Every audiobook review

Here is another dynamic list of audiobook reviews. This time, it’s all 109 of them in alphabetical order. Not much else to say, really!

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

• Series: The First Law (part 1)
• Narrator: Steven Pacey
• Running time: 22h 15m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Falls squarely into the dark fantasy subgenre with its generous helpings of graphic violence and its flawed, morally ambiguous characters—and, unfortunately, an undercurrent of misogyny. There are two female characters in the whole novel, each embodying a one-note archetype (feral ultra-warrior and object of the male gaze). The world of The First Law seems a bit bland compared to others (cf. The Black Company; Malazan Book of the Fallen). But despite all of this, I actually enjoyed The Blade Itself very much! I found all the POV characters interesting and engaging and laughed out loud multiple times. 8/10.
• Performance review: Pacey’s top-notch delivery is perhaps part of the reason I enjoyed this so much. 10/10.

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

• Series:
  • The First Law (part 2)
  • First Law World (part 2)
• Narrator: Steven Pacey
• Running time: 22h 39m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Although it shares the shortcomings of the previous book in the series, Abercrombie is still far a better writer of characters than many in the fantasy genre. Structurally, development of the six POV characters is impeccable. Each of them change to varying degrees throughout the story, without losing their clear and unique voices, which were established excellently in the first novel. (Five out of six of them are men, but I suppose you can’t have everything.) Above all, Before They Are Hanged is just fun. 8/10.
• Performance review: The narration is among the of the best I’ve heard. Pacey shows off a truly impressive range of accents and his comic timing is superb. 10/10.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Special Edition by Margaret Atwood

• Series: The Handmaid’s Tale (part 1)
• Narrators:
  • Claire Danes
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Tim Gerard Reynolds
• Running time: 12h 6m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Obviously a modern classic and getting more relevant by the day. 9/10.
• Performance review: Definitely go for the Special Edition. Everything about this is spot on. Danes is incredible; little bits of recorded-over music are a really nice touch; great afterward from Atwood herself at the end. 10/10.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

• Series: The Handmaid’s Tale (part 2)
• Narrators:
  • Derek Jacobi
  • Mae Whitman
  • Ann Dowd
  • Bryce Dallas Howard
  • Tantoo Cardinal
  • Margaret Atwood
• Running time: 13h 18m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Handmaid’s is the more important work from a literary standpoint, but I think that The Testaments is the better book. It is more plot-driven, and the multiple points of view makes the book feel deeper and more rounded. I found the exploration of Aunt Lydia’s character both fascinating and totally believable. She reminded of Mike Rinder. 10/10.
• Performance review: All performances are perfect. 10/10.

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

• Narrators:
  • Cassandra Campbell
  • Mark Deakins
• Running time: 12h 11m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: More farcical and certainly not as “important” as some of Atwood’s other dystopian fiction. Preferred it to Oryx and Crake and its sequels. 7/10.
• Performance review: Performances are splendid. 8/10.

Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett

• Narrator: Lucy Rayner
• Running time: 4h 51m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I imagine that many people will be annoyed by this book. There’s no story, and the unnamed protagonist—who I assume is basically Bennett herself—is self-indulgent and trivial. Nevertheless, I found it hilarious. 7/10.
• Performance review: Great. 8/10.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

• Narrator: Adepero Oduye
• Running time: 4h 15m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: It’s fine. 5/10.
• Performance review: Decent. 6/10.

Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

• Series:
  • Penric and Desdemona (Publication order) (part 1)
  • World of the Five Gods (Publication order) (part 3.1)
  • World of the Five Gods (Chronological order) (part 1.1)
  • Penric and Desdemona (Chronological order) (part 1)
• Narrator: Grover Gardner
• Running time: 4h 2m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: First in a series of more light-hearted—and lightweight—novellas set in Bujold’s World of the Five Gods. 6/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold

• Series:
  • Penric and Desdemona (Publication order) (part 2)
  • World of the Five Gods (Publication order) (part 3.2)
  • World of the Five Gods (Chronological order) (part 1.2)
  • Penric and Desdemona (Chronological order) (part 2)
• Narrator: Grover Gardner
• Running time: 4h 32m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Pretty much the same as the first one in the series. 6/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

Penric’s Mission: A Novella in the World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold

• Series:
  • Penric and Desdemona (Publication order) (part 3)
  • World of the Five Gods (Publication order) (part 3.3)
  • World of the Five Gods (Chronological order) (part 1.4)
  • Penric and Desdemona (Chronological order) (part 4)
• Narrator: Grover Gardner
• Running time: 5h 32m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: More of the same, really, although this one seems to just stop mid-story for some reason. 5/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

• Series:
  • World of the Five Gods (Publication order) (part 1)
  • World of the Five Gods (Chronological order) (part 2)
• Narrator: Lloyd James
• Running time: 18h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Excellent. Loved the opening especially. Bujold writes more well-rounded characters than typical fantasy. 8/10.
• Performance review: Great. 8/10.

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

• Series:
  • World of the Five Gods (Publication order) (part 2)
  • World of the Five Gods (Chronological order) (part 3)
• Narrator: Kate Reading
• Running time: 16h 17m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Fantasy the way it should be: fully fleshed-out characters, great writing, and interesting lore. 9/10.
• Performance review: Enjoyed Kate Reading’s performance more than usual this time. 8/10.

