Audiobook: PASSAGE TO DAWN by R.A. Salvatore (Drizzt #10), Narrated by Victor Bevine

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Passage to Dawn by R.A. Salvatore
(Legend of Drizzt #10, Legacy of the Drow #4)
Narrated by Victor Bevine

Genre: Fantasy / Adventure

Passage to Dawn by R.A. Salvatore was the first audiobook that I've ever finished out of my own accord. The listening experience was amazing, as it starts out with Drizzt and Cattibrie on a ship six years after the previous novel, and Victor Bevine conveys soulfully Drizzt's sense of wonder at the vastness of the world as he looks out into the sea. 

Victor Bevine's Narration of Passage to Dawn by R.A. Salvatore

Bevine's voices for the characters are fun. I love the voices for Cattibrie, the succubus, and that hag on the island. I giggled when he impersonated the succubus torturing Errtu's prisoner at the beginning as she purred, "Do not, my lover." If I ever become a succubus, whether by radioactive poisoning or by a lot of plastic surgery, I'd want my voice to drip with that much seductive nectar. 

Bevine is a master of the inflection of the voice. I think he has successfully layered additional nuance and meanings to the novel by making the characters and their lines come alive. Drizzt's voice is also great. When I read the books in this series with my eyeballs, I always connected deeply with Drizzt's thoughtful memoirs at the beginning of each section. When listening to Bevine's narration of Drizzt's thoughts, I felt that same level of connection with the character, if not more. 

Because there are so many male characters in the book, sometimes the voices of the human males, especially if they're from the same background (region, occupation, industry, etc), blend in with each other. Fortunately, the cast for this novel is wide and varied. 

The only voice I didn't like was probably Errtu's voice. Errtu's a balor, so he's supposed to be super frightening and inhuman-sounding. Bevine's rendition of the powerful demon's voice makes me visualize raspy and decrepit old men rather than a mighty balor tanar'ri. 

My Thoughts on the Story

Story-wise, Passage to Dawn was the fourth and last book in the Legacy of the Drow sub-series. I usually have a bit of trouble getting into Salvatore's novels when there are lots of minor characters in the beginning. By the end of the book, we reunite with two characters that we haven't seen in a long time. 

I was glad to be done with the annoying Errtu arc. The sort of "I'll be back for you!" villains make me yawn. This is the Forgotten Realms, not a Saturday morning cartoon show. 

Other visitors to the narrative include the prematurely-aged priest Cadderly, who apparently has his own series of books. I had only met him later on when Entreri met Cadderly. Also, Harkle Harpell, the ever-clumsy but knowledgeable mage, shows up and holds a flashy magic contest with a ship mage. We also see what comes of the barbarian tribe that invaded Ten Towns a few decades ago.

The scenes that reveal the rich dynamics between characters held my attention better than the action scenes, which I can follow better by text. R.A. Salvatore can write amazing action scenes, but sometimes they get excessive, especially when they're between minor characters instead of a major show-down between our favorite characters and their main enemies. 

Overall

Overall, I enjoyed Victor Bevine's narration of Passage to Dawn by R.A. Salvatore. His soothing, yet enthusiastic voice is a delight to follow by ear. Bevine's interpretation of the dialogue imbues the colorful characters in this book with life and personality. The novel itself has its great moments of character development, and it broadens the world by following the same restless spirit of adventure that Drizzt shares with his friends. 

My rating: 4/5 stars (4.5 for narration, 3.5 for story) 

Review: THE WANTED by Lauren Nicolle Taylor (The Woodlands #4)

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The Wanted

by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

(The Woodlands #4)

Here are some facts about this book:

• The fourth and last novel in the series, The Woodlands 
• Will release on October 31, 2014
• A post-apocalyptic dystopian novel
• Responsible for at least two late nights beneath the blanket 
• Probably contains nicotine somewhere in there

Out of all the books in The Woodlands series, this one is my favorite because of the dual narrative and beautiful language that weaves together the sensory details with Rosa's inner thoughts. Rosa may think that she's horrible with metaphors, but her narrative voice is actually filled with vivid figurative language. 

