Tag Archives: audiobook

Book Review: Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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Hyperion (Hyperion, #1) Hyperion by Dan Simmons


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have been working through audiobooks on my trek to and from work and after the success of Drood as an auidobook, I decided to stay with Dan Simmons and revisit Hyperion. My initial reasoning was that I wanted to read The Fall of Hyperion but it had been some time since I read the first and wanted to refresh myself.

The book is still good. The characters are still compelling. The performances were fantastic!

What is interesting about this audiobook is that it is performed by 6 performers, once for each of the pilgrims. ALL of them do a great job. What is interesting is that the producers of the audiobook do not just have the narrators change for the tales of each pilgrim but even have each piece of dialogue that is stated between tales spoken by the actors. In this way it is much more like a staged production verses an audiobook. The voices chosen are great and well suited to the parts. All of them seem to match the tons I had in my head while reading it.

Another interesting fact is that the audiobook was produced nearly 20 years after the original book. Hyperion was originally released in 1989 and the audiobook is from 2008. Very cool that the book has such legs. I may also be a result of Simmons’s newer releases and attempting to piggy back on them. Either way, it is a very well done version.

Since I have done so many audiobooks, this reminds me of From a Buick 8 audiobook. The construct of that book is similar with multiple narrators and tales and the use of a different reader for each part. The difference is that the in between part of From a Buick 8 are all read by the same narrator.

I am almost done The Fall of Hyperion as an audiobook. It is read by Victor Bevine who is the primary reader (the narrator) of Hyperion. He also does the Priest’s tale (both of them). He also has read the Endymion cycle as well – which I may check out!

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Book Review: Drood by Dan Simmons

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Drood Drood by Dan Simmons


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
(3.75 stars)

I always like when an author takes real historical figures and locations and fictionalizes them. Dan Simmons has written a very interesting tale as told by Wilkie Collins covering the last 5 years of Charles Dickens’s life.

The book unfold around a train accident at Staplehurst in which Charles Dickens is one of the few and remarkable survivors. He meets a man named Drood at the accident and starts a (remaining) life long obsession with him. This is recounted from Wilkie Collins’s perspective, an unreliable narrator, even using and writing in a style similar to Wilkie Collins.

Wilkie Collins (Nice Beard!!)Charles Dickens

Wilkie Collins (Nice Beard!!) & Charles Dickens

The book is long – nearly 800 pages. And I “read” it as an audiobook. I think that was an excellent decision. I would have abandoned the book had I been reading it. It is not poorly written or a bad read; it is very long and has very well researched passages (more on that) and conversations that really go on and on. Since this is written as post-mortem account from Wilkie Collins (who mentions that enough times to make me mad), his recall of conversations is amazing for a opium and laudanum addict.

Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons

The research that Dan Simmons has put into this is impressive. Really impressive. And he is not afraid to let you know that. The accounting of addresses and who was attending play opening and the chronological ordering of releases and British verses American publishers. The list goes on. I can imagine his notes took over. And they took over the story at times. Things would feel side lined as conversations went into the level of detail that were head spinning. Part of that is the style the book is meant to follow, the sensational fiction of Wilkie Collins along with echos of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens last work that was never finished. But part of me feels like the book gets bogged down by it at times to. Again, I am glad I did this as an audiobook.

The ending of the book is interesting as it just happens – quickly – unlike anything else in the book. It is so anti-climatic, I feel like I missed something. But in truth I think it is meant to work in two ways. One, to parallel the unfinished and “up for grabs” endings that have form for “Edwin Drood” and that Wilkie Collins is writing the memoir at the end of his life, and there is a personal – if not delusional quality to him and his writing then.

Simon Prebble, the reader, has done one remarkable job. This maybe the best audiobook reading I have ever listened too. The only one that is in the same league is Michael York’s reading of The Final Solution. Prebble’s voice changes are not as dramatic as York’s but his pacing, his consistency (considering the massive length and breath) and his overall reading timbre are remarkable. I think this is one of the reasons I did find the book compelling and very interesting and could listen to these conversations that were very long. It was pleasurable to listen to him!

Overall, I think the historical run that Dan Simmons has been on shows this man’s amazing writing range. If you liked The Terror (which is touched on briefly) you should like this. If you are a fan of Simmons SF or Horror you may like this, you may not.

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Book Review: Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future by Cory Doctrow

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Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future by Cory Doctrow

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future by Cory Doctrow

Doing an audiobook while doing the commute is from time to time the way to go.  I hate leaving in the middle of a chapter or segment though.  This book helped that along as it is a series of essays, like Maps & Legends; it interconnects a series of prior published essays on copyright, ownership in the digital era, and information and ideas.

Cory Doctrow is on the far edge of copyright and the application of it to his works.  He lives it.  He has all of his works available, for free – always, at his website. He at least practices what he preaches.  This audiobook was free as well, more on that.  His voice on the stance of copyright and how it works, or at least did work and how it is treated now, is loud and proud.  Continue reading →

Book Review: Across the Nightengale Floor by Lian Hearn

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Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1) By Lian Hearn

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1) By Lian Hearn

I got to experience Lian Hearn’s complex tale of feudal Japan as an audiobook as performed by Kevin Gray and Aiko Nakasone.

The book takes place in feudal Japan that has been run through Hearn’s imagination.  She takes the finer points – samurai, ninja, cool warlords- and gets past the historical “but that cannot happen” facts.  She throws in some mystical powers as well that help the characters and setting become more real and fantastical all at once.

The story follows Takeo, a young teenage member of a religious group which is hidden away.  He returns home to find his village in flames and is saved by Lord Otori Shigeru and becomes his ward.  He is thrust into the world of warlords, waring clans and politics overnight.  He also becomes trained in certain arts of assassination.  He discovers that he is actually a member of the secret assassins group called “The Tribe” .

Lian Hearn - pen name of Gillian Rubinstein

Lian Hearn - pen name of Gillian Rubinstein

The book unfolds at time unevenly but overall is very enjoyable. It combines the historical with fantastical with a Shakespeare style plot.  The writing seems to be a hybrid of historical fiction with its timely references and notes, and Michael Moorcock-style fantasy with is breezier text and plot driven writing and length all wrung through a romantic and political scheme that echos Shakespeare’s histories. I am not even sure if that really describes it because all of those put together sounds overwhelming.

The writing is crisp and brief. No long rambling explanations of castle walls or feet to climb. The first person narration helps that.  The book is told from 2 narrators views, Takeo and Lady Kaede Shirakawa.  The Takeo side was more enjoyable to me.  I think the performance of Takeo’s part was superior to the other.  The actor had a more distinct characterization for each of the characters, verses the Shirakawa side, where all the characters were treated very similarly ; when reading that is one thing, when listening it becomes hard to track a conversation sometimes.

I have a copy of Grass for His Pillow ready to go and will be reading while driving.