Hilary

Contrived

Revisado: 07-25-24

Am great admirer of Michael Innes books, enjoy the tongue in cheek style and the overall gentle satire of country house mysteries. But this one seemed laborious and became too contrived and just silly at the end.

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Does not belong in Peter Grant series

Revisado: 07-01-23

This was a very slow starter and a huge disappointment. Kimberley, the main character, is an American agent who has no personal magic, can only use a gun against monsters and threats is totally lacking in humour.
If Ben wants to write a series specifically to appeal to US readers with religion, guns and the FBI, that's fine but it is so far removed from what we expect in the Peter Grant series it should be kept quite separate.
I also found the narrator flat and boring.

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Spoiled by narrator

Revisado: 08-05-22

The mystery and the progress in the relationship between Wimsey and Harriet Vane make this one of the most important and enjoyable books in the series, and always my favourite.
Unfortunately this narrator was the wrong one with no understanding of the period and the setting, with no differentiation between multiple characters and a reading style of irritable misplaced emphasis.

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Hard to hear

Revisado: 09-29-21

The introduction to this book made it sound intriguing and a tempting collection of stories. But the perpetual background music was too distracting to enable concentrating on the speech. Had to give up and am sorry but Instead will try snd buy the print version as I still hope to read this book.

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Interest for cooking entusiasts sleep for others

Revisado: 07-21-20

This did not send me to sleep, because I was fascinated by the historic culinary content as well as the beautiful prose. But this was of personal professional interest and may not be to everyone's taste, so could contribute to sound sleep for others.
Thank you Curtis Stone

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Beautifully written, perfectly narrated

Revisado: 10-04-18

I first read this novel years go when it was originally called Women in Black and enjoyed it. As a film version has just come out I listened to the audio book to refresh my memory and enjoyed it even more the second time around. Most women will be familiar with the helpful Ladies in Black in the fashion sections of big department stores all over the world, although sadly nowadays they are a disappearing breed.

If you enjoy character portraits, this could be a rewarding book for you, with wit and humour and a selection of people from differing backgrounds set in Sydney, Australia in the late 1950's. Outstanding for me were Magda and Stefan, displaced refugees from war torn Europe, getting re-settled happily in a new country, while keeping alive their own culture and group of friends. I laughed and admired Magda's virtual soliloquy as she greets and welcomes her guests, I could picture the happy chaos so well, and also later the description of all the customers and the atmosphere of the traditional January Sales.

It is a beautifully written novel, the story flows, the characters are drawn perfectly, the dialogue is convincing, nothing grates and you feel empathy in different ways for each of the characters.

The narration by Deirdre Rubenstein is top-notch, every character voice rings true to the writer's intent and the whole experience was pleasure. This is not my usual reading fare, but recommend it gladly to those who will take it as intended, a delightful slice of life, typical of the era and a thoughtful gentle look at a group of women and their interactions with each other over a short time in their lives.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Hilarious adventures and gentle moments

Revisado: 08-11-18

Saw a fascinating review which tempted me to read this book, and very glad I did. Was only expecting to find fun, which was there in abundance, then it gave so much more. The main characters were wonderfully believable and it was specially good to find gender diversity and some strong independent women among them. As someone who seldom reads romance it touched my heart at times especially this -

“We are not broken things, neither of us. We are cracked pottery mended with lacquer and flakes of gold, whole as we are, complete unto each other. Complete and worthy and so very loved.”

The plot was an unusual, action filled send-up of an aristocratic rakehell's Grand Tour, their bizarre adventures peppered with more good characters.

Narrator Christian Coulson, captured every character's voice exactly how I would have imagined, making listening an added pleasure. Now wishing I could hear more about the future of Monty, Percy, Felicity and Scipio so will be looking forward to reading more books by Mackenzi Lee.

