Good narration; auditory skill building
924438
My son loves to listen to this as he relaxes.  Great narration helps you visualize the story.  4 stories, pretty good value
1539658
This is a review of the CD Audio version which is contained on 8 CDs.

From an audio point of view it was a very good production, with very good narration and fairly seamless abridgement. Overall a good quality package.

The material itself was also very good. I was looking for some overall coverage of the conflict, inclduing the major engagements, and what some of the majors issues were. The audio book did a good job of addressing this.

What I found also very interesting was the insight into the US national security apparatus - how it worked, or didn't work - and how it suffers from the same sort of problems as any major organisations containing strong personalities.

The book provided an excellent level of detail of the lead up to the conflict - detailed without being boring - and I found the audio book to be compelling listening.

There was a good description of major engagements and very good summary of the lessons learned from the conflict. The book certainly highlight the difference between warfare and stability operations. Highly recommended.
2273294
I enjoyed listening to Undetected.  I'm new to audio books.  The narration was pleasant. The storyline was easy to follow.  I'll buy more.
970533
This is my first M/M audio book experience and Im glad that it was. I enjoyed listening to the narrator, John Steinkamp. He had a voice that I didn't mind listening to, and he kept me interested in the story. There were only a few things that weren't my favorite, like the way his voice lilted for certain characters. It felt very stereotypical. But over all, four out of five stars for the narration. It was excellent and Ill probably seek out more books narrated by John Steinkamp.

I felt a kinship to Martin. Nothing exciting happens in his life and hes just going through the motions. He doesnt try for more. At least he hasn't since his fiance left him years ago. He wakes up, goes to work, comes home to his fish and repeats it all the next day. Martin doesnt know how to put himself out there, how to see his own worth and it surprises him that someone like Alec Jameson could actually be attracted to him.

There was a lot of repetition in the beginning about how boring Martins life was. His brother poked and prodded at him, which I find annoying but thats family for you. Im sure one of my sisters are dying to do exactly what Daniel did for Martin. Take me out of my birthday and let the love of my life fall into my lap. Please. Ill be okay with the wardrobe make over as well.

It was interesting to see Martin slowly blossom into who he was meant to be. He is attractive, funny, and a great partner to have.

The romance was light and fluffy. I smiled throughout the book and wished I had someone to cuddle up to while listening to it.

I liked that there weren't hardcore, graphic sex scenes or make out sessions. Those scenes wouldnt have fit in this book. It was short and sweet and in the end you got to see Martins backbone and it left me cheering for him.

If you're looking for a quick escape, this is definitely one you should check out.
98748
I've enjoyed listening to books as I took my daily walk (ear buds) or  worked in my home (on Echo), but some books are ridiculously expensive and the choices available are somewhat limited. The quality of the narrators has been excellent. The monthly fee is too great to entice me to continue after the free trial period.
3196191
If students or any reader would like to read the book, but struggling with the high level of reading, listening to this audio is a wise choice as you follow the story.
4132710
I'm not finished with this book yet (I'm reading the Audible editions) , but I thought I'd drop in a review for a couple of technical reasons.
1. The narrator speaks quite quickly, especially in the first chapter or two.  I found it dropped to a more normal pace when I set Audible's narration rate to 0.8.  I'm now in chapter 6, and find 0.95 to be about right.
2. The accompanying PDF misses the graphic discussed in chapter 6 (S&P values and queries).  When recording an audiobook, the narrator should jot down any references to important infographics, and pass along this information to the publisher.  Then the graphics can then be put into the PDF.
2645935
Although I had seen the BBC show, the book allowed me to hear the narrators voice more clearly. It was well worth the read.
4005000
There are two parts to this self-healing audio book. The first part is narrated by Dr. Andrew Weil, who does a very good job of explaining the concept of energy medicine and how it is not simply a new age concept, but also relates to other practices used in traditional, science-based medicine. He does not try to explain things that cannot be explained scientifically, but simply shares his experiences and perceptions. He's earnest and intelligent and conveys his portion well.

The second part is an introduction by Dr. Ann Marie Chiasson who discusses her experiences as well as guides the listener through actual exercises to practice energy healing. Her explanation part is a bit long, and contains some new age terms (like "chakras") and felt a bit bogged down at times. I think she was simply trying to offer more context and history than Dr. Weil, but I found it the least appealing part of the CDs.

