Interesting story but far to long

Written on the lines of something out of Charlie Booker's Black Mirror this story started out as fresh and interesting. I do however feel that it was about five hours too long the dialogue was really labored in places and I just wanted to story to move on. The start where the two main characters meet seemed to go on for hours whilst there were some really interesting aspects going on in the background which could have been explored and would have fleshed the overall story out. A war was mentioned but left hanging and we never really got to understand the overall context of the future in which the story took place. It was also difficult to engage with the characters, Isobel was very one dimensional and Don did not really exist. I always find it difficult to enjoy Imogen Church's narration she has a weird intonation and her voice grates after a while this listen was no different and I almost gave up but ended up persevering. The final two chapters were actually good and it's a shame that some of these aspects had not been explored earlier.

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1 person found this helpful

Tough Read

Strange story concept, found it difficult to follow sometimes and wander off when listening to it. Well read though

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Mainly good, sufficiently confusing

This book seemed to swap genres a bit, which, I suppose, is good. I sort of expected less of the crime and the romance and more of the conceptual near future sci fi, but hey. It was still a good read, and a good performance. Enjoyable. Hard to predict, although not necessarily for the expected reasons.

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4 people found this helpful

Loved this book

I listened to it in a very short space of time. I think a better ending would have been that the killer was forced to endure the nightmare/bad memories when dead - so not heaven but hell.. but still a great read. I’m very sorry but I really don’t like Imogen Church as a narrator- she detracts from the story line, adding too much emphasis where it’s not needed. Also her male voice drives me nuts. She’s better suited to children’s books.

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3 people found this helpful

Brilliant

Fantastically cleverly written idea by Holly Cave. Imogen Church reads it as beautifully as ever.
Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

Clever premise, poorly written and narrated

The author has some very clever if rather chilling ideas about how the near future might look. It seemed promising but the story is way too long and you find out who did it before the end then have to sit through step by step how they did it. I’ve listened to this narrator before and found her equally irritating this time. It spoiled the story tbh.

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Future problems

I didn't quite know what to expect with this book, and was pleasantly surprised by the story.
Set in England the undetermined future, Isobel, a 'heaven architect' enjoyed her work creating an artifical environment of their most favoured memories for the deceased to enjoy.
The she met the terminally ill Jarek. She fell for him despite the fact that he was married and she had a boyfriend.
There follows a tale of greed, morality and betrayal and our heroine endures a steep learning curve.
Imogen Church did an excellent job of the narration. I love her 'BBC English' voice and she really imbued Isobel with a personality.
I really enjoyed this book having never come across anything by Holly Cave. I will definitely be reading more from her.

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Heavenly concept that is challenged technically and morally

I loved the concept put forward. The twists involve pain being endured in different ways by different people.
Is this a vision of the future that brings pain with pleasure?

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1 person found this helpful

Well written.

The story was well written which is what held my interest. The plot was intriguing enough to make me want to know what happened in the end - but I was slightly disappointed because the last chapters were overlong and became monotonous. I could not empathise with any of the characters, as much as I would have liked to. Unfortunately, the narration was off-putting too - this narrator just cannot do men's voices and I found that increasingly irritating.

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Interesting but drags on a bit

This is a original story which attracted me to buy it and although I thought it was well worth the listen at times I felt it dragged on. The leading character also irritated me rather than endearing me to her in this book

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20 people found this helpful