Highly enjoyable

Enjoyed this a lot and didn't take long to finish, vivid descriptions, good characterisation and well performed by the narrators.

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1 person found this helpful

A love letter to Jurassic Park and Florida

Rich characters plunged into a thrilling adventure in a world where danger comes crashing around every corner

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Fantastic story that leaves you begging for more!

I loved listening to this book. At first I felt that the narrator for Senesio was a little camp for such a swashbuckling hero, but that soon faded and I was totally invested in Suni, Senesio and Alpida as they make their way through The Far Wild. The language and descriptors gave me enough to paint a vivid picture of the people, the environment and the wildlife. Whenever I stopped listening I would always day dream for a while about being there, with the characters, living the story.

I hope there's a follow up, because the character development makes me want to listen to more of their adventures through the Empire

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Mostly enjoyed it...

There is a lot to like about this story - and to a lesser degree the performance. The locations and characters are fun - the "other world" ness - nearly ours but not quite - is well drawn. I did find some things an irritation though. One of the main characters wobbles between tremulous and a bit pathetic and somewhat heroic. This is okay - but the narration for that character I found grating - too tremulous, too weedy. Other characters - one in particular - were great fun and well narrated throughout. Some of the local fauna were also unbelievably... persistent shall we say - in my mind. However it's Mr. Knight's world and who knows how things would behave there - and some of it is necessary for the story. I don't think I'm giving much away when I say I loved the airships..

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Thrilling adventure

Thrilling story of an adventure through the Far Wild. Thought Suni and Senesio were brilliant characters, and the narration was fantastic.

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Good fun, but mis-sold

I gave this a go on the basis that it was targetted to fans of Jurassic Park. True, there is a jungle containing some large beasties, but that's about as far as the comparison goes. The mood and tone feels much more like a Terry Pratchett novel, with a few degrees of humour traded for higher stakes and grittier action. I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't was I expected and at times the languaged used - with a heavy reliance on cliché - made it feel like more of a young adult novel. There was WAY too much dull introspection.

The narrators are lively and entertaining, especially Peter Kenny who characterising Senesio fantastically. This is, however, the first audiobook I've listened to where a different narrator takes over for the whole chapter depending on the POV. This means that you hear most characters narrated in three different ways, which is at worst confusing and at best immersion-breaking. I feel bad only giving four stars for performance, because each individual narrators gives a five-star performance. My dissastisfaction was with the decision to allow ALL characters to be narrated by the POV voice. Also, giving the Bospurians Welsh accents was certainly...a choice.

It's a good fun story with interesting characters, but it's not at all the kind of book I meant to pick up and I won't be proceeding with any more in the series.

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Give it a chance

I almost returned this book, but decided to give it a chance. The characters/story took a while for me to "warm to". The link to Jurassic Park was very tenuous.

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Not what I expected

It was OK but not as exciting as it could have been. The two female narrators sounded too similar and the audio quality of the Theo chapters was poor. Surprised that Audible, with all its resources, would pass such a noisy recording. There was also some dodgy pronunciations and an edit left in. I did finish but won't be buying the sequel.

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Well performed but lacking interest. Returned for

The performers all did a good job. However they had a lack of material to work with. Especially Sunni whose dialogue was stilted and wooden. The story was just not there for me. It felt almost Enid Blyton in its simplicity and obviousness. Which is a real shame given the talent of the actors.

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4 people found this helpful

Laughs, thrills and a lot fun!

This book is a fast paced adventure set in a vivid fantasy world. I immediately fell in love with the 'gentleman adventurer' who reminds me strongly of Taryon Darington from critical role - in fact the setting feels like dungeons and dragons but without the magic. Definitely a lot of dangerous beasts that could be straight out of the Monster Manual! You quickly become swept up in the adventure which doesn't let up until the powerful finale. Highly recommend!

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4 people found this helpful