The exercises themselves can be viewed in two ways. You can see them as physical exercises which cause a specific result and are not related to anything about internal energy or you can view them as a means to actually improving the flow of energy in your body much in the way Chinese, Indian, or "New Age" concepts believe. Whether you believe the underlying principles or not, it is worthwhile doing the exercises since they can have positive results. I did the exercises, and felt better and energized after doing them. In particular, the "toe tapping" exercise (which has nothing to do with tapping your toes as we might conceptualize it) actually caused me to feel vibrations in my chest and arms. This was surprising result. I also felt better, but, again, this may simply be from the exertion.

I think these exercises are useful for the physical aspects whether or not you "believe" in the underlying concepts, and I found the content interesting on the whole. If you feel sluggish or fatigued and would like some exercises to energize yourself,  I'd say you may benefit from doing the exercises that you are guided through on the second CD. You can simply skip the first CD if you don't care about the notion of "energy medicine".
1843649
The Speaking Volumes CD presentation of _The Guns of Avalon_ is special: it is narrated by Roger Zelazny himself, and is unabridged. There are other "audiobook" versions of this classic out there, so if you desire Zelazny as a narrator, make sure of what you're purchasing! These recordings, according to the publisher, were made shortly before Roger's death, and were initially thought to be lost. Once found, they were digitally remastered and packaged into this set of  CDs. The audio/product quality is quite good.

It is always interesting to hear an author read his (or her) work, and that is the chief attraction to this presentation. However, Zelazny was not a "professional narrator." For me, sometimes his reading is a little flat, lacking drama. With dialog, it is occasionally hard to know when the speaker changes. There are other minor flaws, but for me, it s worth the price just to "put a voice" to one of my favorite authors, reading one of my favorite works. Certainly, you're unlikely to hear Zelazny reading it any other way.

The story itself is a classic of the "fantasy" genre. If you are unfamiliar with this book, it is the second of what eventually became 10 novels and a handful of short stories. (The first book in the series is _Nine Princes in Amber_.) The "Amber" novels are probably Zelazny's most famous and popular works - and that is saying something, given his productivity and penchant for garnering awards and nominations.

This book follows the adventures of Corwin, a Prince of the one true realm, Amber, from which Corwin has only recently escaped when the book opens. He is out to claim Amber's throne, but things keep getting in his way: a man named Lancelot du Lac, two tiger-sized Siamese cats, a goat-headed demon, a stray brother or two...and that's just for starters! The adventure is told in unique Zelazny fashion: a cynical, wisecracking, and flawed hero; intrigues and plot twists; vivid imagination; and lively, engrossing tale-telling. I don't want to provide any more spoilers, but if you have to know more, you can do a web search for Zelazny + Amber, and you'll find plenty of fan sites.
4365063
An excellent narration--and with good earbuds you can hear a phone or doorbell ring twice and some voices in the background around the 1 hr 11 min mark in Chapter 11 (3rd chapter of second download).
1031476
I'm not an avid reader, but enjoyed reading/listening to this book. The narration is excellent. Proceeding on to book 2.
914694
A quick and good introduction, sometimes a bit repetitive and with minor flaws in the text and audio; Recommended if you'd want to pick up basic expression in a short time span. Pleasant audio voices.
3383136
Generally, I really liked this audio series.  There are only a few quibbles I have with it.  First of all, Rob Inglis's singing on Tolkien's many songs is quite enough to make you lose your lunch.  Somehow, these songs seem like commercial breaks in which you can get up and go to the fridge before the program resumes and you can continue listening to the stuff you came to hear.  At least in the print versions you can easily skip them without batting an eyelash.  The Fellowship is the worst offender in this regard, as the characters break out into song more often than the cast of Cats.
Another problem with the Fellowship is that the story really takes a long time to get moving.  If you ask me, Tolkien's descriptions of what the hobbits ate on their way out of the shire can be skipped in their entirety and wouldn't detract from the story one bit.
Some of Tolkien's writings sound silly and pretentious considering they were written in the twentieth century, what with all of his "ere's" instead of "before's" and "hither's" instead of "here's," etc.  Further, many of his descriptions of people and places seem a bit overwrought, and much, again, like annoying commercial breaks before you get back into the action.
Lastly, Tolkien's admiration of his fiction "Elves" who seem to look better, sound better, cook better, make prettier stuff, than everybody else in his fictional universe seems to sound like the worship of some non-existent hero race to me.  It hardly seems possible that one group can be better than everybody else in every conceiveable way.  Just gave me the heebie-jeebies.  Oh, and Gimli's obsession with Galadriel gets tiresome after a while.
Now, if you think all of this makes me sound a bit like one with an attention span that's too short, I'll grant you that you may have a point, but that said, slogging through over a thousand pages of this stuff takes a bit longer of an attention span than average.
Generally, good compelling literature, but it does have some major drawbacks in its pace and tone.  Greatest novel of the twentieth century?  Probably not, but still good stuff.
4243459
This is a review of the audio book edition, and comments only on narrative quality.

