Review: Elsewhere

Elsewhere by Sarah Tierney
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Narrated by Lorna Bennett, Kat Rose-Martin
Presented by Dreamscape Media

Pretty thin in the suspense department. I was expecting a dead body at some stage though so that's probably on me and my misguided expectations.

The story here follows estranged sisters Catherine and Anna as they come together for a couple weeks at a cabin off the grid. No wi-fi, no electricity, just each other and a bunch of strange happenings. Hmm.

So things get a little creepy for the sisters when someone trashes their outside area early on, and then suddenly their water runs brown. A local explains it's just peat in the water and that this is a regular occurrence after rain, but Catherine is convinced it's something more sinister.

Basically, this book is a lot of Catherine being convinced someone is out to get her with not really much reason.

I found her chapters almost unbearable. She comes across as paranoid and a little crazy, rather than the story seeming eerie and thrilling. Her chapters were slow and frustratingly deluded. I didn't like her at all and I found myself eager to get back to Anna.

Anna was much more fun, and her chapters injected a little more cheer. She seemed a little more logical, and more likely to think things through. She was able to think of solutions, but she was also very boy-focused which does get a little tiring after a while.

Ultimately, I just didn't really like the characters, and there wasn't enough happening for this to feel like a thriller to me. There was an interesting twist but it didn't seem to fit the story at all - it seemed more like the story was built around the twist and, as a consequence, there wasn't a lot of substance.

Narration was kind of awful - Catherine's chapters were morose and slow, hard to understand at times and there wasn't a lot of character coming through her voice. Anna's narrator was a little better, but there still seemed to be times where the emotions didn't seem to match the words.

I thought this would be an eerie murder mystery but it's really just two lonely girls hanging out in an isolated cabin for a little bit. There just wasn't much here for me to get into.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: The Assassin of Venice

The Assassin of Venice by Alyssa Palombo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Nicol Zanzarella
Presented by Dreamscape Media

Exceptional!

This was such great fun!

Valentina is a courtesan, but also happens to be an assassin. She loves what she does and she's good at it, too. But her next assignment leaves her questioning everything.

Man, I was HOOKED! The narrator drew me straight in, had me onside with Valentina and Bastiano instantly, and listening to things unfold was so entertaining.

Valentina is a fantastic leading lady - she's confident without being arrogant, and she's competent. She enjoys what she does and feels no shame, and she creates meaningful connections - it's not all about seduction and manipulation (though there's plenty of that, too). She's easy to root for, and the narrator did such a fantastic job of bringing her to life.

The story is full of intrigue, with plenty to keep you hanging on. Her life as a courtesan is interesting enough, before adding in everything else! There's never a dull moment and the characters do well to hold the story strong.

The Venetian setting is delightful and well crafted, and the historical aspect adds a real romanticism to everything. I loved the time I spent in this world - it was truly fascinating.

Absolute props to the narrator - was not bored for a second. She brought the characters to life, distinguished everyone so well, while somehow conveying the different levels of wealth through voice alone. Masterfully performed and I would happily listen to this narrator any day.

Immensely enjoyed this one, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more from this author AND narrator.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Secrets of Rose Briar Hall

Secrets of Rose Briar Hall by Kelsey James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Sofia Willingham
Presented by HighBridge Audio

Not quite what I was expecting, so a little disappointing, but still some interesting ideas.

I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, but it was really more concerned with feminism and the treatment of women as objects during this time period (early 1900s).

The story's catalyst is a party, during which a guest died. Our protagonist, Millie, hosted the party with her husband, Charles, but remembers nothing of it. She awakens weeks later with a pounding headache and no memory of what's occurred.

From the beginning, everyone is very secretive, and it's instantly frustrating how everyone coddles Millie, refusing to tell her the truth. The story that follows seems more a question of whether she's a victim of gaslighting or whether Millie truly is mentally unwell.

I liked Millie as a lead - she's quite intelligent, and not afraid to speak up for herself. She suspects wrongdoing and makes it known, but then is forced to face the consequences of not being quiet and meek and going along just to get along.

I enjoyed that aspect of it - exploring the discrimination from someone willing to speak out against it, but also seeing those consequences of being so outnumbered. At the same time, I thought there would be more about the events of the party than there was, so I was a little disappointed in that regard. Still, I was kept curious about the truth of what had happened and was happening.

The romance didn't do a lot for me, and I was disappointed in Millie a bit for her actions at times. Some of it made her a little hypocritical I felt, even if it made sense.

The narrator did a decent job of invoking sympathy for Millie, and differentiated the characters well. I did listen at 1.75x speed, so lots of pauses, but otherwise she read it okay.

This was an easy listen - not quite the murder mystery I was expecting, but an interesting historical fiction providing a glimpse into the discrimination women faced during the early 1900s.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Beginnings Omnibus

Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Beginnings Omnibus by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bruh I am NOT OKAY.

You can read my individual thoughts for each part in my reading progress, but basically this was a rollercoaster.

I really loved the beginning - seeing Roland's battle with Cort play out in such vivid detail was a great opener and it made me very happy. Then watching the gang's adventures in Hambry, knowing how things were going to go down, was quite a thrill. I've always loved Cuthbert and Sheemie's relationship so it was cool to see it here.

The road back to Gilead was a new story created for the graphic novels, and while it was nice to have some new material I felt this one dragged on a bit. It was great for Bert and Alain to have their time to shine but I slowed down a bit at this point as overall it just didn't interest me as much.

Seeing Gilead in its glory was a lot of fun, though, and the new stories that came out here were fantastic. There's so much lore to this world, but throughout the seven-novel series we discover very little about Roland's early years in the city. So it was nice to get a glimpse of how things were, even if they didn't fit quite as seamlessly as I hoped they would.

