Veronica

Too focused on genitals.

Reviewed: 02-02-22

I would have liked this story if it hadn’t insisted on mentioning genitals every fifth sentence.

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Male lead gives stalker vibes

Reviewed: 09-16-21

The male lead character crosses that line from protective to controlling, assuming from the first meeting that it’s his job to decide where the lead female gets to go or gets to meet with because of ”safety”, and that casual touching of someone he’s just met (without expressed permission) is okay. Controlling behaviour is a warning sign of abuse, not romantic, and I don’t appreciate when litterature romanticizes and normalizes it.

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Nice lectures, bad pronunciation

Reviewed: 01-26-19

I've enjoyed these lectures, but being Scandinavian myself I keep wincing whenever the narrator attempts to pronounce a Scandinavian word... like the Ynglinga kings or the island of Gotland or the lakes Mälaren, Vättern, and Vänern, or the mythological lands of Midgård and Valhalla... I could go on. I feel like a person holding lectures on this subject ought to have researched the proper pronunciation better, and they're not words that are difficult for a native English speaker to say if given a bit of thought (the ä isn't as scary as it looks, it's like the "a" in "and"...). But maybe I shouldn't complain, as I probably sound goofy too if I try to speak French.

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Character choices...

Reviewed: 10-22-16

I liked the first book enough to read the second, and I liked the second... Until, near the end, an irrevocable character choice made me very sad. After that I lost interest in the rest of the story.

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1 person found this helpful

Recommended!

Reviewed: 05-17-15

Having worked with old people I loved the portait of the older Jacob, and as I love animals I also liked the idea of the young vet travelling with a circus. That there was a love affair and a decent plot as well only made the book better. Recommended!

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Self-contained gem of a story

Reviewed: 04-16-13

I tried this because of the Sherlock TV-series. I adored it. I was sorry to come to the end of it. It was easy to follow, well formulated all the way through, and revolved neatly around a top notch plot/mystery. I'll definitely be reading more Sherlock Holmes stories in the future.

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Fairy tale princesses rebooted

Reviewed: 04-16-13

The fairy tale princesses didn't end up with their happily ever afters, no matter what Disney says. Instead they end up in a sort of magical Charlie's Angels attempt to rescue a prince.

I had good fun listening to it and its mouth-quirking humor. But the story didn't hook me as much as I had hoped. I listened through because I cared about the characters, but I think I cared more because I wanted to see how their fates had been twisted from their fairy tale originals than because these new versions caught my interest.

To me, this was light entertainment with little need for own brain power. I'm glad I read/heard it because the concept appeals to me, but I don't feel any inclination to buy the sequel.

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3 people found this helpful

A colourful cultural journey

Reviewed: 04-24-12

What about Kate Reading’s performance did you like?

I've listened to Kate Reading before and always enjoyed her performaces (particularily The Wheel of Time series). She speaks clearly with a certain dryness, cut when applicable by the required emotion.

Any additional comments?

I picked up this book because I've always been fascinated by foreign cultures, and from the preview this appeared to be a venture into the lives of young women in Riyadh. This is exactly what I got. It's full of reasons and situations that are similar and at the same time very different from what I've grown up with, and forms of expression in dialogue that seem to be plucked straight from Arabic, which I find absolutely fascinating (I don't speak Arabic but intend to learn).

I quickly grew to root for the four main characters, and followed them through their ups and downs. At the end of the book I was sad to leave them.

I've already recommended this book to most of my friends. That in itself is n indication of how much I enjoyed it.

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3 people found this helpful

Fun, engaging, refreshingly acerbic

Reviewed: 01-17-12

Any additional comments?

It's been more than a month since I listened to it, but it stands out vividly in my memory for being funny. The humor was often sarcastic, but if you're into that, this book is great. Picture a supervillian whose acerbic comments fall on his own ability and habits as often as on the superheroes, and society in general. He's not a bad guy. Just not always very nice, either.

But when the world's population is enslaved and needs saving, he suddenly finds himself on the superhero side... Even though he has to remind himself on a daily basis that teargas is not your first choice for dealing with hungry civilian mobs. Neither, apparantly, is thrown cars.

Two quotes:

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1 person found this helpful