entertaining

A funny and amusing satire of James Bond and The Avengers, etc. to include special gadgets; the matriarch (mother); Q; fancy sports cars; and imaginative villains. The narrator has a slightly bored, ho-hum quality that perfectly fits the "been there and done that attitude" of Eddie when he describes his fantastic exploits, family, and abilities. To anyone else it would be fantastic - but to Eddie it is just life as usual and nothing out of the ordinary. During the action sequences the narrator picks up the pace and sounds excited, alarmed, surprised, etc. The women's voices are not perfection, but I was never in doubt as to who was speaking and I did not find it irritating.

The book was a great "listen" and I enjoyed it very much. It would be great to have a sequel and find out how Eddie handles the family. If you are looking for a fun book that will make you laugh and feel good when evil is outsmarted, this would be the one.

19 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Good Exciting Book

I was a little hesitant when I first started listening because it drops you right in the middle of what's going on but it turned out to be a great scifi/fantasy book with the revenge aspect that everyone loves. I like it so much that I just got the follow-up book Daemons Are Forever which picks up at the end of this one.

11 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Little more than decent

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The concept behind the story was interesting and I wanted to like it, but it just didn't grab me.The episodic nature of the chapters wasn't for my tastes. Something would come up at the beginning of a chapter (usually a dangerous person or weapon who had never been mentioned before), it would be built up to be this huge obstacle that would be impossible to overcome, and by the end of the chapter it had been defeated with hardly any trouble. There was no real sense of danger because it became formulaic to the point of being humorous, an issue that could have been solved if any of those dangerous people/things had been mentioned at all before the chapter in which they were defeated.

It also had a very boring & predictable view of good & evil. There were too many characters who started to appear like they might have some depth, only to suddenly turn around with a "Nope, sorry, here's something cliche and SUPER evil!" The love story also felt much more juvenile than the rest of the story

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Stuart Blinder?

Just about anyone. The author's voice didn't match Edwin's attitude at all, and many of his voices were painful (the majority of his female voices in particular were downright awful.) He also had very harsh "s" sounds that made half the characters sound like snakes. I think Alexis Denisof would have had a much better voice for this character.

Was The Man with the Golden Torc worth the listening time?

I would say no. If someone was interested, I'd recommend the book first.

13 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great fun!

A little Harry Potter, a little Artemis Fowle, mixed with some Stephen King and entirely original! I really enjoyed this book and the sequel. It's fantasy and sci-fi for adults and great fun. I liked the reader very much. I loved his rendition of Eddie Drood, and all the characters' voices were unique. I admit, I'm a sucker for this genre. Nevertheless, I found it funny, exciting, and extremely well written. I was hooked from beginning to end.

10 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great Fun

great for fantasy & 007 fans. The narrator is ok, but his female voices and southern accent are appalling. Thankfully he only narrates the 1st two books. Really looking forward to the rest of the series.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

If you can stay awake

I have the impression that the story is good and unique, but the narrator is soooo laborious that it is hard to tell. The narrator emphasizes every word and is incredibly slowwww.

The third book had a different narrator and it is much more enjoyable.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

hang in there

Any additional comments?

It took a while for me to get used to the narrator's voice. I started and stopped listening to this book several times. However, at some point it clicked and I really enjoyed listening to this book. I previously read the hardback version.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Urban fantasy James Bond

What made the experience of listening to The Man with the Golden Torc the most enjoyable?

The author has an incredible way with coming up with fascinating concepts for his characters. They are all unique and interesting if not fully developed.

What did you like best about this story?

The action was great and the characters are extremely memorable.

What three words best describe Stuart Blinder’s performance?

Over-the-top. His standard voice is fine, but his other voices are so over the top to the point of being cartoonish. Also, it can be hard to differentiate between certain characters.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not in this book

Any additional comments?

The one thing that kept it from being 5 stars is what I call Green syndrome (for the author). If you've read his oyther books you know he writes great but tends to drone on and on about how awesome things or characters are over and over again ad nauseum. It can really get annoying, if you can look past that it is a great book, but be warned it gets pretty thick.

Also, the narrator does an acceptable job but nothing to write home about.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

The narrator's misplacement is painful...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator - He not only sounds like he'd be better placed reading childrens books, but the result is painful - by the end of the introduction the protagonist ends up sounding like a sexual predator and creeper (especially with the repetition that Green is known for). His cadence is nasaly and his tempo and rythm make any action scenes obnoxious. The character voices he slips into for peripheral characters are misplaced and don't seem to match descriptions.

Would you recommend The Man with the Golden Torc to your friends? Why or why not?

Perhaps with excessive warning of the narrator, but most likely not. It killed the book for me - I couldn't get past a few chapters in.

Would you be willing to try another one of Stuart Blinder’s performances?

It would have to be a very particular kind of book for me to even consider it.

Did The Man with the Golden Torc inspire you to do anything?

Write this review to provide warning and I don't usually do that... It was that off putting.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

One of the worst readers I've ever heard

This is a great story - funny, entertaining and biting. Unfortunately Stuart Blinder has no ability to do any female voices. All the female voices young and old tend to sound either like they're "ghost" voices or Dan Akroyd imitating Julia Child. Compared with the reader for the Nightside series who is great Stuart suffers even more by comparison. I enjoyed reading it more than listening to Blinder.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile