An_Eclectic_Chick

The narrator needs to learn how to pronounce "Chayim!" [but the book itself is great]

Reviewed: 01-26-25

I bought this book when it first came out, and just got the audiobook in order to refresh my memory before the other 2 books in the series. [I really enjoyed it, and am not sure why other reviewers found the various threads to be so confusing...I thought it had good pacing and was easy to follow.]

The reason I decided to post a review, however, was that, while I'm normally pretty tolerant of a narrator (as far as pacing, ability [or lack-thereof] to do various voices, etc.), but it drives me crazy when a narrator doesn't take the time to learn how to pronounce words/names correctly, in the text they are reading.

The biggest offense in this audiobook (so far...I haven't finished it all the way, but this bugged me enough that I decided to write this review) is the narrator's HORRIBLE (and, sadly, very consistent) mispronunciation of the name "Chayim."

I'm not even Jewish (or Hebrew-speaking), and even I know that it is pronounced something close to "high-um," and NOT "chay-im," [as the narrator says, over and over and over again].

The repeated mispronounciation of that name/ word (which means "life" in Hebrew) was like fingernails on the chalkboard, every time I heard it.

It really blows my mind that so many "professional" narrators fall into this same error anytime they encounter words other than English. I would've assumed that prior to recording a book, all names & foreign words would be researched for proper pronunciation, but given how frequently I've seen this issue occur in audiobooks, it's obviously not being done.

SMH...

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good story, virtual narrator needs work

Reviewed: 03-21-24

I enjoyed the story, but the virtual narration on this title is not quite ready for prime time.

I recently listened to another book that also used the virtual narration, and it sounded fine, but this one had a lot of places where it was VERY obvious that it wasn't a human reading.

The biggest issues were with acronyms, foreign words, and similar things.

I got really tired of hearing, "Hon" (i.e. the short version of "Honey") sound like it was a Chinese name. It should've been pronounced "hun" but instead sounded like the first part of "Honda."

There were also some words that came out garbled.

That said, it was still a lot better than older-gen text-to- voice, and was mostly tolerable.

I wouldn't have paid money to buy this audio book however.

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good book, recording needs some fixes

Reviewed: 02-07-24

Like one of the previous books by this author, that I recently listened to on audible, it seems like there were some sections missing.

All of a sudden, the plot would jump ahead, and some crucial development was missing. Because I listened to this book while driving, I was not able to pinpoint the exact sections where the story skipped ahead, but it happened at least twice.

Also, while the narrator was pretty good, his pronunciation of certain place names and other "foreign" words could've been done better. It was grating on my ear to hear some of his pronunciations.

This was still an enjoyable story, even with these issues, but I hope audible can fix the missing sections.

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Cool story until it decided to attack a major tenet of Christianity...

Reviewed: 01-07-24

There's so much to like in this book...

The author basically nailed & coined the idea of the metaverse, YEARS ahead of its time.

Also, it's very well-written, with a fairly believable near-future dystopian setting, & the narrator does an excellent job.

What made me stop before even getting to the end, to write this review, is the unnecessary derogatory comments that the author decided that he needed to make (supposedly as part of the plot), regarding one of the biggest religions on the planet.

I did not realize, when I purchased this audiobook, that the author would equate Christianity with a malignant virus (or have a main character say, in effect, "How can you be a Christian and believe that Jesus died and was resurrected? That's so wrong, based on what the Bible says, if you were reading the Bible correctly.").

As the death and resurrection of Jesus is *THE MAIN* tenet of faith in Christianity, this is rather offensive to someone who is a Christian.

I'm not going to bother refuting the author's position here (other folks have already done so far better than I could do), but I did want to mention this so others would know prior to purchasing the book.

I know my review won't stop most folks from buying this book (and honestly, that's fine with me, as that is NOT my intention).

But I *DID* want to mention this aspect of the book, for those who might find this troubling, so that they are warned before they spend their hard-earned money to purchase the book.

To sum things up -- this is a great work of science fiction, set in a dystopian world that is not too far from our own...Just be aware that the author equates Christianity to a malevolent virus, as part of the plot.

