Under The Dome: A Novel

Author: Stephen King
Reader: Raul Esparza
Available on Audible.com

Special feature: Author’s Afterword read by Stephen King

Short Review: A beautiful autumn day in the small town of Chester’s Mill, Maine is interrupted by a clear impenetrable dome which cuts it off from the outside world. Our story carries us along to meet a broad cast of local characters. Great reader and a captivating (but long) story.

Long Review: This massive, intricate and suspenseful novel drew me in and kept my attention from start to finish. I will admit that I am a sucker for character driven stories. I love getting to know people – learning their stories and watching their paths cross. About half-way through the story (so about fifteen hours in) I remembered this was a Stephen King novel. You have to know that he is going to take you on a wild ride. I like that there are some clear good guys and some clear bad guys, but most everyone we meet is somewhere in between (just like in the real world).

Thirty-five hours is a long time to listen to one person talk – so it was crucial they found a great reader. I feel that they did a great job. I cannot speak to the accuracy of Esparza’s accents – but I can say that I enjoyed his reading. His voices were creative enough to make character identification easy. His narration had a nice rhythm to it. Looking for a good story to listen to as you make a long distance drive? I suspect that Under the Dome could get you nearly across the country and keep you very entertained along the way. I also particularly enjoyed the afterword read by the author that shares some of the story behind the story.

There are only two things I would change. First – the MP3 CDs I listened to broke the book up by the large named sections – some as long as forty-five minutes. I usually listen to books in my car, but sometimes (especially when I am as engrossed in a book as I was in this one) I want to bring my CDs into my house to keep listening. Because of the very long sections this was basically impossible unless I was lucky enough to end my drive at the start of a new section.

The second change I would make would be to include the map of Chester’s Mill apparently included in the front of the print edition. A lot of the story depends on your mental mapping of this small town. Chester’s Mill is not just the setting – it feels like another character in the story. It would have been fabulous to be able to open up the CD case and look at the map while listening.

Overall, a big thumbs up for King’s latest effort. Not sure if this will be too scary for you? Well, I don’t love horror movies and I don’t seek out scary stories as a rule but there are a lot of not nice things in store for our merry band of small town residents. It did not give me nightmares but your mileage may vary.

Audio sample available online.

Author: Kathy Reichs
Reader: Dorothee Berryman

Short Review: A very average mystery delivered by a very average reader. I liked a lot of the characters, but it was really only my curiosity to know how the author would tie up the mystery that kept me listening.

Long Review: I decided to give this a listen after becoming a fan of the TV series Bones. I knew that the show had diverged from the books – but really it seems that there is not much more in common between the two beyond the name and chosen career of the Temperance Brennan.

On the positive side, I did like the main characters. The fabric of Tempe’s  relationships is textured and believable. If this book has a saving grace, it is that there is a descent mystery on deck for solving.

On the negative side, the story seemed to spend a lot of time going in circles and the reader spent a lot of moistening her lips. I wonder if the series improved as it progressed. If you have read others in the series and recommend that I try another – please leave a note in the comments.

There is an audio preview of Break No Bones available, so you can see if you like the reader better than I did.

The flaw has nothing to do with Brick’s narration. His pace is excellent, his voice is great, his delivery is spot on, and he’s well worth listening to. He does overdo it a bit here and there, but with material so fraught, that doesn’t surprise me.

The book follows Jimmy, Sean, and Dave–three childhood friends from Boston who grow apart and are then dragged back together by a murder case. As adults, Jimmy is a reformed criminal whose daughter is found murdered, Sean is a homicide detective investigating the murder, and Dave is a guy who never got over a terrible attack during his childhood. The plot circles around many the possible suspects for the murder; delves into Dave’s horrid experience and the community’s reaction to it; and generally pokes at what we think causes people to be criminals.

The story is engrossing. It’s full of flawed characters and misdirections. But I think the end is based on a complete cop-out, and that colors the way I see the rest of the book. I walk away from it feeling betrayed by Lehane and wishing there was an alternate ending that would fix the final chapters.