The story is divided between the perspectives of Rosa and Joseph. Given the movement that Rosa and Joseph take part in against the oppressive regime of the Superiors, I had an idea of what would happen, but I had no idea how. The episodes between Rosa and Joseph are brief but important -- each scene moves the story forward and keeps me intrigued on what would happen next. 

Sometimes the perspective would switch and I'd whine, "No, but I wanted to find out what happened to Rosa." But soon enough, I'd be entranced with Joseph's side of the line. 

So what's going on in The Wanted?

Rosa is a prisoner of the Superiors and faces interrogations in multiple forms. They want information about her friends, the Survivors, and Joseph. She has to stay strong and defiant and not let them break her. 

I had no idea how Rosa was going to get out of that captivity. I was thinking that maybe Joseph could smash his way in to save her, but then that'd be really cliched and predictable. The story went nowhere in that direction. It was filled with plot twists that boggled my mind and kept me chasing down the rest of the story to find out what would happen. 

In the beginning of the series, I wasn't able to identify strongly with Rosa (even though I liked her a lot as a character), but in The Wanted, I cheered for her the whole way. I think it's partly because she has matured over the past few books, especially after the death of Apella, a girl who ultimately proved Rosa's judgmental views wrong with her sacrifice. And while Rosa does "size up" people when observing them, she's a lot less judgmental than before because she tries to see things from their side of the fence.

Joseph was forced to leave her and escape. He struggles with feelings of guilt over the violence he used in order to flee. In the meantime, he is helping with the Survivors' rebellion against the iron grip of the Superiors. With many readers, there was an issue of Joseph being too perfect. To me, he just came across as an optimistic sort of guy who knows what he wants. In this book, however, his optimism and values go under trials of loneliness, grief, guilt, and uncertainty. It was good to explore some inner turmoil and weakness within him because his negative reaction to certain actions shows us where his values are as a person. Even if he is an overall hero, he can still be prone to moments of weakness. 

Like with Rosa, some of the people in the Survivors have mellowed out a bit after their initial hostility towards each other, such as Deshi. I've gotten really fond of him and Rash as minor characters. I was even hoping for Deshi to hook up with another guy that comes into the picture in this novel, but *ahem* that did not happen, probably for the best. 

I'm going to miss Rosa, Deshi, Rash, and Joseph. They had a wonderfully cranky but loving dynamic. When I saw the novella The Willful, I was actually hoping that this series had been extended into a quintet. Overall, I enjoyed this wonderful ending to The Woodlands series. The main loop is concluded, but as with life, there is a lot of uncertainty in the details in the aftermath. Will Deshi and Hessa become close again? Will Rosa and Joseph move past this moment of disloyalty? Will they all be a family in five years, after things have settled down somewhat? I think so.

My rating:

Find out more about The Wanted by Lauren Nicolle Taylor on:

Amazon | Goodreads

Check out my reviews on the other The Woodlands novels:

The Woodlands (#1)

The Wall (#2)

The Wounded (#3)

Review: Bentwhistle the Dragon: A Threat from the Past by Paul Cude

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A few months ago, the author Paul Cude contacted me to review his two books: Bentwhistle the Dragon in A Threat from the Past (Book 1) and Bentwhistle the Dragon in A Chilling Revelation (Book 2). I took a look at the book blurb that he included and was super excited about the idea of an underground dragon society co-existing with modern human life on the surface. 

Book blurb for Bentwhistle the Dragon in a Threat from the Past: 

Bentwhistle the Dragon in A Threat from the Past is an adventure story children and adults alike will love, about the present day world in which dragons disguised as humans have infiltrated the human race at almost every level, to guide and protect them. Three young dragons in their human guises become caught up in an evil plot to steal a precious commodity, vital to the dragon community. How will the reluctant hero and his friends fare against an enemy of his race from far in the past? 

Fascinating insights into the dragon world are interspersed throughout the book. Ever wondered how dragons travel below ground at almost the speed of sound? Or how they use magical mantras to transform their giant bodies into convincing human shapes? 

In an action packed adventure that features both human and dragon team sports, you’ll get a dragon-like perspective on human social issues and insight into what to do if you meet a giant spider grinning at you when you’re wearing nothing but your smile! You’d be flamin’ mad to miss it.