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The pronunciation made it hard to follow

Reviewed: 08-25-23

I love Wheeler's books, and I generally love the job that his narrator does. However...

I found myself stopping the book, part-way through, just so I could post this (although I'm still trying to listen/ read it through,

because I was annoyed so by the Spanish words being unintelligible.

I am not a native Spanish speaker, but I grew up in an area with lots of them, and have taken enough classes to (like Roth) know when someone is bad-mouthing me, etc.

This book contains Spanish words & phrases, and I have found myself having to repeatedly pull up the text (in the kindle app), as I was listening (in android) because I couldn't be sure which word(s) that the narrator was saying.

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TOO MUCH Stupidity/Sex For An Otherwise Good Book!

Reviewed: 02-08-23

Like so many other reviewers here, I enjoyed this series when I was younger...But for me, even then, I got fed up with the repetitive, unnecessary sex scenes, and I skipped ahead paragraphs & pages until the (much more interesting) actual story continued.

This is the first time I've approached the series in audio format, and having to LISTEN to the (really quite pointless & repetitious) sex scenes & idiocy of book 3 in this series was just too much.

I finally gave up & requested a refund of my credit...

If the sex scenes were all that annoyed me in this book, I probably wouldn't have asked for a refund, but what REALLY pushed me over the edge of frustration was the painful (to listen to) stupidity of Ayla and Jondalar's relationship as they became absolute idiots, completely blind to see what LITERALLY EVERYONE AROUND THEM perceived, but was "too polite" to mention to either of them (with the exception of some hinting by Mamut, that goes nowhere).

I just want to shout, "You both love the other, you idiots! Stop being so thick-headed and pay attention!"

And specially to Jondalar, (who REALLY should know better, with his vast experiences with all those women who can't get enough of him and his "big member," I want to scream, "Stop getting so butt-hurt over stupid stuff, and stop listening to that idiotic voice in your brain! Ayla was raised by the clan! She does not act like all those other women that you've known, and YOU KNOW THAT! That's why you're so attracted to her, you big dummy!"

Seriously, if this book was about real people I knew & was friends with, all I would want to do is slap them in the face & wake them up from their stupidity!

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1 person found this helpful

So good! I just wish there was going to be a 4th!

Reviewed: 01-07-23

I loved this series. I think it's been my favorite of RR Haywood's books, so far.

The narrator did an awesome job (even if Janie & Kristi's voices do sound almost the same-- but there were so many characters for him to voice that I don't hold it against him), and the plot kept my interest all the way until the end.

I just really hope there is going to be another series that picks up where book 3 leaves off. While most of the threads were tied up, he definitely left plenty of space for another book to continue, either as another in this series, or as a companion series with new main characters.

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Her bio info should be condensed into 1 chapter.

Reviewed: 12-30-21

A suggestion to potential listeners/ readers:
Skip ahead to the section that actually deals with the case mentioned in the book description, if you have a time constraint (or are the impatient-type).
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I kept waiting, and waiting for her to start talking about the case, but it was just 6+ chapters detailing the author's life before the case (youthful backpacking trips around Europe & N. Africa, her relationship with her future husband, how she got her education, info on her family life, and her husband's bout with bowel cancer).

I haven't yet decided if I should keep listening (and maybe skip ahead to the actual case mentioned in the description) or just give up.

I really wish she'd had a better editor--one who had forced her to condense her bio section down to only the relevant info, because I'm sure she is losing many readers/ listeners, with it as is.

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A bit slow & needs a better ending

Reviewed: 12-29-21

Do not listen if child abuse or mental health issues are triggers for you.

I found the story ok, but I kept expecting it to go somewhere, and it never really did. The ending, as many others have said, also left me wanting.

All in all, it wasn't a complete waste of time, but it could've been much much better.

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well done

Reviewed: 08-23-21

My only complaint about this otherwise excellent book was that the various Latin and other foreign language phrases were not translated into English.

When reading a text, it's not a big deal to lookup a phrase online, but it's a lot harder to do with audio, and I wish the audio version had supplied an English translation.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what people had against the narrator. I thought she did a fine job.

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