Short Review: Cormier’s final novel, published posthumously, read by the talented Scott Shina. It’s disturbing, and upsetting, and good despite its flaws.

Long Review: The title alone would have made me listen to this audiobook. I am an obsessive W.B. Yeats fan, and the title of Cormier’s final novel quotes a line from the masterful “The Circus Animal’s Desertion;” Yeats’ musings on the possible collapse of his talent and career. I’m also a fan of Cormier’s work, which I encountered as a lit student considering teaching English.

The novel opens in an interrogation room, as Trent takes a confession from a murderer. Trent, who is burning out on his job, is called upon to interrogate suspects in a child murder case. Then we encounter 12 year old Jason Dorrant. Jason has a hard time making friends, preferring the company of his 7 year old friend Alicia to that of most of the kids his age. When Alicia is found dead, local authorities focus on Jason as their prime suspect, assuming he killed the girl after spending the afternoon with her. Trent is called upon to drag a confession out Jason. Because it’s a high-profile case, Trent faces external pressure to make Jason confess, no matter what.

As I listened, I felt myself constantly questioning Jason’s competence. He seemed slow, but then perhaps he was just a modest kid, but maybe . . . I really wondered whether Jason had some sort of unnamed impairment, and that frustrated me. As the novel progressed, I was furious that no adults seemed the least bit concerned with Jason’s safety. I’m sure Cormier wanted us to feel that way, but I kept wondering if he went bit too far. Is our justice system really this flawed? Do we protect child suspects so poorly? Are interrogators so craven? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but they haunt me. That, really, is Cormier’s greatest strength–he makes us question our justice system and the responsibilities adults have to children. But those moralistic threads can go too far. Cormier definitely liked to pound home lessons through his books, and in this instance I think the ending jumps to a conclusion I don’t think is realistic.

That said, I do like the book. Cormier had a great ability to get inside his characters’ minds, and he certainly does that here, with both Jason and Trent. Shina is a good, clear reader, and he makes himself comfortable in both Jason’s and Trent’s voice.

The Precipice (The Asteroid Wars)

Author: Ben Bova
Readers: Scott Brick, Amanda Karr, Christian Noble, Karesa McElheny and Stefan Rudnicki(with a cameo by Theodore Bikel)

Short Review: Well-woven story set in a not-too-distant-future full of corporate intrigue and environmental chaos, both on earth and in colonized outer space. The amazing readers bring our cast of characters to life – I highly recommend it and am scheming for when I can start the next book in the sequence.

Long Review: The story is set in a not so far off future in which earth has hit what they call a “Greenhouse Cliff”. After decades of ignoring global warming, the balance of earth’s environment has gone over the edge leaving behind rapidly melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, flooding and violent weather of all types. The moon has been colonized, science and technology have made dramatic breakthroughs, governments are still generating more red tape and tycoons still want to make more money. Different countries are tackling the increasing number of disasters in their own ways, but you get a strong sense that all this is too little too late. Some folks seem to have found this book a bit too preachy on the woes of global warming and imminent worldwide natural disasters, but for me it worked well as the backdrop to the story being told. Ultimately, a lot of our story takes place up on the moon or on space ships.

What I love most about this story are the people. I especially appreciate that it was not immediately obvious to me who was meant to be the “good guys” or the “bad guys”. The story isn’t that simple. People aren’t that simple. Bova has done a fine job with giving us individuals with strengths and weaknesses. Some of them you would love to get to know over dinner, some you likely would give a lot to avoid – but the way their stories intertwine (plus the suspense and intrigue about how it all will turn out) should keep your attention.

Each shift in point of view is accompanied with a change in reader. I am not sure I always understood the logic behind the selection of which narrator used for each section or why music was included sometimes and not others – but overall it worked. After a while of listening to audio books, a familiar voice is like an old friend. Seeing Scott Brick‘s name listed on this book immediately boosted my confidence that it was likely going to be a good listen – and I was obviously not disappointed.

