history.
Wolk's tour through Marvel history is framed in an unusual, but effective way. Rather than cover characters, series, themes and events chronologically, Wolk leaps backward and forward through time, touching on particular issues, and occasionally weaving them into the larger framework.
The book's major weakness is what it leaves out. Obviously, the author can't be expected to include every B-Lister or passer-by who made an appearance over the years, and at the beginning of the book, Wolk discusses some of the titles he wouldn't be including in this book (but that he did read), mostly toy tie-ins, Westerns, fantasy and anything not set in the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, while the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man and select others (including, perhaps inexplicably, Shang-Chi) are discussed at length, several other significant series and events aren't discussed at all.
Early on in the book Wolk devotes entirely too much time lamenting those comics fans who are critical of "Legacy Heroes," and spends the better part of the chapter not defending these characters' merits, but rather impugning the motives of the critics. It seemed a little childish, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
If you're a fan of Marvel Comics, then you might enjoy this thematic interpretation/introduction to Marvel history. I did--it was pretty good. But for anyone not already a fan and a bit of a historian, you probably shouldn't bother.

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