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Thoughtful, entertaining and a delightful treat

Revisado: 05-25-18

This short book is a delight of fascinating perception both of realistic characters, as well as the location and life style in a small coastal village where everyone knows everything about everyone else, A place where jealousies easily arise and where real or imagined slights are never forgotten or forgiven..

I chose to read this recently without realising there was a film about to be released. Having listened, in every spare moment I could, to reach the end I now look forward to the film version. Glad I heard this version first, because the beauty of the prose may become lost in a film version which relies on visual and dialogue..Happy to recommend as a thoughtful, entertaining short novel.

The narration was ideal, capturing the characters, the atmosphere of the village and enhancing the descriptions of the bleak Norfolk landscape..

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Disappointing end and shock change of narrator

Revisado: 05-22-18

Disappointing end to a series that began so well and reached some rip roaring heights of fun and excitement before gradually beginning to fall apart in the last few books. Having the characters work on different plot lines all over the world and only come together to check in and play with the hounds, just did not work. May as well have been a series of separate books following just one character all the way through, because it became disjointed and continuity was lost.

Granauile never seemed as realistic or interesting to me as others, whereas I definitely appreciated Owen Kennedy, he was a breath of fresh air and certainly added to enjoyment.The finale could have concentrated in getting them all together much earlier on rather than still tying up so many loose ends or introducing new characters like the Monkey God and the weird bubble tea.

I appreciate the fact that the writer is a strong supporter of the environment but to beat this drum so obviously and so often in this last book didn't feel right at all. The fact that they are Druids, devoted to care of Gaia, Mother Earth herself, and explaining and showing as the various stories unfolded was sufficient.

The final ending was fitting and, without spoiling, am sorry that Atticus was set up at the very beginning as the instigator of the act that rightly shocked. Of course he should be blamed, but while his impetuousness and lack of thinking about consequences is true to form and acceptable, that was out of character and no way near to the legend.

As a devoted fan of Atticus and Oberon I will continue to listen again to many of the earlier adventures which can virtually stand alone. Just sad that the series ended this way.

I have loved the work of Luke Daniels, narrator of every single book I listened to so far, who gave the perfect voice to each character and made them come alive. Then, Audible.com suddenly changes all it's US versions to narrator Christopher Ragland and I have no chance of getting the UK version with Luke Daniels. A very able narrator and if you now listen to all of them read by him it will be fine. But this also spoiled the last book for me as the characters did not ring true in the way I had come to know them.

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Wonderful imaginative unusual fantasy- enjoy....

Revisado: 04-05-18

Looked forward to reading more by Daniel Polansky, after loving The Builders, and am very happy to have found A City Dreaming. This was an unusual, fascinating book and one I enjoyed from start to finish. The style is laid back, generally mellow, the prose is a pleasure and the strange, cleverly drawn character of M appealed to me from the start..

A clever mixture of magical realism and urban fantasy,.with no conventional plot line. Instead a series of chapters in the life of M, living in a New York where monsters and magical creatures mingle amongst the locals. We gradually get to know more about M's particular circle of friends, and the various tasks, adventures and pleasures shared are fascinating, weird, imaginative and non stop entertaining.

M is lazy, pleasure loving, morally flexible and can be deliberately irritating, but somehow always the one who gets called if someone is in trouble, or has a problem. He has magical powers which he uses gently or harshly, depending on circumstance. M remains a mystery and that is fine by me, I don't want him analysed, just hope he is around somewhere still.

A City Dreaming is also a long love letter to New York, shown in so many of it's complexities, diversity and idiosyncrasies. I laughed about the invasion of the coffee shops, and many other humourous happenings, but this is balanced by episodes of cruelty and horror. Only fair because any great city has it's dark, vile underside. If you are a New Yorker you will enjoy extra subtleties and nuances, but this does not make it any the less enjoyable for those of us who have only dreamed of visiting.

Eric Meyers is a new narrator to me and I am glad to have discovered his talent here. He added to my enjoyment of this excellent book which will remain a long term favourite of mine. (less)

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