This is just the first volume in the Asteroid Wars series and I am excited to move on to the next book and find out what Bova has in store for us. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Precipice is also available on Audible.com

Author: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Reader: Michael Shanks

Short Review: Star crossed lovers set in an intricately woven universe including space ships, elements of magic and linguistics. The reader needed someone to insist on better pacing in an otherwise very solid performance.

Long Review: The list of things I enjoyed about this audio book is fairly long. Deeply developed characters with a solid back story, a carefully crafted universe and enough suspense to keep you guessing.

Often with a story like this, the author is tempted to start too early – but Lee and Miller toss us into the middle with fine results. I love books with compelling characters, and on that front this one definitely delivers. I care about the whole lot of them. I want everything to work out, but am not quite sure how it might. I also like that just when I was getting frustrated by the lack of communication between characters, one of them steps forward and starts dealing. Much of the fabric of this story is tied up in how hard it is to communicate with someone who cannot totally understand local customs. Even the learned linguist who can manage to navigate conversations that require careful use of  just the right ‘voice’ cannot anticipate culturally based responses to her actions.

It was only after I had finished listening to this book that I realized that it is in fact Book 1 of a full series set in the Liaden Universe. It does not seem that any others are available (yet) in audio form, but I like the story enough that I plan to read the rest on paper.

The biggest drawback to this audio book was getting used to the reader. Michael Shanks, who portrayed Dr. Daniel Jackson in Stargate SG-1, does a fine job with the actual reading and voices.  My frustration is with his phrasing. The first time he shifted to a new character’s point of view I was very confused for a minute or two until I figured out that I was now hearing someone else’s thoughts. I often experienced a sort of point of view whiplash throughout the book.

I haven’t seen this book in paper – but a quick peek Local Custom on Amazon.com shows me that there are in fact numbered chapters and paragraphs separated by extra space. There is no mention of chapters and no pauses between sections. It sometimes felt like he was in a rush to keep moving through the book. I was able to adjust to this odd pacing, but your mileage may vary. You can download the first three chapters for free from the Buzzy Multimedia page for Local Custom, so you can easily see if this bothers you before you purchase it.

I wish they could re-edit it and just add in more pauses and chapter breaks. It would bring this book up to a five star experience.

 Author: Neil Gaiman

 Reader: Neil Gaiman

 Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s denizens and rooted for them throughout the story. I miss them. I’ll return to this book again and recommend it to adults and kids.

Long Review: I’m a fan of Gaiman’s, and I am always intrigued by critically-acclaimed young adult fantasy, so I had to listen to this book. I was hopeful, but also worried. Some of the best books I’ve ever read were those I read when I was 10 or 12. I return to those books and keep tabs on books written for older kids, hoping to find more books to cherish and to foist on my growing nieces and nephews. But many things we’re supposed to love just fall flat for me. I’m not that impressed by some of the most beloved YA books, and some of the ones I did love then show me all of their holes when I pick them up now. This one, however, makes the good list. It’s rich enough for adults, appropriate for older kids, and enchanting for both.

Firstly, Gaiman is good at holding back. So many authors hand you all of the keys right at the beginning of the journey, and then you don’t have much to puzzle through and have less reason to keep going. Gaiman fights the urge to make sure he has told us everything there is to tell, so we keep reading, trying to line up our questions with possible answers, paying close attention to every little clue, wondering whether a character will return or a path will reappear. He refers to fascinating historical events and invents wondrous rituals and characters and communities, but he doesn’t give you so much information that any become boring. Neither does he condescend to his readers. I hate it when writers assume that kids can’t handle any frightening truths about life and death. In fact, kids see as much if not more terror and sadness as adults, and most of them don’t like being coddled. Gaiman doesn’t condescend to his readers or to the children who feature in his books.

