I have audiobook reviews in today’s Speaking of Audiobooks column of Rush by Maya Banks and Breaking Point by Pamela Clare.
PLUS I have a review of Calculated in Death up at AudioGals.
Come say hi. 🙂
Category: audiobooks (Page 91 of 94)
Why I listened to it: I loved Shards of Honor so much I wanted to listen to the next one to see what happened next. Luckily it was on my TBL.What it’s about: (from Audible)  Political intrigue, culture clash and romance make a stirring mix in this award-winning follow-up novel to the acclaimed Shards of Honor.
In the wake of interplanetary war, former commander Cordelia Naismith has deserted her own planet to marry the leader of the defeated enemy, Aral Vorkosigan. On his home planet of Barrayar, two rival factions are eyeing the recently vacated throne, and Aral, recently appointed Regent of Barrayar by the Emperor on his deathbed, must stand between them.Â
Lord and Lady Vorkosigan, Aral and Cordelia struggle to establish stability in a fragile government thrown into confusion by the transition of power and the threat of civil war. When a palace coup endangers the government, their lives, and her unborn son, Cordelia takes action to secure the safety of her new family and new home.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I have been so fortunate in my reading and listening this year. Soon I shall worry I’m getting soft.    Following on almost immediately from Shards of Honor, Barrayar is the story of what happens when Aral takes the post of Regent for the young emporer Gregor. Barrayar is politically unstable and there are a number of opportunists who would like to take advantage and grab power for themselves.   Cordelia and Aral are expecting their first child and there is risk to the child, herself and her beloved husband.Â
2 audiobooks reviews in the Speaking of Audiobooks column. There’s plenty other stuff in the column from Lea and other reviewers too. Come say hi 🙂
Why I listened to it:Â I’ve had this on my TBL for a while and I was in the mood for a fantasy (although in this case, it’s really more sci-fi) romance from a reliably good author and I had it on good authority that the narrator was awesome too.What it’s about:Â (from Goodreads)Â Cordelia Naismith, Betan Survey Captain, was expecting the unexpected: hexapods, floating creatures, odd parasites… She was not, however, expecting to find hostile humans on an uninhabited planet. And she wasn’t really expecting to fall in love with a 40-plus barbarian known to cosmopolitan galactics as the Butcher of Komarr. Will Mother ever understand? And can such an odd beast as love survive an interplanetary war?
What worked for me (and what didn’t): Quite a few of my reader friends have recommended the Vorkosigan saga books to me. This book had been sitting on my TBL for quite a while and I finally found the space to listen.The story is told in Cordelia’s third person POV and I was a little disappointed when at the beginning of the listen it became apparent that she was going to be stuck with a very deep male voice for the whole book. Grover Gardner has a low baritone and he doesn’t even attempt a female voice. While I appreciated there was no drag-y falsetto, it took some getting used to to “hear” Cordelia in that deep rumble. But, my friend Brenda told me that the narrator was awesome and the book was as good so I bore down and kept going. I’m so glad I did. After a while, the deep voice stopped bothering me because Gardner conveyed the character so well in other ways. Even though there was little difference between Vorkosigan’s voice and Cordelia’s, their characters were so different and distinct, that I had littel difficulty in identifying who was talking. I realised that my friend was right. Gardner is an awesome narrator. Continue reading
with a review of Naked Edge by Pamela Clare and narrated by Kaleo Griffith. Feel free stop by and say hello.
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