Available from Audible.com

Author: Carol Plum-Ucci
Readers: Julia Whelan, Paul Michael Garcia, Eddie Lopez, Neil Shah, Kirby Heyborne and Tai Sammons

Short Review: More character driven (but still fairly suspenseful) sequel to Streams of Babel. Round robin of readers still pleasing.

Long Review: This sequel to Streams of Babel picks up shortly after the end of the prior story. I cannot review it without sharing some spoilers of the first story, so if you think that a post-9/11 suspenseful teen driven spy thriller sounds fun, go look at Streams of Babel.

For those of you who read the first book, Fire Will Fall starts with Cora, Scott, Owen and Rain (now known internationally as the ‘Trinity Four’) on their way to a secluded location to recuperate.

Shahzad and Tyler are also in their own recovery – but many miles away. The two v-spy computer geniuses just won’t let go. They are desperate to follow through and catch the bad guys who got away at the end of the last book.

The easiest thing to say is that we get another suspenseful mystery to solve with our overly clever teens who have the shadow of illness hanging over them. Plum-Ucci shares with us the emotions and fears and confusion of these teens, who in addition to dealing with normal teenage stuff (does he like me? should I call her?) spend a lot of time worrying that the people who tried to kill them might try again. In fact, they may already have killed them – just in slow motion.

I liked the first book a bit better, but this one was still worth the time for me. I like knowing what happens next to characters I care about, so this book succeeds at least on that front. The suspense is slightly lower, the action slower than in the first volume.  In fact, the author shares on her Amazon.com blog “I think of FIRE as more of a character piece..” – and that was very clear to me.

Shahzad and Tyler also get more airtime in this book than the last one. I will admit to having a large soft spot in my heart for Tyler – and this book gives him more room to try to harness his mania to save the day. I don’t have the skills to analyze the plausibility of Shahzad and Tyler’s computer hacking brilliance – but for me it wasn’t hard to just suspend disbelief for the v-spy details and stay around for the character development.

If your favorite thing about Streams of Babel was the suspenseful thriller and you don’t care much about the teen protagonists, then you should probably give this book a pass. If you are dying to know what happens next to the six teens from the last book, I think you will enjoy this book!

Clementine

Author: Cherie Priest

Readers: Dina Pearlman and Victor Bevine

Available from Audible.Com

Short Review: This sequel to Boneshaker follows Captain Croggon Hainey as he tracks and attempts to recover his airship, The Free Crow, from its captors. It also introduces Maria Isabella Boyd, a former Confederate spy turned Pinkerton, on her first assignment. It’s good, but not quite as good as Boneshaker.

Long Review: I’m a huge fan of this series, and found Boneshaker absolutely enthralling. This sequel follows Hainey, one of the more interesting minor characters from the first novel, and introduces Boyd, an intriguing character based on a historical figure. It follows an interesting dangling thread from that first novel, but to do so, it has to leave leave Seattle. The Seattle of Boneshaker was so inventive and layered that I had a hard time following the author away from it.

All whining aside, this is a very good audiobook. Priest is an excellent writer, and her attention to detail and excellent knowledge of American history make these books ring true, even with rather fantastic “alternate” content to deal with. The book is expertly read by Pearlman and Bevine, taking turns in Boyd’s and Hainey’s sections, respectfully, much as Reading and Wheaton did for the two main characters in Boneshaker. The switching perspective keeps the action moving along at a good clip while also elucidating two very different people.

Moreover, Priest tackles complex, layered questions of social justice in her books without clobbering the reader over the head. I’m always thrown when people address the Civil War or other momentous transitions in history without considering vital threads such as human rights, equality, changes in social mores, and the like. In this series, Priest is delving into questions of women’s rights, race relations, immigration, states vs. federal rights, property rights, international meddling in civil wars, medical ethics . . . the social and ethical questions she raises are manifold, and it’s the weaving of those questions into the fast-paced drama that really makes these books sing. This isn’t just fantasy. It’s a history lesson blending with an ethics class as well, and all of it makes these books worth returning to.

Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Reader: Grover Gardner

Short Review: The first book in one of my all time favorite series, read by a brilliant reader. Great character driven sci-fi tale.

Long Review: This first book of the Vorkosigan Saga gives us a great blend of creative world building, mature protagonists and a captivating story line.

Cordelia Naismith from peaceful, liberal and scientifically inclined Beta Colony and Aral Vorkosigan from militaristic, conservative and tradition-bound Barrayar. The two captains are thrown together by circumstances, one forced to take the other as a prisoner. Isolated from both of their worlds and struggling to survive in the wilderness of an unfamiliar planet, they form an unexpected bond.

But of course Cordelia and Aral can’t contemplate their feelings for one another without the interference of a war, the broad reaches of space and lots of planetary politics. Bujold throws everything she can think of at them and our story includes strange alien creatures, high tech weapons, low tech tactics, and space battles and their aftermath.

Those of you who have noticed my penchant for books by Lois McMaster Bujold won’t be surprised that I recommend this book highly, but it is definitely a book which has stood the test of time. Yes, this is Bujold’s first novel and her craft improved with time, but she definitely had a clear vision of the Vorkosigan world and her primary characters. I enjoyed getting to know them as they get to know each other.

Audio sample available.

Boneshaker

Author: Cherie Priest

Readers: Kate Reading and Will Wheaton

Short Review: A steampunk adventure set in an alternate-history Seattle where the Civil War just won’t end, airships abound, mad scientists run amok, volcanoes make zombies, and intricate questions about liberty and rights continually rear their heads.

Long Review: For no good reason whatsoever, a paper copy of this book languished on my shelf for a few months before I finally broke down and bought the audio version. Initially, I’d been hesitant to listen to it because I was never a of Star Trek (I know, I know) so I didn’t have any particular connection to Will Wheaton. I also hesitate to get hooked on series that are still being written. I finally got over it and dove right in, listened to the whole series, and then listened to them again. I’m itching to start a third time, but figure I can wait for the next installment.

Will Wheaton does a great job narrating the sections of the book following Zeke, a runaway teen trying to prove that his father was a good man. Kate Reading reads the sections following Zeke’s mother Briar Wilkes, the daughter of Seattle’s late Sheriff and widow of a disgraced scientist and inventor. I adored both readers, but I particularly fell for Kate Reading’s voice. She strikes the perfect balance between Briar’s strength and the desperation that she struggles with as she searches for her son and tries to survive the nightmare that Seattle has become in the wake of her husband’s actions.

Priest is an excellent researcher, and this series really showcases her knowledge of 19th century American history. I’m often hesitant to read historical fiction or alternate histories because I find weak research so annoying, but there’s nothing to worry about with Priest’s books. She picks the perfect things to extend the Civil War in her story, and develops a creepy, fascinating plot to explain her changed Seattle.

Moreover, Priest develops excellent characters. Many series fizzle out after the first few books because the author only manages to build a few solid, interesting characters. With this book, Priest introduces a cast of fascinating people, all of whom I want to follow for book after book. The women she writes are particularly interesting, and Zeke reads true as a good but confused teen. Priest set the hook deep with Boneshaker, and I can’t wait to see where she’ll go with the rest of the series.

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Reader: David Pittu
Extras: An interview with the author is included at the end of the reading.

Short Review: An dark overly dramatic story, mediocre reader and no one to root for.

Long Review: I wanted to really like this book. I loved Eugenides’s Middlesex, but this story just fell flat for me. My father always taught me that a key to good storytelling was that you had to have someone to root for. If you don’t care what happens to any of the characters, then why stick around?