Gaiman also happens to write strong female characters well. I wish I didn’t need to congratulate authors for doing that, but it still isn’t a given. Gaiman is a father to two daughters as well as the son whose childhood visits to a graveyard inspired this book. I think his relationship with his girls and the women in his life help him write girls and women well. That ability is particularly important for children’s and YA writers because so many boys are still hesitant to read books with female protagonists. Here, a boy is at the center of the story, but he’s surrounded by smart, heroic, strong, loving women and he cares for and respects them as much as he does Silas. It warms the cockles of my heart, that does.

Gaiman’s mythos is rooted firmly in the old greats. We see glimpses of well-researched historical fact, notice a figure from Grimm here and and an allusion to the Odyssey there. But from those roots, he takes us in very interesting directions. I love how he recasts traditional villains in new ways, making us wonder how evil some of the things we’ve had nightmares about really are. He takes the trope of fractured fairy tales a step further than many of his contemporaries. Gaiman doesn’t bother to argue with Grimm about who really understands monsters—he just plain rewrites the story in his way. It works.

I am impressed by Gaiman’s reading. I thought he did a great job with Fragile Things, and, if anything, he has gotten better. Gaiman has a nice voice, a good sense of character separation, paces himself well, and uses clear diction even when he is reading in different, heavier accents.

My only complaint is that a sequel isn’t available yet. I want to see more from this world, and I hope to see it soon.

Author: Tana French

Reader: Heather O’Neill

Short Review: Tana French’s strong second novel read beautifully by Heather O’Neill. In this sequel to In the Woods, we follow Cassie Maddox in a strange undercover murder investigation. Cassie gets back on her feet and then gets knocked right back off balance imitating her deceased doppelganger while looking for a killer, a motive, a weapon, and a lot of answers.

Long Review: In a strange series of events, Detective Maddox is called in to the murder investigation of someone who has stolen the identity of Cassie’s undercover persona, Lexie Madison. Sliding into her double’s life, Cassie has to find the actual identity of her doppelganger and who killed the fake Lexie, all the while trying to pretend to be Lexie, keep her love-life and career afloat, and recover from Operation Vestal.

I won’t say more about the plot. I will say that Heather O’Neill, who I’m not otherwise familiar with, did a fantastic job as a reader. She has a good Dublin accent, does a decent job with a Northern Irish accent, and, thankfully, can sing. Singing matters in this book because one of the major characters sings in several scenes, and I’m very glad not to be subjected to something hard to listen to. O’Neill has real skill as a reader, and I look forward to listening to more audio books she narrates.

I liked In the Woods but felt like it had a couple of flaws. French’s second novel is much improved. I prefer Cassie to Rob, the protagonist of the first novel, so I’m glad the author changed focus for this novel. Cassie was a major character in the previous book, and I was forever wishing French would drop Rob and switch to Cassie in that novel, since Rob clearly wasn’t thinking straight through most of the story. Cassie is a more reliable narrator, and also generally a more attractive character. She’s the kind of detective I think I’d want on my side, were I ever unfortunate enough to need a detective on my side. She recognizes her mistakes as she makes them, tries to keep the victim in mind as well as the killer, and is just generally intriguing and bright. The rest of French’s characters are likable and interesting as well. In many mysteries, the plot trumps the characters and once you’ve figured out “who done it” it’s hard to maintain interest in a cast of cardboard cut-outs. Thankfully, I was still interested in the fate of these people long after I’d puzzled out where French was going in the mystery.

Author: Michael Chabon
Reader: Peter Riegert

Extra features: The audiobook includes an interview with Michael Chabon about his inspiration for the book, his favorite books and genres, and his writing process.

Short Review: Chabon’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning alternate history of a world without Israel but with a temporary Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska. Hard-boiled detective Meyer Landsman investigates the murder of a junkie chess-player with his partner and cousin Berko Shemets, a half-Tlingit, half-Jewish cop who is a good father, a good Jew, and a good partner trying to save Landsman from himself. As the case progresses, more and more connections to organized crime, shady US government machinations, separatist Orthodox communities, and zealotry reveal themselves. Riegert is an ideal reader, comfortable with accents, Yiddish, noir, and sadness.

