The Official Blurb
A Trader's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper : Book 2
After Ishmael Wang is promoted to the environmental section, he's caught in a swirl of mystery, doubt, belief, lust and a really nice fitting pair of jeans. He has to come to grips with what it means to be a spacer while he's still trying to figure out what it means to be a man. Join Ishmael, Brillo, Pip, and the rest of the crew of the Lois McKendrick as they help the newest member of the crew adjust to life in the Deep Dark.Half Share is the sequel to Quarter Share. Note: Some scenes in Half Share involve adult themes, nudity, sex and references to religions not based on Judeo-Christian traditions. Read at your own risk.
My Review
I was really digging the prequel to this book "Quarter Share". When I reviewed it I said that I really enjoyed it and I was going straight on to listen to this sequel.
I do not feel the same way about this audio book. It started really well in the same vein but then it just got smutty. I ended up skipping past three chapters because the author just brought in something totally out of step with the rest what the first book set us up for.
Although it's true that some trading took place in this book and that we had new charaters to expand our interest it devolved into smut.
I'm now undecided about listening to the next in the series. I dont like skipping chapters, I dont want to do that again.
As with the first book in the series the producton and reading are excellent a real nice listen ( when I dont have to skip chapters).
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3
Total Score 6/9
Get it from Podiobooks
Get the first chapter.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Friday, 24 October 2008
The Sleeper Awakes
The Official Blurb
The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel about a man who sleeps for two hundred years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest, he has become the richest man in the world. He has been the famous Sleeper for centuries. A fanatic socialist, the main character awakes to see his nightmares realized, and the future revealed to him in all its horrors and malformities. The people adore him, and their masters - the supervisors of his legacy who rule in his name - do not want him breathing.
My Review
H.G. Wells has written an outstanding story here. Of course it is of its own time and the idea that compound interest could lead to ruling the world is clearly daft. But, perhaps when he was writing this story, governments were more honourable and wouldn't just freeze peoples accounts at the drop of a hat ( sorry Iceland ).
The sleeper wakes in world so changed that he barely understands what is happening and finds himself being manipulated and used. Through the lies and deceit he struggles against the things that surround him, and he finds himself. With battles on and under the ground and even fights taking place in the air we do have a good deal of action.
This is classic period sci fi, written by the master and well read to boot. There tended to be hum on this recording but this is easily overlooked and put from your mind.
Reading 2/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 5/9
Get it from Librivox
Get the first chapter.
The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel about a man who sleeps for two hundred years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest, he has become the richest man in the world. He has been the famous Sleeper for centuries. A fanatic socialist, the main character awakes to see his nightmares realized, and the future revealed to him in all its horrors and malformities. The people adore him, and their masters - the supervisors of his legacy who rule in his name - do not want him breathing.
My Review
H.G. Wells has written an outstanding story here. Of course it is of its own time and the idea that compound interest could lead to ruling the world is clearly daft. But, perhaps when he was writing this story, governments were more honourable and wouldn't just freeze peoples accounts at the drop of a hat ( sorry Iceland ).
The sleeper wakes in world so changed that he barely understands what is happening and finds himself being manipulated and used. Through the lies and deceit he struggles against the things that surround him, and he finds himself. With battles on and under the ground and even fights taking place in the air we do have a good deal of action.
This is classic period sci fi, written by the master and well read to boot. There tended to be hum on this recording but this is easily overlooked and put from your mind.
Reading 2/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 5/9
Get it from Librivox
Get the first chapter.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Tom Swift and His War Tank
The Official Blurb
Tom Swift, that prolific youthful inventor, is engaged in trying to help the Allies win WWI. After reading newspaper accounts of the British tanks, Tom takes a sheet of paper and sets out to design a better one from scratch. And fortunately, he can throw the whole family business behind his venture.
He has two problems: First, his friends and acquaintances are questioning his patriotism because he hasn’t enlisted as a rifleman for the front lines. Even his girl is worried his blood isn’t true-blue. But that’s because he is developing his tank in secret, and they don’t know he’s concentrating on winning the war the American way, with machines.
The second problem is that the German spies have penetrated the secret of what is being built in the high-security shop on the Swift property. And they will stop at nothing to steal its design - not kidnapping Tom, and not kidnapping the tank itself, complete with crew.
Tom and his buddies had better work fast, or the American riflemen are going to find the Kaiser’s soldiers using American-designed tanks against them!
My Review
This is a "ripping yarn" type story. The lead character is an inventer with outlandish design and production skills. In this case the story revolves around the building of a Tank for use against the Germans during WWII.
The bad guys are German spys the hero's are all clean cut american boys. There is never any doubt about who is who and you always know that the heros are going to be okay in the end.
The adventure rolls on in the "ripping yarn" style and you dont have a chance to get bored.
The reader is excellent "Mark F Smith" is a Librivox regular and does voices that are always delighful and full of character. Sadly the recording is a little marred by a quiet whine throughout. This whine does not change so it is easily "tuned out" when listening.
All in all a good listen
Reading 3/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Get it from Librivox
Get the first chapter.
Here is the first chapter.
Tom Swift, that prolific youthful inventor, is engaged in trying to help the Allies win WWI. After reading newspaper accounts of the British tanks, Tom takes a sheet of paper and sets out to design a better one from scratch. And fortunately, he can throw the whole family business behind his venture.