Our three rotating protagonists are the three sides of a classic lovers triangle. As befits the title, there is a looming question of who gets the girl – in this case we join our story just before graduation at Brown University in the early 1980s. The paths of the lives of Madeleine, Leonard and Mitchell tangle together and around each other. We spend a lot of time with each of them as they try to find their way. This is a fairly dark book, and perhaps this review is more dour for my preference at the moment for stories in which less time is spent dwelling on peoples’ sad struggles. I do feel that Eugenides did an excellent job portraying manic depression and its impact on both the afflicted and those around them.

Some of what Eugenides was trying to do was made more clear for me during the interview included at the end of the book. This is a very ‘literary’ book, or at least was written in that tradition. What happens to the classic marriage plot of Victorian literature in a post-feminist world?

My favorite thing about the book was the way Eugenides retold the same events from more than one point of view – highlighting the misunderstandings and internal landscapes on all sides. I also enjoyed the writing itself – the description, the dialog, and the weaving of the timeline. It was just the story itself that left me cold – I didn’t care about these people. I didn’t identify with them.

The reader didn’t help. While he did have distinctive voices for each of the characters, I especially found the women’s voices to be annoying. I am struggling to find the right words to describe why – but the voice he created for Madeleine made her sound first whiny, then breathy and fake to my ear. While I might have liked this audio book slightly better with another reader, I just don’t think this was a good fit for me overall. Your mileage may vary.

Reamde

Available from Audible.com

Author: Neal Stephenson
Reader: Malcolm Hillgartner

Short Review: A fantastic, well-read, fast-paced novel of hackers, criminals, anti-heroes, terrorists, and gamers.

Long Review: I adore Stephenson’s books, so I was at a loss when Anathem fell short for me. When a friend told me the day after Reamde was released that I was in for a treat, I immediately rushed home and bought a copy of the audiobook. And then I rescheduled as much as I could so I could listen to it constantly until the book was over. I binged on this book like a kid with a bag of halloween candy. I loved it like I loved Snow Crash and The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, and I love them almost as much as I love my dog.

This novel opens at the Forthrast family reunion, where we meet our protagonists. Richard owns a company that created T-Rain, a popular MMORPG, and he offers his adopted niece Zula a job working on their new game. And then all hell breaks loose. The Russian mob, hackers, terrorists, gamers, bikers, spies, special forces . . . . think of something exciting or intriguing, and chances are Stephenson found a way to incorporate it into the story with elegance and insight. Stephenson’s talent lies in his ability to pack a great deal of information into a plot that keeps moving, while also writing interesting, surprising characters. He favors intelligent, layered characters and generally makes sure at least a couple of brilliant, strong women are mainstays in his cast. I walked away from this book wanting to know these people and ask them about their experiences.

Hillgartner does a fantastic job reading the book. His regular speaking voice seems fitting for Richard, and the accents he uses for the other characters ring true. His pacing is great, his diction is clear and undistracting, and he manages to keep this very long book engaging and entertaining throughout. I plan to seek out other books he narrated for future diversions.

Short Review: Imaginative and original steampunk story set in a distant future London and beautifully read by the author.

Long Review: Fever Crumb is an odd girl. She has no hair (hair is apparently not logical). Raised by London’s Order of Engineers in the far distant future, Fever has been taught to trust only logic and has spent most of her time assisting her adoptive engineer father Dr. Crumb.

Outside the enormous statue head in which the Order lives, London is a chaotic place more concerned with fear of the fairly recently overthrown tyrannical Scriven than with logic and reason. Anyone who looks different is suspect. The most revered are those known as Skinners who did the dirty work of killing the Scriven and reclaiming London for the regular humans.

The steampunk flavor is steeped into the story, with plenty of odd machines and quirky science against a backdrop that feels Victorian. Strange automaton creatures made of paper, known as paper boys, are capable of both surveillance and attack in a style reminiscent of terminators – if not as durable.  The interesting thing about the technology is that no one knows how to recreate the parts for the machines. It is all about scavenging parts and reusing them to build what they need now – and here is why the Order of Engineers is so important and revered. They are best at figuring out how to fix and build with all these old technology bits. Archaeologists are important for their finds of new caches of old tech. Out beyond the well guarded edges of London we know there are enemies – and who knows what they would do if they broke through the defenses and took over the city!

