The Digital Renaissance: Review: Science Fiction Classics Collection: Frankenstein, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Review: Science Fiction Classics Collection: Frankenstein, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Science Fiction Classics Collection: Frankenstein, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Four SciFi Classics in a Bargain Bundle

The four(4) stories are classics and most readers are probably already familiar with them. When compared to contemporary fiction at the time they were written, they are at the top of the genre; when compared to modern sci-fi they may show their age a bit (most of them use sparse dialog in favor of a 1st person PoV narrator … which makes it fairly easy to turn them into audiobooks, but also means they come across fairly dry like a diary or news report). Still, there are elements in each that helped to define the genre to this day and are well worth the read. The narration was decent, but with the limited dialog, there was little need to display any range for multiple character voices … so I can’t really justify rating it above average, but I thought it fit each story style fairly well.

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

#ScienceFictionClassicsCollection #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.