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold

• Series:
  • World of the Five Gods (Publication order) (part 3)
  • World of the Five Gods (Chronological order) (part 1)
• Narrator: Marguerite Gavin
• Running time: 16h 22m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Good, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as the previous two entries in the series. 6/10.
• Performance review: Decent. 6/10.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

• Narrator: Julian Rhind-Tutt
• Running time: 8h 21m
• Abridgement or dramatization: Yes.
• Book review: Look, obviously this is a masterpiece of Russian literature, and normally I love surrealism, but this was so off the wall that I had no almost idea what was going on for huge chunks of it. I still enjoyed myself, but feel like some deeper significance passed over me. There are two versions of this on audible; I think I listened to the shorter one. 7/10.
• Performance review: Fun. 7/10.

Milkman by Anna Burns

• Narrator: Bríd Brennan
• Running time: 14h 11m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Great sort-of bildungsroman during the Troubles. Listened right after My Brilliant Friend and they paired well. 8/10.
• Performance review: Great. 8/10.

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

• Series:
  • Ender’s Saga (part 2)
  • Enderverse: Publication Order (part 2)
  • The Enderverse (part 12)
• Narrators:
  • David Birney
  • Stefan Rudnicki
• Running time: 14h 8m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Interesting premise but pretentious delivery. I felt like OSC was trying to convince me I was listening to something incredibly profound. 6/10.
• Performance review: Performance was fine. 6/10.

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’ Connor

• Narrator: Mark Bramhall
• Running time: 6h 15m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Better than Wise Blood but not a patch on her short stories. 7/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

The Black Company by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 1)
  • The Books of the North (part 1)
• Narrator: Marc Vietor
• Running time: 10h 54m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: My favorite fantasy series. It gets lauded, rightly so, for its dark tone, moral ambiguity, and realistic depiction of war (for a fantasy series). I found it refreshingly original. Cook doesn’t get bogged down in lore, and doesn’t call a rabbit a smeerp. Members of the company are all interesting, wizards are entertainingly grotesque and way over the top, and locations have a wonderful grimy feel to them. 9/10.
• Performance review: Vietor’s non-nonsense narration works quite well. 7/10.

Shadows Linger by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 2)
  • The Books of the North (part 2)
• Narrator: Marc Vietor
• Running time: 10h 33m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Second book the best fantasy series around (in my opinion). Just as good—actually, perhaps slightly better—than the first book. 9/10.
• Performance review: Good narration. 7/10.

The White Rose by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 3)
  • The Books of the North (part 3)
• Narrator: Marc Vietor
• Running time: 11h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Pinnacle of the series. More sword-and-sorcery, backstabbing, batshit-crazy awesomeness. This one has Wind Whales, reverse centaurs (“humanoid half is behind,” amazing) and a town called Horse. I’m going have to re-listen to the whole lot. 9/10.
• Performance review: Good performance. 7/10.

The Silver Spike by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 3.5)
  • The Books of the South (part 0.5)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 11h 0m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Techincally a spin-off from the main series because it doesn’t The Company proper. Tied with The White Rose for my favorite in the series. 9/10.
• Performance review: Different narrator, equally good. 7/10.

Shadow Games by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 4)
  • The Books of the South (part 1)
• Narrator: Marc Vietor
• Running time: 9h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I feel that the series starts to change tone a little here and isn’t quite as fun as it used to be. Still well worth a listen. 7/10.
• Performance review: Good performance. 7/10.

Dreams of Steel by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 5)
  • The Books of the South (part 2)
• Narrator: Rachel Butera
• Running time: 9h 37m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The dullest book of The Black Company so far, but there is a good twist at the end. 6/10.
• Performance review: Butera gets a lot of stick for her performance from Audible reviewers. Most of the criticisms are valid, unfortunately. 3/10.

Bleak Seasons by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 6)
  • The Books of the Glittering Stone (part 1)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 13h 12m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Bleak is right. Partial return to form. 7/10.
• Performance review: Davis is back as narrator. 7/10.

She Is the Darkness by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 7)
  • The Books of the Glittering Stone (part 2)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 17h 12m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The series continues to be good, just not quite as good as it was in the beginning. 7/10.
• Performance review: Davis does a good job as usual. 7/10.

Water Sleeps by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 8)
  • The Books of the Glittering Stone (part 3)
• Narrator: MacLeod Andrews
• Running time: 18h 7m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Another great chronicle from the Black Company. The new annalist is an interesting character. 7/10.
• Performance review: I realize nobody knows Sleepy is a girl, but she IS a girl, so I was surpised by the choice of narrator. Still good though, Andrews has a wider range of voices than previous narrators in this series. 7/10.

Soldiers Live by Glen Cook

• Series:
  • The Chronicles of the Black Company (part 9)
  • The Books of the Glittering Stone (part 4)
• Narrator: Marc Vietor
• Running time: 19h 32m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Solid end to the series. Does what you’d expect with many of the characters who made it this far. 7/10.
• Performance review: Vietor is back after a long absense. 7/10.