This is Fever’s world, in which babies are often named after the symptoms they experienced while pregnant. There are mysteries and mis-communications all around, and by the middle of the book I felt truly sucked in and anxious to see where we would end up. This is a prequel to Reeve’s Mortal Engines Quartet, but I have never read the main series so I cannot speak to how it relates. I do understand that it precedes the Mortal Engines books by many many years. I like the world that Reeve has built for us. It is imaginative and often amusing in the tidbits that are dropped from our pop culture into the time of Fever Crumb – often with little or no understanding of their origin.

As I have said before, some authors should not read their own work – but that is NOT the case for Philip Reeve. I was disappointed to go hunting for the Mortal Engine audio books only to discover that they doesn’t seem to have ever been recorded – by Reeve or anyone else.

The only thing that kept this from being a five star book for me is that it did feel like a prequel at times. I want the next book more than I want to listen to this one again, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a steampunk fan or who is looking for a new world of intricate surprises and mysteries to solve.

Author: Ali Shaw

Reader: Heather O’Neill

Short Review: An enchanting mythic fantasy about a woman searching for a cure or explanation for the mysterious ailment that is causing her feet to turn to glass, read beautifully by one of my favorite readers.

Long Review: Ali Shaw was working at the famous Bodleian library at Oxford when he wrote this book. I can’t help but think that that storied collection crept into his first novel. The book is set on the fictional St. Hauda’s Land, a remote northern archipelago peopled by unusual people and animals. Ida Maclaird returns to the island seeking a strange man she met there on a previous vacation and an explanation for her unique ailment. She meets and befriends Midas Crook, an awkward young photographer, and asks his assistance in her quest. As the story progresses, Ida attempts to help Midas come to terms with his family and his feelings.

Heather O’Neill is a fantastic reader, and I think her tone and pacing were just right for this book. I was excited to get to listen to her narration again, and enjoyed this book ever more than I did The Likeness.

Shaw’s book is so entrancing because of how he plays with mythic themes. You can tell he’s fully-versed in myth and fairy-tales, but this is no retelling of a classic story. He draws from that imagery and makes gorgeous, subtle allusions, but he creates something wholly new for us. The fantastic animals he invents for the story are particularly interesting, and help establish the strange, magical locale where such unusual things can happen. This isn’t fantasy in the sword and sorcery vein. St. Hauda’s land feels real and modern, though uncomfortably different. And his characters-his characters! I want to know Ida and Midas and Henry Fuwa. I feel as if I could meet them on the train.

I look forward to Shaw’s next book, and I’m crossing my fingers that O’Neill will read the audio version.

Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Reader: Grover Gardner

Short Review: A new Vorkosigan adventure, same fabulous reader. A fun romp with lots of old friends, and a few new ones.

Long Review: I really enjoyed this book, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to someone who has never read any of the rest of the Vorkosigan Saga.

For those of you in the market for the latest and greatest adventures of Miles, you will likely be happy with this. I wouldn’t say it is in the same category as the best of the series – but more like a really good reunion show where you get to see all your old favorite characters. I would list a parade of them here, but I don’t want to give away who will show up. There are lots of fun cameos – you won’t be disappointed on that front.

Grover Gardner does his usual amazing job reading. For me, the voice he uses to narrate the Vorkosigan books is my mental voice for Miles. Even when I re-read these favorites of mine, I hear Gardner’s voice in my head. At least one or two of the best in the series would be on my desert island audio book list.

One interesting thing about this book in contrast with other Miles books is that only a third of the story is told from his point of view. One third is told by his armsman Roic and the final third told by a new character Jin – a young man who meets Miles and comes to his aid. There are a few other books in the series with other points of view, but this round robin gave Bujold a chance to show us more of how others see Miles, both a trusted member of his inner circle and someone who has no idea what he is up to.