The Fall of Gilead was absolutely gut-wrenching. This is something we readers of the novels knew happened, but details have always been vague. I've always wanted to know how such a magnificent, powerful place fell to ruin, but seeing it all play out was heartbreaking. There was always a polite distance between Roland's past and his present in the novels, so being confronted with that in-between time and witnessing everything falling apart is really brutal. My heart ached for these characters I'd come to know so well.

I do really love the characters of the series, so in the graphic novel format we do unfortunately lose so much of the nuances of who they are. I was glad to have read the novels first, so I knew these characters better.

This is also, I think, why the last volume was not enough for me. I knew tragedies were coming but they were so quickly left behind in the graphic novel version, due to the nature of the format. There's so much awfulness, pain, death, tragedy, but six issues is just not enough time to feel and grieve it all. It wasn't at all like I'd pictured when reading the novels so I wanted more.

That said, Robin Furth and team have absolutely delivered here. Robin's knowledge and understanding of King's world is incredible and she handles it with great respect, understanding and love. The artwork suits the story perfectly, and the characters are vivid and memorable. The way the stories have been transported into the graphic novel format is simply incredible, and as someone obsessed with the novels I was so incredibly grateful for how brilliantly this was done.

The graphic novel collection also includes short stories and insights into mid-world, which was an unexpected delight. This colours in our understanding of Roland's world and enhances the overall experience. I loved all the extra details, but I did get impatient at times so skipped some of the end stories with the intention of going back at a later time.

Overall, this made my heart happy. Bruised, battle-worn and weary, but happy.

A must-read for fans of the novels, and highly recommended for people wanting to access such a massive story in a slightly easier format. Also just a fantastic read for graphic novel fans of darker fantasy and horror.

I loved it - I hope you do, too.

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Review: Do What Godmother Says

Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Aure Nash, York Whitaker
Presented by Dreamscape Media

A slow start, but otherwise this was rather entertaining.

I enjoyed the dual timelines (not the narration of dual timelines, but I'll get to that later) and our two protagonists. I really loved Estelle - she seemed so switched on and I was quite sad for how things went down for her. Shanice bothered me a little, but I think a bit of that was to do with the narration. She's a strong character but I thought she was a little dense at times.

The narration was a real pain for me. I loved Estelle's narration - the voice was easy to listen to, it was expressive, and it was easy to tell characters apart. However, the narrator for Shanice was awful. She paused in weird places, added emphasis in strange spots, and often the way she expressed the words didn't match up with what the words were actually saying. She read slowly, with many pauses, and unfortunately had a slight speech impediment that became quite irritating to me by the end. I feel like a d*ck for mentioning it because it's not something I'd normally care about, but along with everything else from this narrator it just ended up pulling me out of the story.

I listened to Estelle's parts at 1.5x speed, but had to bump Shanice's parts up to x2. That was incredibly annoying, especially when my hands were busy with other tasks.

The story itself, though, was really fun. There's 'Godmother', who is the quietly menacing patron that is supposed to be looking after Estelle but is quite clearly swindling everyone. Both girls became acquainted with new fellas and I didn't really like either of them, but I also tuned out the relationship bits a little so that's probably on me. I was sucked into the mystery of what had happened to Estelle and how the painting came to be in Shanice's family.

The atmosphere is sufficiently creepy, and this progresses along with the story, leading to some decent chills towards the end. The historical parts shed some decent light on treatment of black women at this time.

I found the pacing a bit off, and my mind did wander at times. But I did enjoy the mystery and atmosphere.

An interesting, quietly creepy story that kept me entertained throughout.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: The Arsenic Eater's Wife

The Arsenic Eater's Wife by Tonya Mitchell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Penelope Rawlins
Presented by Dreamscape Media

A slow start for me but it did finally hook my interest.

Wasn't a huge fan of the narrator - her voice was quite soft making it hard to hear at times, even at a higher volume. That said, she still did a decent job filling the characters with life and differentiating between them.

The story jumps back and forth in time, which was a little confusing at first since I was tuning out some of it. But once it hooked my attention I followed it okay and appreciated the glimpses at the past as it related to the case in the present.

I was surprised by how long this went - it covered many more years than I anticipated and took a bit of an odd turn, I felt, towards the end. I started to lose interest again.

I think this is one I would have enjoyed more if I'd read it physically. The premise really interested me but the audio lost me early on, making it a little harder to commit to. But the mystery did eventually pull me in and I enjoyed listening along.

Historical fiction fans will no doubt take special delight in the arsenic angle, but on the whole this is still an interesting murder mystery tale.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: NecroTek

NecroTek by Jonathan Maberry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Narrated by Ray Porter
Presented by Blackstone Publishing

BADASS.

My first ever audio 5-stars. Loved it from start to finish!

Wasn't sure how I'd go listening to this one, but it hooked me almost immediately and just refused to let go.

This does a decent character dive while dealing with the fallout of a catastrophic space incident. There are multiple layers to the story told through multiple parts and it progresses rapidly. The action is phenomenal and the moral implications and considerations added an extra depth.

I loved the characters - Bianca particularly stands out as a hero and I loved listening to her and her Lost Souls in action. Soren was quietly sympathetic, and even Lady Death played an intriguing part.

The story progression was well done, with time taken to do things well but not necessarily getting bogged down in detail. I was swept up easily and was always eager to get back to the story.

Narration was fantastic. He went above and beyond with the alien speech and conveyed some truly horrific moments with perfection. I had chills and thrills and even jumped a little at times. Brilliantly done.

I enjoyed this one so thoroughly that I'll be looking to buy a physical copy as soon as it releases. I feel like this would just get better with a second read, so I'm already looking forward to it.

Highly recommend for fans of science fiction.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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