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

• Series:
  • The Expanse (part 1)
  • The Expanse (Chronological order) (part 1)
• Narrator: Jefferson Mays
• Running time: 20h 56m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I listened to this after watching the excellent TV show. Despite being an almost scene-for-scene translation, somehow the show ends up being considerably better. SF and fantasy tend to be sexist, unfortunately, and this is certainly the case here—I counted exactly one female character Holden didn’t shag or consider shagging (she was in a different part of the solar system). 5/10.
• Performance review: Mays does a good job with the Belter patois. 7/10.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

• Series: L’amica geniale/The Neapolitan Novels (part 1)
• Narrator: Hillary Huber
• Running time: 12h 38m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: First of The Neapolitan Novels. The series as a whole is critically lauded, and on the strength of this first book, I can understand why. I loved it. Bildungsroman that isn’t afraid to take it’s time. It’s a cliché to describe the location as a character in the story, but in this case, I think that’s true. 8/10.
• Performance review: Narration is a little flat to be honest. 5/10.

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

• Series: L’amica geniale/The Neapolitan Novels (part 2)
• Narrator: Hillary Huber
• Running time: 19h 4m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Just as good as the first one. 8/10.
• Performance review: Shame about the narration. 5/10.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

• Series: L’amica geniale/The Neapolitan Novels (part 3)
• Narrator: Hillary Huber
• Running time: 16h 43m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I'm not saying it’s bad, but I was disappointed. I don’t think the quality of writing declined, I just found Elena’s current circumstances bland and uninteresting compared to the earlier books and her character quite annoying. Also, I don’t know if something was lost in translation or what, but chunks of Those Who Leave are devoted to characters engaged in bafflingly generic political discourse, contributing to the overall dullness. 6/10.
• Performance review: Same as the previous books. 5/10.

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

• Narrator: Bianca Amato
• Running time: 9h 56m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Nice, creepy slow burn. 8/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

• Narrator: Eilidh L. Beaton
• Running time: 9h 32m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I was underwhelmed. The survivalism stuff didn’t seem authentic at all and the twist at the end was dumb. Had the feel of a three-part drama on ITV. 5/10.
• Performance review: Fine. 6/10.

The Spire by William Golding

• Narrator: Benedict Cumberbatch
• Running time: 6h 49m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Gets darker and more frenetic and it goes. Good stuff. 7/10.
• Performance review: Cumberbatch magnificently chews the scenery. 8/10.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

• Narrator: Rob Reiner
• Running time: 2h 32m
• Abridgement or dramatization: Yes.
• Book review: This is genuinely hilarious. 9/10.
• Performance review: Reiner’s delivery is top-notch. I haven’t seen the film nor read the paper novel, but even to my naïve ears this abridgement seems very aggressive. Considering that the movie already exists and is of similar length, why not record the whole thing? One day I’ll read it and find out, perhaps. 8/10.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

• Narrator: Robert Petkoff
• Running time: 8h 17m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Light hearted, good natured, funny. Good summer read/listen. 7/10.
• Performance review: Performance was fine. 6/10.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

• Series: Hainish Cycle (part 4)
• Narrators:
  • full cast
  • Toby Jones
  • James McArdle
• Running time: 1h 53m
• Abridgement or dramatization: Yes.
• Book review: Felt a bit empty. I’m sure the unabridged version is better. 5/10.
• Performance review: I feel like I missed lots of important things due to the abridgment/dramatization. 6/10.

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

• Narrator: Simon Vance
• Running time: 13h 18m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Hardy’s writing is like a beautiful landscape painting, but the plot is so antiquated I found myself almost ignoring it. Towards the end there’s a description of a female corpse that is so overly long and poetic that I found it creepy. Also, who is the native? 6/10.
• Performance review: Vance is on top form. 10/10.

Dune by Frank Herbert

• Series: Dune (part 1)
• Narrators:
  • Scott Brick
  • Orlagh Cassidy
  • Euan Morton
  • Simon Vance
  • Ilyana Kadushin
• Running time: 21h 2m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I remember reading this in paper form as a teenager and being blown away by it. What was I thinking?! Certainly there’s some iconic stuff in here—the spice, the sandworms, fear is the mind killer, etc.—but the writing is crap and there is absolutely no tension. Paul is in no real danger at any point during the novel. He starts to display prodigious talents right away, and by the halfway point, he’s a mentat, a military genius, a master duelist, messiah to the Fremen, chosen one to the Bene Gesserit, and can see into the bloody future! There are some enormous plot holes I missed the first time. For instance, if the spice is necessary for creating mentats and therefore interstellar travel, how did anybody get to Arrakis in the first place? Is it just me, or is Yueh’s assassination plot the dumbest ever devised? Surely it would’ve been simpler to shoot/blow-up/poison the guy himself rather than drag poor old Leto into it. Or maybe just not kill Leto in the first place! 4/10.
• Performance review: The production value is higher than normal, but switching from performer to performer is bizarrely inconsistent. They sort of just give up doing it and have Vance read everything for chunks at a time. When they do switch, there are noticeable differences in the timbre of the recordings, making it sound like a teleconference. Vance should have narrated the whole book. 1/10.

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

• Series:
  • Dune (part 2)
  • Dune Universe (part 12)
• Narrators:
  • Scott Brick
  • Katherine Kellgren
  • Euan Morton
  • Simon Vance
• Running time: 8h 57m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I tried as a teenager and again as an adult. I got about four chapters in both times. 1/10.
• Performance review: Not enough exposure to form an opinion, so just putting 5. 5/10.