There is also a final epilogue that is told in short snippets in a total of five other points of view. I can’t tell you more than that without spoiling it, but I will say that this final section felt more like the more emotionally intense books from the middle of the series.

Will you like it? Probably. Bujold is such a fantastic story teller and Gardner is such a great reader that the two together deliver a really enjoyable package. If you are a passionate fan of the series, you might feel a little let down by the ‘just another adventure on a planet far from home’ feeling – but it is still worth a listen. Bujold manages to balance out some of the lighthearted caper feel with some more serious themes that I can’t describe without wrecking them.

If you are still reading and wondering if you should start the series – I say YES without delay. I keep meaning to review them all here, but for now it is easier to tell you to just go start at the beginning with The Warrior’s Apprentice.

You can listen to a sample online.

Cryoburn

Author: Carol Plum-Ucci
Readers: Julia Whelan, Paul Michael Garcia, Eddie Lopez, Neil Shah, Kirby Heyborne and Tai Sammons
Available from Audible.com

Short Review: Welcome a the post-9/11 world in which terrorists wield bioweapons and our best intelligence is gathered online by teenagers. Kept me listening and then made me hunt for the sequel.

Long Review: This book is an interesting combination of the lives of an assortment of teens, but it is far from the typical high school drama. The book opens with the death of Cora’s mom. Cora is a loner at school, which we quickly learn has a lot to do with the mom who came home from a life as a photojournalist injured and addicted to morphine.

As the story moves forward, we meet Scott Eberman (paramedic), his brother Owen and Owen’s friend Rain Steckerman (both popular high school athletes), Shahzad Hamdani (teenage computer hacker in Pakistan) and Tyler Ping (teenage computer hacker in New York). The story is told in a round robin of first person, cycling through this assortment of high school students who have all been pulled into the center of an act of bioterrorism.

With six readers, I do list this as a ‘Full Cast Audio’ book – but it isn’t really. Each voice is tied to a single character and tells their part of the story. It is a good set of voices – though I did like some better than others. That might have a bit to do with my preferring some characters over others, but it certainly wasn’t enough to take away from the enjoyment of listening to this book.

I find myself writing this review on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and it is definitely a story that is informed by that event. It spends a lot of time chasing down terrorists via what they term ‘v-spying’, an abbreviation of virtual spying done by computer hackers trying to watch for, translate and convert into usable intelligence the online chatter of terrorists.

It is definitely an intense and suspenseful story, but in the end this is a story about six teenagers and their lives. Some of it is about being in the wrong place at the wrong time – but it quickly becomes clear that each person in this story has their own opportunity to take action. For these six, their choices and experiences reach far beyond the personal sphere – but in the end they are still teenagers. A good deal of the narrative traces the inner journey that every teen has to take as they navigate their way to adulthood.

I don’t want to tell you any more details for fear of spoiling some of the suspense. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it and quickly sought out the sequel.

Audio sample available.

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One

Available from Audible.com

Author: George R. R. Martin

Reader: Roy Dotrice

Short Review: Martin’s Locus-Award winning novel, expertly read by Roy Dotrice, proves an engrossing opening to a long, unfinished series.

Long Review: I was initially hesitant to pick up this series because I had heard so many friends complain that Martin was slow to release subsequent novels in the series. I didn’t want to wind up invested in characters who might or might not have resolutions in future releases. HBO’s sneaky free preview weekend forced my hand, because seeing the opening episode of their adaptation of the story made me want to read the books before watching the TV show.

