My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Review: Amber

Amber Amber by David Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Performance: ***
Story: ***

A Simple Treasure Hunt Story

An origination series for the Dane Maddock Adventures, which are fun escape adventures good for an airport read.  Here we get a look into the adventures of Dane and Bones as Good Ole Boys/Navy SEALS (and is so totally not believable … so take that for what it’s worth).  This series pretty much follows the same formula found in the original series, so it you likes the first series, you will not be disappointed here either.  It is certainly an entertaining way to explore some of the historical trivia (which was definitely an appeal for me).  The narration was decent, but wasn’t really a break out performance even as it matches the tone of the story as a whole.

In this case … Amber has the team chasing down rumors of the Amber Room with basic information on what it was and what happened to it (and when it disappeared).  The details are pretty basic and the story doesn’t really offer much beyond what a google search might turn up, but that is really just a backdrop for a character driven treasure hunt that is a silly as a National Treasure movie … just sit back and enjoy it.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Amber #DaneMaddockOrigins #FreeAudiobookCodes 

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.