THE GREAT HUNT

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Book 2 in the Wheel Of Time series
Narrated by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer
Genre: fantasy
Format: paperback, ebook & audiobook

About The Great Hunt:

For centuries, gleemen have told the tales of The Great Hunt of the Horn. So many tales about each of the Hunters, and so many Hunters to tell of...

Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.

And it is stolen.

In pursuit of the thieves, Rand al’Thor is determined to keep the Horn out of the grasp of The Dark One. But he has also learned that he is The Dragon Reborn — the Champion of Light destined to stand against the Shadow time and again. It is a duty and a destiny that requires Rand to uncover and master extraordinary capabilities he never imagined he possessed.

Source: Info in the "About The Great Hunt" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/233649.The_Great_Hunt on /2024.

Buy Link(s):

 

Re-Read Review:

Like the first book, The Eye Of The World, also has a wonderful world building! Unfortunately, it also has the too stupid to live (tstl) elements that the first book has! **face palm**

The Ogier advises caution, so you spring into a gallop! Maybe so that an evil monster can eat you better as opposed to going in cautiously that might give you a better chance at survival. Of course, Rand did!

It didn't happen like that of course, but the stupidity is exactly the same!

There is also this. You find the most beautiful woman in the world in a dangerous environment. She claims innocence of all knowledge of this world but spouts information that even your best source, the Ogier, does not have. Contradictions much?? But that does not clue you in. No! You gotta be stupid!

You just announced to the world that you are the enemy by flaunting your power. Then you and company stands around arguing so that your enemy can have the chance of logging huge fireballs at you. No, you do not run away from danger straight away. Of course, you don't!

And so the tstl continues on...

Then the book ended in even a bigger cliffhanger than The Eye Of The World, the first book...

Even with all that whining I still continue to read on. What does that say to you?

Ordinarily, any other author, and that author would have been avoided like the plague. Being Robert Jordan, I am intrigued as to read on... when my ire has died down. This made reading this book a whole lot longer than 28 and a half hours that this book is supposed to be.

The first book was narrated by the talented Rosamund Pike and it took a bit of an adjustment to listen to this one being narrated by different narrators. The dynamic dou Kate Reading & Michael Kramer also gave a wonderful performance. Maybe it is just me being old and not liking change. Or the fact that Rosamund Pike gave such a wonderful performance. Or a little of both and other factors besides... My mood. The phase of the moon... The way the wind blows...

Funny how I still hear Rosamund Pike's voice when I think of Moiraine.

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 3.5
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 3
Ending = 2
World building = 5
Cover art = 3
Pace = (28 hrs and 23 mins listening time)
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Wheel Of Time Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Robert Jordan:

Robert Jordan was born in 1948 in Charleston. He was a graduate of the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics, and served two tours in Vietnam. His hobbies included hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool and pipe collecting. He died in September 2007.

amazon | goodreads

The Narrators

About Kate Reading & Michael Kramer:

We are Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, the award-winning audiobook narrator team who recorded The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.

We have recorded hundreds of audiobook titles, in all genres, for over thirty years.

We have narrated audiobooks for most major publishers, many independent authors, and for the Library of Congress Talking Books Program.

Our home studio, Madison Productions, is located in Maryland.

www.katereadingaudiobooks.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | goodreads (Michael) | goodreads (Kate)

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

THE DRAGON MAGE Boxset1 (Books 1 to 3)

The Dragon Mage (Books 1 to 3) by Scott Baron
Books 1 to 3 in the Dragon Mage series
Narrated by Gary Bennett
Genre: science fiction fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About The Dragon Mage (Books 1 to 3):

Charlie had all the luck. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the good kind.

Sucked through a wormhole, Charlie's spaceship crash landed on a distant world, yet somehow he survived. But survival was about to get a lot harder as he found himself not just stranded on a new planet, but in another galaxy entirely. One ruled not by the laws of technology, but by magic. A realm of space pirates, deadly assassins, alien gladiators, and even dragons. For the spaceman from Earth, it was enough to make his head spin.

And that was only the beginning.

Welcome to the Charlieverse.

Contains Books 1-3 of the 12 book Dragon Mage series:
1. Bad Luck Charlie
2. Space Pirate Charlie
3. Dragon King Charlie

Source: Info in the "About The Dragon Mage (Books 1 to 3)" was taken from amazon on 26/06/2024.

Buy Link(s):

 

Zomoki

Hunze

My Thoughts:

This is my first Scott Baron read and I'm glad that I stumbled upon this author! He is a keeper!

The other thing that I think makes this book wonderful is the fact that Scott Baron used current science to base his science fiction on. Kinda like what Gene Roddenberry did which is one of the many factors that made Star Trek such a successful TV series! And yes, I am a trekkie girl.

Charlie, for all his likely high IQ, can be such a dimwit sometimes. So everybody around him calls "it" magic and call certain things "spells", which to him is energy source and possibly a software, still can't get it through his thick skull that, that is the way people in his current world perceives things and he cannot teach these people who lived with magic and spells their whole lives, science and the principle of conservation of energy...

So, we have a protagonist who is brilliant and stupid at the same time...

I know somebody like that...

I like the Rapunzel retelling. A new twist to an old tale.

The first two books were good, as in, the "stupid" element was not glaringly big and obvious. The third book however... Charlie and Bawb must not finish off Malalia while she was down. Oh, no! That would detract the drama of the big battle with lots of lives lost and the magic show down. Because Charlie and Bawb had to face Malalia when she is at full strenght! Of course they do. **face palm**

And how do you send your men away when there is still a battle supposedly raging around you?... If you withdraw your men from the battlefield in the middle of an engagement, that means you lost the battle... Then wouldn't it follow that you would be taken as prisoner?

I do not like it when the plot does not make sense.

Ara

At 1,163 pages long, this is not a short read!

This book makes references to old movies like "Man Friday" which I had to look up to understand what it was referring to. This made the going a little slower, on top of it not being a short read, indeed!

This is my first Gary Bennett audiobook and I would listen to him again.

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (30 hrs and 17 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Dragon Mage Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Scott Baron:

A native Californian, Scott Baron was born in Hollywood, which he claims may be the reason for his off-kilter sense of humor. Before taking up residence in Venice Beach, he spent a few years studying abroad before settling into the film and television industry, where he has worked off and on for some time. Scott not only writes, but is also involved in indie film and theater both in the U.S. and abroad.

website | facebook | linkedin | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Gary Bennett:

Gary Bennett is an award-winning SAG-AFTRA audiobook narrator with a passion for truly giving the listener a front-row seat to the story. He’s narrated over 180 audiobooks (so far!) for publishers including Blackstone, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Harper Audio, Hachette Audio, Tantor, Dreamscape, Podium Audio, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and others.

Gary has trained with top coaches for narration and accents and dialects, records in his professional home studio, and he loves performing multiple accents (British, Scottish, Italian and Eastern European are his favorites) as well as multiple and complex characters (spies, wizards, trolls, ogres, vampires, and conflicted heroes & villains are always fun).

He's a huge fan of thrillers and urban fantasy, and also loves recording science-fiction, mysteries, romance, and non-fiction. (He's also a proponent of the Oxford Comma!)

MY BACKGROUND:
Born and raised in California and then in Bozeman, Montana, Gary now calls the greater Seattle area his home, and he's a huge fan of the Seattle Seahawks!

www.garybennettreads.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | pinterest | tiktok | youtube | linkedin | soundcloud | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.