Martin’s books are long and intricate, and follow dozens of characters. I generally enjoy fantasy audiobooks because the novels themselves tend towards the narrative, mythic style I think is best read aloud. This series is a great example of that. I was immediately entranced by Dotrice’s narration. He developed different accents and styles for the varied characters, and his acting talent shines through in his reading. In many sections of the book where Martin’s wordiness might have annoyed me, Dotrice’s reading kept me interested. Were it not for Dotrice, I may not be so inclined to finish the series. Instead, I’m crossing my fingers that Martin writes fast enough to allow Dotrice to finish narrating all of the books before health problems make that impossible. I want Dotrice to read the paper to me. I love to listen to him.

Martin’s writing does suffer at times from overuse of certain tropes or words, but in general he knows how to write an engrossing, interesting tale. He makes sure none of his characters are true heroes or true villains, and he’s not shy about killing off lead characters. The story is largely medieval-styled fantasy, but Martin injects mysticism, the undead, magic, and some elements of classic mystery novels to refresh the genre. One of the most prevalent themes in the books is the odd progress of seasons in Martin’s world. Rather than living on a planet with four seasons in a year, Martin’s characters inhabit a world where seasons can last many years. The story opens as signs of waning summer are appearing, and the phrase “Winter is coming” becomes a regular refrain. As the novel progresses, many factions fight for the throne of Westeros, and the third-person narrative switches from one character’s experiences to another.

There is no shortage of specifics about the plot available online, so I’ll leave it to you to seek out as many or as few spoilers as you like. Just know that the corpses pile up and several of the characters are truly layered and intriguing. Martin might have benefited from more editing, but Dotrice’s reading makes the book is a great listen.

Available from Audible.com

Author: Daniel Woodrell

Reader: Emma Galvin

Short Review: A stark, beautifully written and expertly read novel about an overburdened girl in dire straits.

Long Review: Set in the Ozarks, Winter’s Bone follows Ree Dolly as she tries to locate her missing father, care for her broken family, and save their home. Ree, 16, is the oldest of three children, and her life seems to be made entirely of danger, neglect, and undue responsibility. The Dollys are part of a larger near-tribal community of outlaws bound by strict rules of secrecy, respect, and gender roles. Ree’s one dream is to join the Army so she can escape, but she’s too young to leave, and her father’s disappearance leaves her family with only her to lead them.

Emma Galvin does an amazing job reading the book. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I find it extremely annoying when readers voice teenage girls with breathy, high-pitched, weak voices. The book follows Ree closely, so we have largely her voice throughout the audio book. Galvin’s reading is spot on. Ree sounds strong, and smart, and desperate–exactly as she should. During the descriptive sections, Galvin’s pacing and diction are excellent as she gives voice to Woodrell’s sparse, dense prose. She is thoroughly believable and restrained. As the book progresses, we learn that Ree’s relationship with Gail, her best friend, has grown beyond the bounds of friendship. Galvin’s reading remains true, without any veering towards stereotypical butchness. She doesn’t ask or answer any more questions than the author did.

Woodrell’s style is often referred to as “country noir.” I find that a lot of books set in the South or Appalachia are down-right condescending and inaccurate. I’m certainly no expert on the Ozarks, but I never got the sense that Woodrell used this imagined community for target practice. He shows their faults, but he shows strength as well. He stares right at their poverty, drug problems, feuds, and failures and relates those things without pity or judgment. His characters are engrossing and layered, and Woodrell never gives us too much. Often, I feel like he’s leaving us wanting for information on purpose, knowing it will keep us entranced. Because of my own academic interests, I was particularly intrigued to know more about the roots of Ree’s strange community–are they descended from Travellers, are they the remnants of a charismatic cult? We never know for sure, which is both annoying and brilliant.

As an aside, after listening to the book, I also watched the film adaptation of the story. It’s been very well received by critics, and it has some real strengths. But, as is almost always the case with films made from movies I love, it was lacking. The filmmakers omitted Ree’s sexuality entirely–as people are wont to do with stories like this. A son turns to a daughter, the mysterious origins of Ree’s community are erased–but overall it’s a very good movie.