Hiroshima by John Hersey

• Narrator: George Guidall
• Running time: 5h 23m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Tells the story of arguably one of the most horrific events in human history through the detailed stories of a handful who survived the initial blast. Absolutely beautifully written. A masterpiece, possibly one of the best things ever written. 10/10.
• Performance review: Guidall doesn’t do more than deliver the text with the gravity it deserves, nor should he. 7/10.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Narrator: Rosalyn Landor
• Running time: 9h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Interesting SF premise built into a truly moving and sad story, in some ways like The Handmaid’s Tale. Publisher’s summary describes this as “an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery”—eh? 9/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

• Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
• Running time: 5h 32m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Definitely not scary but a good story with engaging characters and atmospheric writing. 7/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

• Series: The Broken Earth (part 1)
• Narrator: Robin Miles
• Running time: 15h 27m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: First book of The Broken Earth series. It’s good; I especially liked the focus on female characters and that it didn’t shy away from the violence done both to and by them. I couldn’t imagine a male fantasy writer attempting something as complex and nuanced as Syenite and Alabaster’s relationship. The magic system is pretty interesting. 7/10.
• Performance review: Decent enough, nothing special. 5/10.

The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin

• Series: The Broken Earth (part 2)
• Narrator: Robin Miles
• Running time: 13h 19m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Second book of The Broken Earth series. It’s OK, not as good as the first one. The plot moves forward but not by much. I started to get irritated by the long-winded writing style, and felt that a frustrating amount of plot was being held back for the finale. 5/10.
• Performance review: OK. 5/10.

The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin

• Series: The Broken Earth (part 3)
• Narrator: Robin Miles
• Running time: 14h 16m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I liked the first one, but I don’t understand the praise for the rest of this series. By the end, I was straight-up annoyed. The writing was so plodding it felt like I was turning to stone myself. Numerous aspects of the plot simply didn’t make sense to me. For example: why is Hoa so attached to Essun initially? Who made the guardians exactly? Why does Nassun decide to destroy the world in the first place, then why does she change her mind? Who the hell was that guy right at the beginning of the first novel and what did that scene have to do with anything that followed? 4/10.
• Performance review: Same narrator as the previous books. 5/10.

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome

• Series: Three Men (part 1)
• Narrator: Steven Crossley
• Running time: 6h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Jokes still land perfectly. Hard to believe it was written in 1889! 9/10.
• Performance review: There are several versions out there. This is the only one I’ve listened to and it’s excellent. 8/10.

Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson

• Narrator: Will Patton
• Running time: 2h 43m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: My favorite audiobook so far. The story might sound clichéd, but the writing just stunning: sad, grimy, surreal, even hopeful in places. Best stories: “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” and “Work,” but they’re all great. 10/10.
• Performance review: Casting Will Patton was a masterstroke. 10/10.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

• Series: The Wheel of Time (part 1)
• Narrators:
  • Kate Reading
  • Michael Kramer
• Running time: 29h 57m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I was slightly disappointed by this. The series is universally loved, and perhaps it gets better, but I found the plot to be basic and derivative of The Lord of the Rings. Bunch of teenagers (cf. hobbits) moving from one place to another, meeting strange people and creatures, getting separated then reunited, eventually finding out they are part of some grand scheme to save the world. Clearly aimed at the Young Adult crowd. 6/10.
• Performance review: Same old dependable Kramer/Reading. 6/10.

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

• Series: The Wheel of Time (part 2)
• Narrators:
  • Kate Reading
  • Michael Kramer
• Running time: 26h 34m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I just don’t get it, why do people love this series so much? It's lauded for its complexity and depth—but is having five or six almost identical female characters complex or deep? Seriously: all of them can “channel,” all of them are beautiful, even their names sound similar! I understand that Jordan is building a world where the genders are fairly equal overall in order to avoid the misogynistic tropes of the genre and he certainly deserves credit for doing that. But that effort is sorely undermined when the women are so bland. The men are pretty dull as well, though, especially Rand. 5/10.
• Performance review: Kramer/Reading do as well as they can under the circumstances. 6/10.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

• Series: St. Leibowitz (part 1)
• Narrator: Tom Weiner
• Running time: 10h 55m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Completely bonkers. I expected something along the lines of Clarke or Heinlein. Instead, I think its closer in tone to Vonnegut, and just as good as his best work. 10/10.
• Performance review: Great performance. 9/10.

Duma Key by Stephen King

• Narrator: John Slattery
• Running time: 21h 0m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: My second attempt at a more recent King novel. I was going with it for a while, but then the protagonist started reading an article in The Journal of Parapsychology. At that point, I knew exactly where we were headed, and bailed. 2/10.
• Performance review: I didn’t hear enough to form a strong opinion. 5/10.

Revival by Stephen King

• Narrator: David Morse
• Running time: 13h 24m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I think it’s very easy to be snobbish about King. I did like some of his early horrors as a teenager and in my view On Writing is one of the finest books about writing ever written. Some online reviews suggest that Revival is a partial return to form, but I thought it was rubbish. It’s not badly written or anything, it’s just so clear that King didn’t do any research whatsoever. For instance, one of the characters gets into a motor accident that renders him totally mute, yet without any other physical or neurological problems. What on earth would cause this? “Schlocky” is a good word for it. 1/10.
• Performance review: Morse is actually very good! Shame about the content. 7/10.

Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling

• Series: QualityLand (part 1)
• Narrator: Patricia Rodriguez
• Running time: 10h 42m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Great premise and some laugh-out-loud moments. The plot is a little meandering and many of the frequent extraneous computer science and SF concepts felt shoehorned. 7/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

• Series: Imperial Radch (part 1)
• Narrator: Adjoa Andoh
• Running time: 12h 41m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Considering that Ancillary Justice won just about every award going, I was disappointed not to have enjoyed it more. There are certainly some fresh ideas, especially the exploration of gender (or lack of it), but in the end I found it hard to connect with any of the characters or care about the big ethereal galactic conflict. Perhaps things get more interesting later on in the series. 6/10.
• Performance review: OK I think; I don’t really remember. 6/10.

Classic Radio Sci-Fi by Stanislaw Lem

• Narrators:
  • Ron Cook
  • Joanne Froggatt
• Running time: 1h 53m
• Abridgement or dramatization: Yes.
• Book review: Wittgenstein’s lion in space. Heavyweight sci-fi classic with a killer premise. 7/10.
• Performance review: It’s a proper BBC radio play! Makes sense to have done it this way since Lem hated the original English translation, although the more recent Audible version is supposed to be good as well. 10/10.

Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu

• Narrator: Feodor Chin
• Running time: 12h 12m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: So impressively thought-out that the theory and experiments feel authentic despite the outlandish premise. But I can’t say I enjoyed it, probably because of the dull characters. 5/10.
• Performance review: Fine. 5/10.

Severance by Ling Ma

• Narrator: Nancy Wu
• Running time: 9h 54m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I found it somewhat boring. For me, the quasi-autobiographical flashbacks are actually much more interesting than the post-pandemic stuff, which felt generic. Ends poorly. 5/10.
• Performance review: Not bad. 6/10.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

• Narrator: Kirsten Potter
• Running time: 10h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: My wife really loved this. I found the central idea kinda whacky but potentially interesting. In the end, though, there were too many preposterous contrivances. I also thought the writing was a bit weird. For instance, at one point a character can’t remember the word “money” yet can remember “dentist,” and I don’t think “admixture” means what the author thinks it does. 6/10.
• Performance review: Not bad. 6/10.

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories by Hilary Mantel

• Narrator: Jane Carr
• Running time: 4h 29m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Mantel’s writing is excellent as usual. Two of the stories, “Sorry to Disturb“ and the titular one (first and last, respectively), are great, most of the others are OK, and a couple are duds (e.g., “Comma,” which starts off interesting but ends in a bunch of pretentious metaphors). 7/10.
• Performance review: Great aside from the dodgy scouse accent in the last story. 7/10.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

• Series: Thomas Cromwell Trilogy (part 1)
• Narrator: Simon Slater
• Running time: 24h 14m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Almost didn’t pick this up after watching the TV show and utterly failing to follow it. So glad I did! Mantel is an amazing writer. I loved this line, for instance: “The cardinal joins his hands. He makes a great, deep, smiling sigh, like a leopard settling in a warm spot.” 10/10.
• Performance review: Slater nails this performance. I guffawed at the delivery of, “Mary, I am terrified of your uncle Norfolk.” 10/10.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

• Series: Thomas Cromwell Trilogy (part 2)
• Narrator: Simon Vance
• Running time: 14h 34m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Every bit as good as Wolf Hall. Cannot wait to listen to the final installment. Words I learned while listening: milksop, obdurate, sophistry. 10/10.
• Performance review: Vance is in top form, on level pegging with Slater. 10/10.

I Am Legend and Other Stories by Richard Matheson

• Narrators:
  • Robertson Dean
  • Yuri Rasovsky
• Running time: 10h 52m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The titular story is lauded by sci-fi fans, mainly for its ending. In my opinion, the whole thing actually quite dumb (though I admit, not as dumb as the Will Smith movie). The other stories in the collection range from forgettable to cringeworthy; I could not get through them all. 1/10.
• Performance review: I think I listened to an older edition of this (cover was different). If this is a new narrator, they would need to do an incredible job to make this worth a listen. 5/10.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

• Narrator: Ian McEwan
• Running time: 4h 29m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Great novella. Title of a one-star review on Audible: “Blah, blah, blah, Crap.” Made me chuckle. 8/10.
• Performance review: Author is also the narrator, and does a good job. There’s a quick, interesting interview with him at the end. 7/10.

The North Water by Ian McGuire

• Narrator: John Keating
• Running time: 9h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Visceral, grimy nautical tale not dissimilar in content and tone to McGlue and The Terror. I enjoyed it. 7/10.
• Performance review: Keating is very pleasant to listen to. here. 7/10.

Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry

• Series: Thalia, Texas (part 1)
• Narrator: Kerin McCue
• Running time: 7h 33m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Well written and interesting characters but it just didn’t grab me for whatever reason. 6/10.
• Performance review: Taped in the ‘80s or ‘90s. The digitization is a complete mess; the bit rate seemingly drops around halfway through and they couldn’t be bothered to chop out the “this concludes disk X” bits. Hands down my worst listening experience so far, from a purely aural perspective. Narration is also a little flat. 1/10.

The City & The City by China Mieville

• Narrator: John Lee
• Running time: 10h 16m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Fantastic premise. Loved the blend of high concept and detective noir. Makes a good companion to The Yiddish Policemen's Union. 8/10.
• Performance review: The down-to-earth, deadpan narration fits wonderfully. 8/10.