The narration reveals a lot of insight into the daily life of dragons living on the surface. Many concepts introduced in this novel are unique in terms of the general portrayal of our favorite mythical lizards. Here, dragons can shift forms between human and dragons. Younger dragons grow up in nurseries in which they learn to shift between their forms. They have communal telepathic abilities that allow them to retrieve and read a daily newspaper in their minds, similar to the way we use Wi-Fi. I like the idea of a technologically advanced dragon society, and of course, there are older dragons who are more uncomfortable with surface life and think that humans still drive wagons and carriages. They even have their own sports culture, which is fascinating and the dynamics reminds me of Quidditch. 

I love how well-developed and original the world is, but all the emphasis on world-building ultimately takes away from the plot and character development. The main thrust of the plot is the mystery of Mr. Mason's malicious presence in Peter Bentwhistle's workplace. Following a sudden death of a dragon (which is extremely rare in dragon society), Peter begins to notice a lot of strange things happening in his workplace, along with the introduction of Mason, a mysterious figure who seems to have a strong influence over Peter's normally-benign boss, Mr. Garrett. As a result of escalating suspicions about Mr. Mason's motives, Peter begins to investigate what Mason really wants...

Pacing is a big issue in this novel, mostly because there is so much world building that it slows down the plot, even though the mystery is quite intriguing. The world is clearly huge and complex, but I think it would be a lot better to condense the story so that it's driven more by plot or Peter's mission. There are many chapters about Peter's daily life before or after work, as well as several long anecdotes about Peter's past that, at most, have only tenuous connections to the main plot. About 40% into the book, the plot lost its momentum as it began to meander into daily life, games, and routines, and this continued until I was 80% finished with the novel. I found myself losing interest with the characters and the plot for the middle part of the story. 

Ultimately, the story sacrifices plot, pacing, and character development in favor of world building. I love the world of dragons and their super-fast subways, but the characters don't grab my interest enough for me to continue reading in this series. The sense of urgency regarding Mason disappears in the middle (besides his odd appearances and insulting behavior towards Peter) and doesn't come back until towards the end, and so I had to struggle to finish the novel. 

My rating: 

Find out more about Bentwhistle the Dragon: A Threat from the Past by Paul Cude:

Amazon | Goodreads 

Movie Review: 22 Jump Street (2014)

22 Jump Street (2014)

We're all probably familiar with the way that a concept that starts out novel and fresh can be milked into oblivion, like the Paranormal Activity series and any other action/horror/comedy movie that becomes a surprise hit. 

22 Jump Street is extremely conscious of the fact that it is a sequel movie stretching the premise of the first one, and so it makes fun of itself throughout the entire movie. Do Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill look like they could pass as college students? Heck no, and here, no one at the college buys their disguise for a moment except for maybe Maya. The movie makes fun of itself and its older-looking actors, and this self-referential attitude makes the sequel status somewhat more acceptable due to the extra layer of "funny" even though I know it's still a sequel. If that makes sense.

Book Review: THE WALL by Lauren Nicolle Taylor (The Woodlands Series #2)

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Title: The Wall

Author: Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Genre: YA / Dystopian / Action / Adventure

Published: October 2013

If you haven't read Lauren Nicolle Taylor's first book, The Woodlands (click for my review), then you're in for a dystopian treat. 

First, let us get past the gorgeous face framed by poofy hair on the cover and go into the details. Rosa, Joseph, and their friends have made it to a new group called The Survivors, who are enemies of the Woodlands and its rulers, The Superiors. From here on out, they will need to move because the Woodlands forces will be coming for them. There are tons of twists and revealing them would only diminish your experience of the story, so I will refrain. But there are sacrifices, and the relationship between Rosa and Joseph grows stronger. 

Book Review: RELIC by Heather Terrell (Books of Eva #1)

Released on October 29, 2013
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Note: I received this book as an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: YA / POST-APOCALYPTIC / ADVENTURE

From Amazon: "For fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games: high fantasy and dystopia meet in this high-stakes tale of a civilization built on lies and the girl who single-handedly brings it down." 

The dystopian nature of this futuristic, post-apocalyptic world might bear some resemblance to The Hunger Games series, but this book has no magic in it at all. What might make it fantastical is the fact that its set-up is a bit far-fetched: we are looking at a dark-ages sort of civilization populated by the descendants of survivors of a flood that wiped out modern civilization.