He has two problems: First, his friends and acquaintances are questioning his patriotism because he hasn’t enlisted as a rifleman for the front lines. Even his girl is worried his blood isn’t true-blue. But that’s because he is developing his tank in secret, and they don’t know he’s concentrating on winning the war the American way, with machines.
The second problem is that the German spies have penetrated the secret of what is being built in the high-security shop on the Swift property. And they will stop at nothing to steal its design - not kidnapping Tom, and not kidnapping the tank itself, complete with crew.
Tom and his buddies had better work fast, or the American riflemen are going to find the Kaiser’s soldiers using American-designed tanks against them!
My Review
This is a "ripping yarn" type story. The lead character is an inventer with outlandish design and production skills. In this case the story revolves around the building of a Tank for use against the Germans during WWII.
The bad guys are German spys the hero's are all clean cut american boys. There is never any doubt about who is who and you always know that the heros are going to be okay in the end.
The adventure rolls on in the "ripping yarn" style and you dont have a chance to get bored.
The reader is excellent "Mark F Smith" is a Librivox regular and does voices that are always delighful and full of character. Sadly the recording is a little marred by a quiet whine throughout. This whine does not change so it is easily "tuned out" when listening.
All in all a good listen
Reading 3/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Get it from Librivox
Get the first chapter.
Here is the first chapter.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865
The Official Blurb
The author, who fought as a private in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, describes the Confederate soldier’s daily struggles with hunger, illness, fear, and the perils of combat; as well as his pride of service, love of comrades, and courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
My Review
This is not a work of fiction, it is the memoirs of an artilleryman turned infantry of the time he spent in the forces during the American Civil War. He relates how the soldiers gallantly joined up, how being a soldier as opposed to be an officer was seen as having more merit and honur! He then tells us how the southern volunteers learned through hard experience in the required footware and what really needed to be carried by a foot soldier.
We hear a lot of the little details of day to day life of the soldier and how this particular soldier fared while outpacing the supplies. You'll learn something when you listen.
I'm a wargamer in some of my spare hours ( that means I play with toy soldiers ) and I've read a lot of ACW books, but even my well read mind picked up on some interesting facts and thoughts from this memoir.
The reader of this book is very good and I had some chuckles when some of the swear words were bleeped!
Basicly, it's good historical content, well read and an easy listen.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3 ( Low story rating, because it's a memoir! )
Total Score 5/9
Get it from Librivox
Here is the first chapter.
The author, who fought as a private in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, describes the Confederate soldier’s daily struggles with hunger, illness, fear, and the perils of combat; as well as his pride of service, love of comrades, and courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
My Review
This is not a work of fiction, it is the memoirs of an artilleryman turned infantry of the time he spent in the forces during the American Civil War. He relates how the soldiers gallantly joined up, how being a soldier as opposed to be an officer was seen as having more merit and honur! He then tells us how the southern volunteers learned through hard experience in the required footware and what really needed to be carried by a foot soldier.
We hear a lot of the little details of day to day life of the soldier and how this particular soldier fared while outpacing the supplies. You'll learn something when you listen.
I'm a wargamer in some of my spare hours ( that means I play with toy soldiers ) and I've read a lot of ACW books, but even my well read mind picked up on some interesting facts and thoughts from this memoir.
The reader of this book is very good and I had some chuckles when some of the swear words were bleeped!
Basicly, it's good historical content, well read and an easy listen.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3 ( Low story rating, because it's a memoir! )
Total Score 5/9
Get it from Librivox
Here is the first chapter.
Friday, 3 October 2008
Red Badge of Courage
The official Blurb
This is a short novel published in 1895 and based vaguely on the battle of Chancellorsville of the American Civil War. Unlike other works on the subject, Crane’s novel does not concentrate on the big picture or the glory of war but on the psychology of one of its soldiers.
My Review
This is a classic story set during the American Civil War. It follows a young man as he joins up and moves up towards the battle. It really does justice to the pre-war nerves that young men have always felt before combat.
As the story moves forward we follow the man as he moves through fear and running away up to the point where he finds his own courage and learns to live with it.
The recording is from librivox and is read by a number of differn't people. This can sometimes be problematic when there are multiple people reading the lines of different characters. In this case it actually works very well as the story is predominently a narration and so the different voices work well to actually keep the interest up for the ear.
So we have a good story set in interesting times. Well written and well read. Although it's a war story it's not really about the war or the fighting, it's about the people and their feelings.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Get it from Librivox
Here is the first chapter.
This is a short novel published in 1895 and based vaguely on the battle of Chancellorsville of the American Civil War. Unlike other works on the subject, Crane’s novel does not concentrate on the big picture or the glory of war but on the psychology of one of its soldiers.
My Review
This is a classic story set during the American Civil War. It follows a young man as he joins up and moves up towards the battle. It really does justice to the pre-war nerves that young men have always felt before combat.
As the story moves forward we follow the man as he moves through fear and running away up to the point where he finds his own courage and learns to live with it.
The recording is from librivox and is read by a number of differn't people. This can sometimes be problematic when there are multiple people reading the lines of different characters. In this case it actually works very well as the story is predominently a narration and so the different voices work well to actually keep the interest up for the ear.
So we have a good story set in interesting times. Well written and well read. Although it's a war story it's not really about the war or the fighting, it's about the people and their feelings.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Get it from Librivox
Here is the first chapter.
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