Saturday, 25 January 2025

THE SORROW HAND


The Sorrow Hand by Dwight Holing
Book 1 in the Nick Drake series
Narrated by Steve Marvel
Genre: crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobookAudiobook


For Vietnam veteran turned wildlife ranger Nick Drake, the war at home proves just as deadly. A contemporary western thriller.

Harney County, Oregon, 1968: Nick Drake has a chest full of medals and enough demons to fill a duffle bag. He's been trained to kill, but never retrained to rejoin society. Drake flees to the lonesome high desert in search of redemption and takes a job patrolling wildlife refuges where the only conflicts are keeping out stray cows and ticketing poachers. But then he stumbles across a girl's body ritually placed in a gully. Her murder is only the beginning, and Drake must face humanity's heart of darkness once again if he's to stop a killer from turning even more gullies into graves.
Source: Info in the "About The Sorrow Hand" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40963058-the-sorrow-hand on 30/10/2023.


Buy Link(s):
  Audible Books


My Thoughts:
Reading the titles of the books in this series, it seems that the author has a thing about body parts.

I'm not a historical fan. So I wished that the story's setting could have been several decades later.

I thought that this book is kinda supernatural because of the black bird, but it is not. It is crime fiction.

I kind of able to identify with the hero. He is not perfect. Damaged. But trying his best to live in an imperfect world. Dang! But I could identify with that!!

I don't have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) but I hear it has devastating consequences. I listened to veteran interviews and I heard some say that it is the moral injury that is a whole lot difficult to battle than the actual war that they had been through.

The plot is not twisty like a hurricane, but I did not see it coming either.

Steve Marvel reads with a cadence that is earily like a singsong. I am not fond of singsongs. However, I stop hearing it as I get absorbed into the story.


Quantitative Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (7 hrs and 3 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 4.5


Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Nick Drake Series:
Book 1: THE SORROW HAND Book 2: THE PITY HEART Book 3: THE SHAMING EYES Book 4: THE WHISPER SOUL Book 5: THE NOWHERE BONES Book 6: THE FOREVER FEET Book 7: THE DEMON SKIN Book 8: THE BROKEN BLOOD Book 9: THE HUNDER HEAD


 
Meet The Author

About Dwight Holing:
Dwight Holing lives and writes in California. His genre-spanning work includes novels, short fiction, and nonfiction. His mystery and suspense thriller series include The Nick Drake Novels and The Jack McCoul Capers. The stories in his collections of literary short fiction have won awards, including the Arts & Letters Prize for Fiction. He has written and edited numerous nonfiction books on nature travel and conservation. He is married to a kick-ass environmental advocate; they have a daughter and son, and two dogs who’d rather swim than walk.


The Narrator

About Steve Marvel:
ACTOR. NARRATOR. WISEASS.

Multiple Voice Arts Award nominee Steve Marvel is one of only four narrators to be chosen a winner of the ACX Audiobook Narration Contest by Audible's Mike Charzuk. Steve received his classical theater training at Northwestern University and continues to work in theater, film, and television. The former voice of financial writer John Mauldin's Thoughts from the Frontline weekly newsletter, Steve's voice-over work also includes video games for the likes of Mattel, Sony, and Activision, and regular stints in eLearning. Steve applies his performance skills and mastery of accents to craft unique, distinctive characters for his fiction titles.



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

Saturday, 18 January 2025

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 & audiobookAudiobook


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):
  Audible Books


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:
Book 0.4: NEW SPRING Book 0.5: THE STRIKE AT SHAYUL GHUL Book 0.6: EARLIER RAVENS Book 1: THE EYE OF THE WORLD Book 2: THE GREAT HUNT Book 3: THE DRAGON REBORN Book 4: THE SHADOW RISING Book 5: THE FIRES OF HEAVEN Book 6: LORD OF CHAOS Book 7: A CROWN OF SWORDS Book 8: A PATH OF DAGGERS Book 9: WINTER'S HEART Book 10: CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT Book 11: KNIFE OF DREAMS Book 12: THE GATHERING STORM Book 13: TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Book 14: MEMORY OF LIGHT


 
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.


The Narrators

Kate Reading Michael Kramer
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.



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