Kraken by China Mieville

• Narrator: John Lee
• Running time: 16h 10m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The second Miéville novel I actually finished. (What was going on in Embassytown, I cannot tell you.) Great premise, just like The City & the City, but this one was also funny. 8/10.
• Performance review: Narration is, again, brilliantly deadpan. 8/10.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

• Series: New Crobuzon (part 1)
• Narrator: John Lee
• Running time: 24h 21m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Another bonkers Miéville story. It’s really good, as usual. Will check out the rest of the series eventually. 8/10.
• Performance review: Lee’s deadpan delivery is right on the money. 8/10.

Circe by Madeline Miller

• Narrator: Perdita Weeks
• Running time: 12h 8m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Second—and better, in my opinion—of Miller’s books to date. I absolutely loved it. Struck me as a powerful feminist allegory. 10/10.
• Performance review: Performance nails it. 10/10.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

• Narrator: Frazer Douglas
• Running time: 11h 15m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Miller’s published novels to date are retold classical Greek myths from the perspectives of minor characters. Both are superb. This one is a bit more action-packed towards the end, for obvious reasons. 9/10.
• Performance review: Fantastic. 8/10.

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

• Narrator: Alyssa Bresnahan
• Running time: 8h 46m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Moshfegh consistently writes superb, effed-up characters. 8/10.
• Performance review: Great. 8/10.

McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

• Narrator: Chris Andrew Ciulla
• Running time: 3h 42m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Bloody hell, this is horrible. Almost O’Connor-level grim. Obviously I loved it. 8/10.
• Performance review: Superb, one of the best I’ve heard. 10/10.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

• Narrator: Julia Whelan
• Running time: 7h 14m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: A bit lighter than Moshfegh’s previous works in the sense that nobody gets killed this time, but still pretty horrible. It is a testament to the quality of the writing that I was thoroughly entertained by the idea of self-obsessed New York hipster spending a year in bed. I found the descriptions of the artwork hilarious. 8/10.
• Performance review: Great. 8/10.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

• Narrator: Christine Hewitt
• Running time: 3h 48m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Great novella. Makes a nice companion to Elmet. 8/10.
• Performance review: Refreshing to hear a bit of Northern English in the performance. 8/10.

Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor

• Narrators:
  • Bronson Pinchot
  • Karen White
  • Mark Bramhall
  • Lorna Raver
• Running time: 9h 6m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I'm conflicted about O’Connor’s stories. Without doubt, some of them are masterpieces. I love the powerful and grim writing. I find all of her characters completely believable, even the most horrific ones. O’Connor deals with a lot of difficult topics, including the appalling racism of whites in the southern USA of the fifties, similar to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. But unlike Lee, O’Connor doesn’t critically examine it or make a clear stand against it. Based on her other writings, I think she could be considered somewhat of a racist herself by today’s standards. I guess you could say that her work is supposed to be difficult to process, but given what’s happening in the USA these days, I found it really, really difficult. 8/10.
• Performance review: Great. 7/10.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor

• Narrator: Marguerite Gavin
• Running time: 7h 51m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: This is the other collection of O’Connor’s short stories, so everything I wrote for Everything That Rises Must Converge applies here. If you are going to read these in paper form, I think it makes more sense to get The Complete Stories. 8/10.
• Performance review: I don’t recall much about the narration, so I assume it was good. 7/10.

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

• Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
• Running time: 4h 55m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Weakest of O’Connor's output, in my opinion. 5/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

Weather by Jenny Offill

• Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
• Running time: 3h 46m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: My wife really loves this. I thought it was OK, kinda trivial despite the subject matter (but perhaps that’s the point). 6/10.
• Performance review: The narration is decent but I’m not sure it translates from print entirely successfully. I would go for the book. 6/10.

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

• Narrator: Mark Bramhall
• Running time: 9h 10m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Great, nasty, grim Southern Gothic. 7/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock

• Narrator: Kirby Heyborne
• Running time: 13h 54m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Some really good bits, but inconsistent overall. Not a patch on Pollock’s first novel, The Devil All the Time. 6/10.
• Performance review: Good. 7/10.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

• Narrators:
  • Eileen Stevens
  • Jesse Vilinsky
• Running time: 8h 49m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Lazily and inaccurately compared to Lord of the Flies, a bunch of nothing characters quarantined in an all-girl’s school gradually succumb to a sci-fi disease with seemingly completely random symptoms. The body-horror elements were mildly interesting at first, but the dull writing and lack of anything close to an interesting relationship between any of the characters meant I could only get through about half before giving up. 4/10.
• Performance review: The rather somber narration doesn’t help matters. 4/10.

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

• Narrators:
  • Edoardo Ballerini
  • Kaleo Griffith
• Running time: 8h 1m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: 8/10.
• Performance review: I added this review ~ a year after listening. I recall enjoying it but don‘t remember there being two narrators 7/10.

Holes by Louis Sachar

• Series: Holes (part 1)
• Narrator: Kerry Beyer
• Running time: 4h 30m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I didn’t dislike this but didn’t enjoy myself either. I think it was supposed to be funny. 5/10.
• Performance review: Fine. 5/10.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • Mistborn (part 1)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrator: Michael Kramer
• Running time: 24h 39m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: This is the first novel of the Mistborn series. Pretty good overall. The thousand-year old immortal despot is a neat idea. Kelsier is remarkably well rounded for one of Sanderson’s characters, and found the rest of his crew, while somewhat one-dimensional, quite enjoyable company. Vin and Eland are dull as dishwater, which gets becomes a bigger problem in the later novels. 7/10.
• Performance review: Kramer does a decent job, as usual. 6/10.

