Sarah
Narration by Kushner herself (and additional cast) is 5 stars all the way. Definitely naming on reading the other Riverside books now.
I love this book beyond reason (to use my friend Jodi's description). I think it's my favorite McKillip and that's saying something. It makes me want to run around shouting because it fills me with such joy to finish such a wonderful story and with sadness because I have finished it.
Not to mention the fact that the two narrators for the audio version are also very very good. I think her books are very suited to audio because of the gorgeous language and complicated threads of story. The audio slows me down and makes me more aware of the poetry of the words and more able to follow all the twists and turns. If you read fantasy and you haven't read this one yet, run don't walk to the nearest copy.
I've had this for awhile. I'm very sorry I waited so long to read it. I loved it.
Update 5/13: Excellent audio version. The narrator does great downeaster Maine accents. I wish there could be more but the story wraps up so nicely. If we're lucky the author will set some other stories in this version of the world.
Such a phenomenal wrap up to the Tiffany Aching story arc. I laugh out loud, I sniffle a bit, and get that heart overflowing feeling at the end that I only get for a really really really good book.
It's getting harder and harder to write a hidden unknown world/creatures in London with the large body of work that already exists. And I was thinking that as I started this book. That said it turned out to be very enjoyable and I will definitely get the subsequent books of the series.
Loved this even when I wanted to bang my head against the wall and the reluctance of human beings to grasp how something so simple can be so effective.
Cool concept somewhat irritating protagonist. He's kind of repetitive in his summation of his “crappy life” and his approach to things. Not much inner progress. Probably won't get the rest of the series in audio, maybe the library.
Absolutely loved this. It's got amazing engineering, Scotland, interesting stuff from the literary Stevenson (who did NOT want to build lighthouses), cool bits about lens improvements etc. Unbelievable that anything could be built on those bits of rock and even more so when you consider the level of technology available to them.
This was fabulous. It's a middle grade level hitchhiker's guide crossed with Terry Pratchett footnotes crossed with the demons of Hell crossed with particle physics and the LHC at CERN. Absolutely brilliant.
Absolutely loved this book and am delighted to realize that it's a) book 1 and b) there are two more to go read. I've yet to meet a Wrede book I didn't like and this one lives up to its predecessors.
I adore this book and have had it in paper for years. I picked up the audio on sale sometime last year (2 years ago?) and finally listened to it. Great narrator and it's just as good as I remembered. I think that's because I strongly resemble the author although my choice of genre/subject (with the exception of a shared obsession of Arctic/Antarctic exploration) is quite different. :)
Loved this! But go for the audio version, as he narrates it himself and that is definitely part of the fabulous-ness of this book.
Wonderful collection of classic Vance works. It was my first exposure to him and I'll be tracking more down.
I used to love reading Bond but the character is really a complete misogynistic (bad idea to give women the vote! wtf!) asshole. I think I'll not be reading any more so I can remember them fondly.
