Ben
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Babel
- Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,254
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,678
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,671
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The novel language lovers have been waiting for
- By LisaLee on 09-06-22
- Babel
- Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
Favorite book I've read in years
Reviewed: 12-30-22
Fascinating magic concepts. Smart and engaging worldview. Sympathetic characters, who at times disagree with each other and the author somehow doesn't take an (obvious) side—each side is equally compelling. The language stuff—discussion, dissection, and just little factoids—is all fascinating. The revolutionary angle feels righteous and compelling. It's so good. I hated to leave the world of Babel behind.
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A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe
- By: Alex White
- Narrated by: Charlotte Blacklock
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 433
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 388
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Story4 out of 5 stars 388
A washed-up treasure hunter, a hotshot racer, and a deadly secret society. They're all on a race against time to hunt down the greatest warship ever built. Some think the ship is lost forever, some think it's been destroyed, and some think it's only a legend, but one thing's for certain: whoever finds it will hold the fate of the universe in their hands. And treasure that valuable can never stay hidden for long....
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1 out of 5 stars
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wow. this was terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 03-15-21
- A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe
- By: Alex White
- Narrated by: Charlotte Blacklock
Not a bad story
Reviewed: 05-30-20
I would expect that I'd have enjoyed this more than I did. It was fun enough and relatively novel, magic and sci-fi in an interesting blend, but I found myself regularly losing interest.
The audiobook is frustrating because at least one character is *clearly* written as British (or whatever fantasy world equates to British here), with obvious Britishism regularly injected into the dialog—at one point they even pointedly express confusion about "the can" before realizing it means "the loo"—and yet the reader read every character with the same bland and indistinguishable American accent. For such a dynamic and colorful world, the reading was pretty blah. It may have contributed to my disinterest. It wasn't outright BAD reading but it wasn't very good either and ignoring obvious speech pattern cues is annoying.
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1 person found this helpful
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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,465
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,198
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Story4 out of 5 stars 3,197
Rosemary Harper doesn't expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and, most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman, she's never met anyone remotely like the ship's diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot; chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks, who keep the ship running; and Ashby, their noble captain.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not my cup of tea
- By Arvin on 12-21-16
- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
Good book, not great narration
Reviewed: 07-02-19
The narrator does alright except that a few characters' dialogue is entirely in whispers, which isn't great for trying to find a good volume to listen at when driving or running; and she consistently mispronounces a few words to an extent that it's grating after a while—"heretic" and "starboard" being the two big ones. There's one chapter where "heretic" is said a lot and it's consistently mispronounced and it took me out of the story, wondering if maybe I was mishearing it and it was another word altogether… but it wasn't.
It's a good book though, and I wouldn't let the narration issues dissuade you from picking it up. I'll definitely get the next one. Curious to explore this very vibrant cast of characters and their universe some more.
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Outlining Your Novel
- Map Your Way to Success
- By: K. M. Weiland
- Narrated by: Sonja Field
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 555
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 484
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 477
Let outlines help you write a better book! Writers often look upon outlines with fear and trembling. But when properly understood and correctly wielded, the outline is one of the most powerful weapons in a writer's arsenal.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Doesn't explain how to outline
- By Nothing really matters on 01-28-16
- Outlining Your Novel
- Map Your Way to Success
- By: K. M. Weiland
- Narrated by: Sonja Field
Decent food for thought.
Reviewed: 03-07-16
What did you love best about Outlining Your Novel?
A bunch of similar information from Structuring. It's good food for thought. Again nothing groundbreaking but just listening to it made me look at some stuff from a different perspective.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
The reader consistently says "backslash" to refer to the slash (just a slash, or – if you must – a "forward-slash") in URLs. It's maddening. Her performance was otherwise solid. Well-enunciated, well-paced (though I listen at 1.5x), not droning or anything.
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The 8-Minute Writing Habit
- Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works with Your Busy Lifestyle (Growth Hacking for Storytellers)
- By: Monica Leonelle
- Narrated by: Cindy Piller
- Length: 1 hr and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 184
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 163
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Story4 out of 5 stars 161
Monica Leonelle digs into the best literature on forming habits and shares the top strategies professional authors are using to make sure they write each and every day. Each tip is easy to implement and will get you writing more in the "in-betweens" - the inactive moments of your life where you are commuting, waiting in line, or otherwise physically stuck with your brain unoccupied!
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4 out of 5 stars
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Building volumes of books...8 minutes at a time!
- By Ohstacy on 03-23-16
- The 8-Minute Writing Habit
- Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works with Your Busy Lifestyle (Growth Hacking for Storytellers)
- By: Monica Leonelle
- Narrated by: Cindy Piller
Not a lot here, but not a long book
Reviewed: 02-26-16
A few interesting tidbits. Worth the short amount of time invested.
The reader (performer?) has maybe never used the Internet before - "copy plus paste," "hashtag number", and the reading of URLs were distracting, albeit entertaining. The enunciation is fine but the delivery was just weird for the tone and content of the book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Child 44
- By: Tom Rob Smith
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,304
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,941
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,943
It is a society that is, officially, a paradise. Superior to the decadent West, Stalin's Soviet Union is a haven for its citizens, providing for all of their needs: education, health care, security. In exchange, all that is required is their hard work, and their loyalty and faith to the Soviet State. But now a murderer is on the loose.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Terror from all sides.
- By Melvin Lindsey on 06-20-08
- Child 44
- By: Tom Rob Smith
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
Fun story, terrible narrator
Reviewed: 01-24-15
The audio's butchering of common Russian names drove me bonkers (pronouncing Russian names by what I have to assume are Spanish rules?), and the bad Russian accent (why bother?) for dialogue didn't help. The story itself was bleak but engaging. Felt a *bit* like anti-communist propaganda at times with how hard it drove home the corruption/misery angle, but eh. It made for a decent setting for the story.
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