The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3An Experiment in Literary InvestigationBy: Aleksandr I. SolzhenitsynNarrated by: Frederick DavidsonLength: 21 hrs and 55 mins Finishing The Gulag Archipelago was something I had left unfinished for quite a while. I began it last year, but the sheer volume of tragedy became difficult to absorb. The suffering does not arrive as…
Red Rabbit
By: Tom ClancyNarrated by: Scott BrickSeries: A Jack Ryan NovelLength: 26 hrs and 20 mins I thought I had read this one before, but it turns out I had confused it with The Cardinal of the Kremlin. That made me especially glad I restarted the Jack Ryan books from the beginning. Great Clancy. Smart, engaging,…
A Dubious Peace
Destiny’s Crucible, Book 7By: Olan ThorensenNarrated by: Jonathan DavisSeries: Destiny’s Crucible, Book 7Length: 23 hrs and 59 mins This did an excellent job of bringing the different parts of the story together. Thorensen wove the newer characters and events back into what had already happened, allowing the separate threads to conjoin in a satisfying way….
Passages
Destiny’s Crucible, Book 6By: Olan ThorensenNarrated by: Jonathan DavisSeries: Destiny’s Crucible, Book 6Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins I was a little dubious going into this one. I had enjoyed Joseph Colsco’s story so much that I was not especially eager to leave him behind and follow a new group of characters. Thorensen handled the…
Kingdoms of Death
Sun Eater, Book 4By: Christopher RuocchioNarrated by: Samuel RoukinSeries: Sun Eater, Book 4Length: 22 hrs and 50 mins Oh my word, this was hard, but it was some of the best kind of hard. Ruocchio takes the story into profoundly dark places, and hope is lost, yet somehow he still makes you want to keep…
Demon in White
Sun Eater, Book 3By: Christopher RuocchioNarrated by: Samuel RoukinSeries: Sun Eater, Book 3Length: 30 hrs and 41 mins It took me a little while to settle into the world Ruocchio was building here, but the ending paid that investment back well. The setting, relationships, character dynamics, and foreshadowing were all beautifully handled. You can sense…
Queen Amid Ashes
A Tale of the Sun EaterBy: Christopher RuocchioNarrated by: Samuel RoukinSeries: Sun Eater, Book 2.6Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins A really good book. I have absolutely fallen in love with Ruocchio’s prose, and the world he is building is beautiful as well. His books are simply a pleasure to read. The story was good,…
Doctor Thorne
Doctor ThorneBy: Anthony TrollopeNarrated by: Timothy WestSeries: Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 3Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins Doctor Thorne was simply beautiful. By this point I was fully comfortable in Trollope’s world and able to enjoy the story without needing to stop and understand its surrounding context. The characters, relationships, prose, and imagery all came…
Barchester Towers
By: Anthony TrollopeNarrated by: Timothy WestSeries: Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 2Length: 19 hrs and 6 mins Barchester Towers expanded wonderfully on everything introduced in The Warden. By this point I understood the setting and church dynamics better, which allowed me to focus more fully on the people themselves. This was far more engaging. Trollope did…
The Warden
By: Anthony TrollopeNarrated by: Margaret HiltonSeries: Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 1Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins This was my opening salvo into the world of Anthony Trollope and a welcome change from what I had been reading. I wanted something Victorian, but not Dickens, Austen, or Gaskell, and The Warden gave me exactly that. It…
1634: The Baltic War
By: Eric Flint, David WeberNarrated by: George GuidallSeries: 1632: Ring of Fire, Book 4Length: 26 hrs and 21 mins I enjoyed 1634: The Baltic War, though not as much as the earlier core books in the series. What drew me into those books was how closely they remained tied to recognizable history, even while changing…
1633
By: Eric Flint, David WeberNarrated by: George GuidallSeries: 1632: Ring of Fire, Book 3Length: 22 hrs and 10 mins