 Paul Michael narrates Jim Stovall's third installment of the <em>Ultimate Gift </em>series, <em>The Ultimate Journey, </em>with a smooth voice that replicates the essence of Red Stevens, much like the performance James Garner provides in the movie presentation of the first book. Michael guides the reader through the interactions of Jason and his bride, Red on his DVDs, and the chauffeur that served them both. Skillfully and artistically weaving different inflections and intonations that each character carries in their character, Michael permits the reader to stop listening to an audio book and become part of the story itself, allowing images of the scenes to dance before the listener's eyes. One has to admit, however, that despite Michael's talent, his imitation of Alexia, Jason's bride, sounds more like an effamenant man that a female voice.

See the score, disclosure, and more on the Scripted Genius website...
58949
I really enjoyed using this book! Just looking at the cover in the photo is bringing back a lot of fond memories. This was the book that made me love Hebrew, and love studying languages in general. Because it was so motivating for me, I give it 4 stars despite its flaws.

This book introduces grammar and vocabulary in a very logical succession that helps you build a very good knowledge base for future study. At every point in this book I felt I was learning something useful, and I remember everything being very well explained and very clear. I always felt that I was consistently progressing and never hit a sticking point. I also found the recurring characters and the story line entertaining, and was intrigued by all the elements of Jewish and Israeli culture that made their way into the stories. I remember sections about Jewish holidays, kibbutzim, and the Israeli Defense Forces, for example. Rather than simply learning how to get by in Hebrew, I felt that I was gaining an understanding of life in Israel and that was very motivating.

Even though the book did help me gain a solid understanding of basic Hebrew and was very enjoyable, in hindsight I think the book and accompanying audio could have been better designed to help build stronger listening and speaking skills. The main voice that appears on the cassettes is a very well known radio personality in Israel, and was presumably chosen because he speaks "beautiful" Hebrew that conforms to all the old pronunciation guidelines of the Israel Broadcasting Authority. For example, he speaks with the 'ayin sound, and he pronounces the Het sound as a strong 'H' as an Arabic speaker would, rather than the "kh" sound that is standard in Modern Hebrew, and he emphatically rolls his r's, which I rarely hear Israeli sabras do. The guy also has quite a high voice and pronounces everything beautifully, with a kind of fantastical intonation I've never heard in real life. Real Hebrew is not beautiful, it's gutteral and nasty and sometimes sounds like whining, and the speech on this course's audio cassettes did little to prepare me for that. Incidentally, I do remember a course with a much more authentic audio component: Hebrew in Three Months, published by Hugo.

Another thing about the audio was that it was mostly receptive, meaning that the listener wasn't required to take part in the conversations, only listen and write answers etc. Most courses these days require the listener to practice and then produce one of both parts of a conversational exchange. So I finished this course with my reading and writing skills being much stronger than my speaking and listening.

But despite the audio flaws, I still recommend this book since it provides a solid knowledge base in an entertaining way. It's the most effective course I know in teaching the basic structures of Modern Hebrew. If I were to do it all over again I would still use this course, but use another course such as Pimsleur as an audio supplement to build my lisening and speaking skills.
3823214
This was a very good audio production. Matt Godfrey did a fantastic job with the narration. The characters, pacing, tone and cadence were all spot on.

The synopsis (which I did not read ahead of time) says Haven is a compelling horror epic in the spirit of It or Summer of Night Damn, those are big shoes to fill. So heres the deal. While its not IT or SoN, it is pretty darn good. A (sort of) coming of age tale and (definitely) a creature feature. The story itself is probably a 3 to 3.5 star story, but since I listened to it on audio and Matt Godfrey nailed the narration, it was easily elevated to a 4+ star listen. Nicely done all around.

Dale the douche, road kill analytics, Moses reincarnated, kitties in the lake, government conspiracies and the Butcher is back in town.

**I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.** Well, I requested it because I really wanted to check it out and I always honestly review what I read/listen to, so it wasn't that big of a stretch, but since its FTC regulations to add a disclaimer, there it is.