Long Review: I love this book. I read it on paper first, and was anxious to hear how well Reigert would handle Landsman’s voice. He does a masterful job. The book is written in the third person, but Landsman is on just about every page, so we hear his speech over and over. Reigert is careful to give Lansman, Berko Shemetz, and the other major characters distinct voices and rhythms, and he does a very good job of it. Like all of the best audiobook readers I’ve heard, Riegert balances acting with diction; maintaining a good rhythm and drawing a complete character while also keeping his accented speech easy to understand.

The novel is set in Sitka, Alaska in an alternate history. In the world of the novel, Israel fell to Arab attack in 1948, and the US agreed to make a temporary semi-autonomous federal district in Sitka for Jewish refugees. Sitka’s term of independence is ending, and all of the Jewish refugees there must prepare to leave for new homes elsewhere. As the local police are wrapping up their case files to hand over to the Americans, a junkie is murdered in the hotel where Landsman lives and Landsman takes the case. He should file the case away as quickly as possible but can’t let it go. The deeper Landsman investigates the victim and his connections, the more entangled he becomes.

Chabon writes wonderful characters, in this and all of his novels. Landsman, his ex-wife and boss Bina, Berko Shemetz, and the rest of the characters in the novel are engaging and deep and fascinating. You root for Landsman, but you also want to strangle him. Riegert’s narration intensifies that connection to Landsman and the rest. I found myself worrying about them all while listening to the novel, even though I already knew what was coming next.

Chabon does amazing things with language and speech in this novel. I’m no expert on Yiddish, of course, but I love the way Chabon intertwines Yiddish with noir phrasing and settings. It flips the whole hard-boiled detective genre–in a good way. I doubt there will ever be a sequel, but I would absolutely love the chance to follow Landsman and Shemetz on another case.

All in all, this is a fascinating, entertaining, beautifulky-read audiobook and one I know I’ll return to.

Short Review: This fun, funny, and often thoughtful story follows Sam Vimes as he investigates the murder of dwarven leader Grag Hamcrusher. Vimes is a father and husband, an unwilling member of the nobility, Commander of the watch, and a good old copper. He is pressured into hiring the first Vampire on the watch and has to manage religious and racial tensions between humans, vampires, werewolves, igors, dwarfs, and trolls while simultaneously solving a murder and preventing the outbreak of a troll v. dwarf war. The book is read by the wonderful Stephen Briggs, a regular reader for Pratchett’s books and one of my absolute favorite audiobook narrators.

Long Review: Briggs is a wonderful reader. Let’s start with that. I’ve listened to a number of Pratchett books, all read by Briggs, and the man is a wonder. He is comfortable working in many different accents, differentiates the characters clearly without losing rhythm or overdoing it, and reads with a lot of humor but also real tenderness when necessary. He’s a wonderful reader. The concept of anyone else reading Pratchett’s work makes me itch.

Thud! parodies The Da Vinci Code, a book I can’t stomach. I tried to read it, gave up within a few pages of the front cover, and seethe when I’m reminded of its mere existence. So, I love things that make fun of it. Love them. Pratchett, of course, is funny and smart and kind, so his parody is sweet and sharp without being overly cruel to Dan Brown. The book also satirizes ongoing religious and racial tensions in the Middle East and the West, maintaining a light tone while also pointing out the ridiculous amount of stupidity that abounds in our modern world.

Pratchett’s kindness is one of the best things about his humor. Throughout this and his other discworld novels, he creates deeply flawed and often stupid characters–Nobby Nobbs comes to mind–and then he deals with them kindly. We’re not to hate or even pity Nobbs and his stupidity and kleptomania, but to see him as some sort of object lesson.

All in all, I think this is one of Pratchett’s best. I love that he entertains us while encouraging us to be open minded and kind. I love that he encourages the reader to play board games, read to children, and treat people with respect, but wraps that encouragement up in slap-stick, puns, word-play, and general silliness. Thud! is funny and smart and well worth a listen.