House Immortal

House Immortal, Book 1

By: Devon Monk

Narrated by: Leslie Carroll

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Matilda Case isn't like most folks. In fact, she's unique in the world, the crowning achievement of her father's experiments - a girl pieced together from bits. Or so she believes. That is, until Abraham Seventh shows up at her door, stitched with life thread just like her and insisting that enemies are coming to kill them all. Tilly is one of thirteen incredible creations known as the galvanized, stitched together beings who are immortal and unfathomably strong. For a century, each House has fought for control over the galvanized-and Tilly and her kind hold the key to unlocking eternity. The secrets that Tilly must fight to protect are hidden within the very seams of her being. And to get the secrets, her enemies are willing to tear her apart piece by piece.

©2014 Devon Monk (P)2014 Tantor Media

great story and universe

Love the characters and the performance. Initially I was concerned about the farm with"stitched" animals and a two headed man. It felt almost too bizarre. After a chapter or so I fell into Tilly's world.I like this even more than Allie Beckstrom series. looking forward into where it will go.

slow

Good background and plot that felt like a new concept. I can see where this is going to be a pretty decent series worth reading. This first novel is obviously setting up the rest of the world/story; it was a little slow for me though. I definitely wanted to finish the book and will consider reading the next.

Cliffhanger ending.

Cliffhanger drops the story down one star. The other annoying story trope that brings the plot down is the main character keeps falling into traps with full knowledge that doesn’t lead to any growth over and over.

Excellent Start

If you could sum up House Immortal in three words, what would they be?

Promising new series.

What does Leslie Carroll bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think she was a great choice for the main character Matilda. She spoke the characters very well and gave life to the story. I think this book is actually better as an audio book because of the narrator.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't want to take breaks from listening. The story contained enough unexpected twists and turns to keep it continually interesting. I hope I get to listen to the next book in the series soon.

Mostly introduction

What disappointed you about House Immortal?

The book was mostly set-up, introducing the characters and the world. Not enough happened in this book, I think.

What could Devon Monk have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Have more actually happening in this book and give more of a conclusion rather than a direct lead-in to the second book.

How could the performance have been better?

Different narrator. Something about this narrator just didn't do anything for me. She didn't have enough differentiation between the characters, in my opinion, and overall I just found her unpleasant to listen to.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from House Immortal?

There's no one scene that stands out, but the whole book just felt like there wasn't enough forward movement, either in terms of plot or character development. Even when something that should be dramatic happens, like a betrayal, it's skimmed right over.

Any additional comments?

This book, most of the time, seemed like a character moving around doing stuff, without anything very interesting happening. Kind of weird. I kept waiting for stuff to happen, and when stuff did start happening, there wasn't enough time left in the book to really give any of the events or developments the attention they deserved. I'm having a hard time describing it. It's like she spent lots of time on less important stuff and hardly any time on stuff that was important.

*Note: my rating is based on GR ratings, so 2 stars mean "okay".

cliffhanger

Lots of info dump and world building but yet not enough to define the politics. Rules are given last minute just to move the plot in a direction rather than sticking to what has already been defined. We are left always playing catch up, out of the loop.
There is an interesting premise and some interesting characters but it was only OK to Good story wise because of the cliffhanger ending.

Disappointing

It started off great and once Matilda is off the farm the book falls flat. I started it 3 times and it still did not hold my attention. I thought being "stitched" made a unique twist to the story but that did not help the drag to the story.