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • Mistborn (part 2)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrator: Michael Kramer
• Running time: 28h 56m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Sanderson is a fantastic world-builder, but his characters are mostly disappointing. So it is major bummer that Kelsier, the best character in the series, is gone. One of characters is described blandly as “insane,” hearing voices that order him to kill people; I was disappointed that Sanderson employed this trope given that he is one of the less problematic fantasy writers in general. It is eventually explained away, but still. Good twist at the end though! 7/10.
• Performance review: Kramer again. 6/10.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • Mistborn (part 3)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrator: Michael Kramer
• Running time: 27h 25m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I was really disappointed. Vin and Eland’s relationship is neither convincing nor interesting. I don’t understand why Sanderson decided to turn Eland into a mistborn, the fact that he WASN’T a great fighter was one of the only moderately interesting things about him. Sazed spends the whole book moping about and whinging. Finally, to top it off, he delivers possibly the worst final line ever ever written. 4/10.
• Performance review: Kramer again. 6/10.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • The Stormlight Archive (part 1)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrators:
  • Kate Reading
  • Michael Kramer
• Running time: 45h 29m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: To give credit where its due, Sanderson certainly puts his back into it. In my view, The Stormlight Archive series is his best work, and this is the best of the three novels published so far. There are some problems, such as the occasional terrible attempts at humor, and the many one-note characters. The writing is decent, but doesn’t have much flair. But if you’re into Sanderson, I imagine it’s because of the super-intricate world-building and meticulous plotting, which The Way of Kings definitely has those in spades. I think it’s surprisingly well-paced for its length. 8/10.
• Performance review: Kramer/Reading combo do a reasonable job, though both have a fairly limited repertoire of voices. 6/10.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • The Stormlight Archive (part 2)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrators:
  • Michael Kramer
  • Kate Reading
• Running time: 48h 13m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Second in The Stormlight Archive series. Enormous, meticulously plotted, filled with incredibly rich lore. Pacing is surprisingly good despite the size. Great stuff overall. I find it difficult to discriminate the events of this book and those of the third, which should be taken as a criticism of my memory more than of the novels. It was either this one or the next that introduced a very half-baked love triangle between three of the primary characters. I understand why Sanderson put it in—otherwise there is nothing close to a romantic relationship in the entire series so far—but it rang hollow and amateurish. 8/10.
• Performance review: Again, Kramer/Reading are good enough. 6/10.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • The Stormlight Archive (part 3)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrators:
  • Kate Reading
  • Michael Kramer
• Running time: 55h 5m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Dalinar’s backstory is really fantastic, but the big battle at the end was a bit of a letdown. Great overall, though. Very much looking forward to Rhythm of War. 7/10.
• Performance review: Kramer/Reading are on decent form as always. 6/10.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

• Series:
  • Warbreaker (part 1)
  • The Cosmere
• Narrator: Alyssa Bresnahan
• Running time: 24h 56m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I found this to be a painful slog. It is the least interesting of Sanderson’s worlds—I don’t know why, but the color stuff just doesn’t land for me—and the characters are excruciatingly generic. Gave up about halfway through. 4/10.
• Performance review: Can’t recall the performance and I was surprised it wasn’t Kate Reading when I looked it up. 5/10.

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

• Series: The Witcher (part 0.5)
• Narrator: Peter Kenny
• Running time: 10h 17m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: A collection of not-bad short stories set before the events of the novels. I listened to this after playing The Witcher 3 (excellent) and the Netflix show (naff). Geralt is a bit more proactive than in the TV show, which is good, although everyone else is rather one-note. The lore is very interesting and I would’ve liked more exploration of it. Favorite story by far: “A Grain of Truth.” 6/10.
• Performance review: Excellent except for one thing: Geralt has this cod Northern English accent—which is weird enough because wikipedia sayeth Kenny is a scouser and should nail it—with a pronounced vocal fry and a hint of a speech impediment (though this might be an arfifact of listening at high speed). Other listeners may not notice or care, but it really bothered me: I kept thinking Frank Sidebottom meets Game of Thrones. 8/10.

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

• Series: The Witcher (part 0.75)
• Narrator: Peter Kenny
• Running time: 12h 48m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Second collection of short stories in The Witcher series. Similar to the The Last Wish, it’s a mixed bag. One of the stories, “A Little Sacrifice,” really irked me, hence the lower score for this collection. All of the stories are sexist to some degree—unfortunately not surprising for male-written Fantasy—but this one was beyond the pale. At one point, while literally fleeing for his life, Geralt turns for a perv on his pursuer’s “beautiful breasts”—come on, mate. Also, there is a female character (I forget her name) who exists solely to have sex with Geralt then die. 4/10.
• Performance review: Same narrator as The Last Wish. 8/10.

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

• Series: The Witcher (part 1)
• Narrator: Peter Kenny
• Running time: 10h 55m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: First in The Witcher series proper. It was OK. The various threats facing Gerarlt and Ciri are established clearly but perfunctorily. Pacing is slow, almost plodding, and it ends at a strange point. The writing is quite poor, in my opinion, but this could be due to the translation. Sexism is rife as usual. 5/10.
• Performance review: Kenny is as good as always. 8/10.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

• Narrators:
  • Nick Offerman
  • David Sedaris
  • George Saunders
  • Carrie Brownstein
  • Miranda July
  • Lena Dunham
  • full cast
• Running time: 7h 25m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: My favorite novel of all time. 10/10.
• Performance review: This production is clearly of extremely high quality. Despite some reservations, I think it does justice to the writing. The frequent changes in viewpoint and quotations from secondary sources naturally require the full cast, and while the ensemble largely does an excellent job, there are some unintentional clanging juxtapositions in both vocal talent and recording quality. Offerman and Sedaris are stellar, so it’s fortunate we hear from them the most. Saunders himself is OK, but sounded quite monotone—a shame, because for me the Rev’s journey had the most pathos. Much of the remaining cast is good, making the occasional dud all the more jarring. 8/10.

