Another Sigma Force phenomenon

If you enjoy history, adventure, and international intrigue, then you would enjoy this book. If this is your first James Rollins book, then beware- lost of characters to follow, frequent scene to scene leaps and lost and lots of history.

It might take some time getting used to the narrator, but once you do, you will definitely enjoy the book. I guarantee you will have very little difficulty differentiating characters.

I also suggest reading the Sigma series in the following order: Sandstorm, Map of Bones, Black Order, The Judas Strain, The Last Oracle and Doomsday Key.

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Meh, Just . . . meh

The writing is chock full of clichés, and a book that it seems I've already read in one form or another several times already. Overall, Map of Bones is elementary, amateurish, and requires way too much suspension of disbelief, even considering the genre. Perhaps the situation would have improved with a better choice of narrator. Sorry, Mr. Meagher, but I just don't think you're meant to narrate this type of book.

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Modern science and Ancient magic

Would you consider the audio edition of Map of Bones to be better than the print version?

Though I prefer audiobooks because they seem to bring the story to life for me, this is a hard question to answer, because John Meagher's narration isn't up to the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Map of Bones?

There were quite a few and if I answer the question it would take away some of the cliff hanging suspense of the story from future listeners.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

As many James Rollins fans know, John Meager is no longer narrating the current books. However, he did read several of the early ones, which were some of James Rollins best Sigma Force novels. He seems like a very young and fairly new narrator that needed to hone his skills a lot more. His voice would be more appropriate for young adult books or kids books, because he sounds like an excited teenager. His pronounciation of most of the Italian words and other (just plain English) words is very poor and he needs to receive a little coaching. Because his voice is so high in timbre, he actually does the women's voices quite well. I actually bought this book early on when I joined Audible and then returned it because of the narration. However, recently I was going through some of my early James Rollins books and decided I wanted this one for my collection. The story is so good that I was pretty much able to overlook the mediocre narration.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Modern science meets ancient mysteries

Any additional comments?

In my opinion, the early Sigma Force novels were the best. The only thing I don't care for is the graphic sexual depravity It would have been just fine without it and certainly wasn't necessary to make a good story. Also, some of the violence was a bit over the top. The country to country chasing of the clues, the characters, and the mysteries of the story are wonderful, though. This is one of my favorite Sigma Force novels.

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OK Story, Bad Reader

I give this book an OK, but it has two big faults. First, the story line is very repetitious and it starts to drag. Still, it is entertaining as a summer read.

The biggest fault of the audiobook is the reading. The reader has a voice completely lacking in ability to add tension and nuance to high energy scenes. In terms of pitch, there is no gravitas; it is as if the author is trying to read the story as quickly as possible. Perhaps he is paid by the word? I am not sure that Steve Berry’s stories are any better, but he at least has a top-notch reader in Scott Brick that adds to the fun. Finally, as others have mentioned, the reader's Italian is poor. When a book takes place in Italy, the reader should be know Italian better.

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A good read

Map of Bones, like Amazonia and Ice Hunt before it (in an audio book sense), follows a bit of a formula. Many of the story elements are the same but the setting and the subject matter are very different. As a result I enjoyed this book as much as those others.

The narrator continues to do a fantastic job of making the characters distinct and making the action come alive.

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Can Anyone Pronounce Italian Correctly?

The story, as expected from James Rollins, is very thrilling and quite excellent. My objection is to the narrator. If someone has been selected to narrate a story, part of which takes place in Italy, I would expect him to learn how to pronounce the names of the places correctly. I have never before heard Italian name places murdered like they were by this narrator. I was glad to read the reviews of others to find out that this narrator is not the one who narrates other books by this author. Otherwise, I had decided I would just get the books and read them myself.

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The reader makes a difference

With all audiobooks, the reader can make it or break it. An expectation of a reader is that he/she does enough homework to be able to pronounce words correctly. This one hasn't done that. It isn't an error that will cause me never to listen again, but it takes attention from the story and puts it on the reader. The book is pretty good. A different reader would have brought it to life more, I think.

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Story struggles around too locations.

Disappointing with gratuitous profanity. Story struggles around too locations. Failed to engage me in the plot line.

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rerun

if you listened to the first book, then you know what is going to happen in this book. same story different location and people but same plot

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Great story

Great story...full of action and interesting characters! I would read the sequel to find out more of what happens to these characters.☺

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