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin

• Narrator: full cast
• Running time: 5h 57m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Collection of disturbing, surreal, brilliant short stories. My favorites are “Headlights” and “Irman.” 8/10.
• Performance review: Listened a while ago and vaguely remember thinking the narration was a mixed bag. May relisten and reevaluate. 6/10.

Endymion by Dan Simmons

• Series: Hyperion Cantos (part 3)
• Narrator: Victor Bevine
• Running time: 23h 17m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: It was decent, but nowhere close to the superb first two books in the Hyperion Cantos. 6/10.
• Performance review: Performance was OK. 6/10.

The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

• Series: Hyperion Cantos (part 4)
• Narrator: Victor Bevine
• Running time: 29h 47m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The Cantos ends on a sweet note. 7/10.
• Performance review: Performance was OK. 6/10.

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

• Series: The Wormwood Trilogy (part 1)
• Narrator: Bayo Gbadamosi
• Running time: 13h 37m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The story had some very interesting elements but the main character was rather two-dimensional and ultimately I didn’t care about him. Can’t get excited about the rest of the series. 5/10.
• Performance review: Performance was fine. 6/10.

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

• Narrator: Joy Osmanski
• Running time: 8h 49m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: I found the voice of the main character—as in narrative voice, not the audiobook—excruciatingly irritating. I gave up. 1/10.
• Performance review: I don't recall. 5/10.

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

• Series: Zones of Thought (part 1)
• Narrator: Peter Larkin
• Running time: 21h 37m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: The first audiook I acquired from Libby ... and I didn’t finish it. I was enjoying it, but the plot was really crazy, and I eventually found it too hard to follow. I intend to give it another try. 6/10.
• Performance review: Performance was fine. 6/10.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

• Narrator: Bahni Turpin
• Running time: 10h 43m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Well written, tells a powerful and important story through speculative fiction. 7/10.
• Performance review: Some find the performance hard to follow; fine for me. 7/10.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

• Narrator: Marin Ireland
• Running time: 6h 40m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Pretty good, but I expected more to be done with the premise. I’m starting to get tired of the damaged-female-protagonist-idolizes-more-attractive-best-friend trope (cf. Bitter Orange; Eileen; My Brilliant Friend). 6/10.
• Performance review: Not bad. 6/10.

The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

• Series:
  • The Book of the New Sun (part 1)
  • Solar Cycle (part 1)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 12h 7m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Fans of Wolfe describe The Book of the New Sun as his masterpiece, and I can see why. I absolutely loved the tone of this: Dark, haunting, sparse, and mysterious. The entire series should be treated as one thing, since they all follow one immediately from one another. My second favorite fantasy series after The Black Company. 9/10.
• Performance review: Same narrator as Murgen from the Black Company. He has an odd style, which actually fits well with the overall strangeness of this series. 8/10.

The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

• Series:
  • The Book of the New Sun (part 2)
  • Solar Cycle (part 2)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 11h 27m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: There is not much point reviewing these novels separately given that they are so clearly volumes of the same work, but for what its worth, the bit with Jonas in the antechamber, which occurs in this one, might be my favorite part of the series. 9/10.
• Performance review: Same narrator as Mugen from the Black Company. Arguably a better fit here. 8/10.

The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

• Series:
  • The Book of the New Sun (part 3)
  • Solar Cycle (part 3)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 11h 22m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Third in this superb series. 9/10.
• Performance review: See other books. 8/10.

The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe

• Series:
  • The Book of the New Sun (part 4)
  • Solar Cycle (part 4)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 11h 5m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Finale of the series. Still excellent. 9/10.
• Performance review: See other books. 8/10.

The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

• Series:
  • The Book of the New Sun (part 5)
  • Solar Cycle (part 5)
• Narrator: Jonathan Davis
• Running time: 13h 52m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: May be accurately described as a coda to The Book of The New Sun. I thought I detected a very slight shift in tone and didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the series proper. Nevertheless, it concludes Severian’s story in a way that is entirely consistent with the previous books, and I found it very satisfying. 8/10.
• Performance review: See other books. 8/10.

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

• Narrators:
  • Arthur Morey
  • William Roberts
  • Erin Yuen
• Running time: 16h 33m
• Abridgement or dramatization: No.
• Book review: Yanagihara’s depiction of the culture within science is, depressingly, highly authentic. Astonishingly good book, recommend for scientists especially. 9/10.
• Performance review: Performances are great. There’s a nice contrast between the two primary narrators as they deliver the main text of the memoir and footnotes. 9/10.

Version history

• Originally posted June 25, 2020.

Related posts

• “The dregs: My least favorite audiobooks,” Jun 25, 2020.
• “Recommended listens: My favorite audiobooks so far,” Jun 25, 2020.
• All posts filed under audiobooks, lists.