Audio Book Review: A Rolling Stone gathers no moss…especially in Space.

The Rolling Stones

Written by Robert A. Heinlein.

Narrated by Tom Weiner.

This is a relatively delightful piece from the author of Stranger in a Strange Land, Girl Friday and Starship Troopers. The Rolling Stones, sans Mick and Keith, is a story about the family Stone living in the Lunar Colony. Sporting a family of six plus Grandma they purchase a small cargo cruiser to tour the solar system and have adventures while discovering things.

Comes across like Father Knows Best meets Lost in Space with real science fiction-fact. The rockets are all NERVAs using Hydrogen as the propellant of choice. They use Hohmann Transfer Orbits to maximize fuel efficiency and experience real zero gravity issues.

A fun work and though dated still reads true. Three out of five entertainment units.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Rolling-Stones-Audiobook/B00K55F8E8

Audio Book Review: Chasing the god of the Dead

The Cycle of Arawn: The Complete Trilogy

Written by Edward W. Robertson.

Narrated by Tim Gerald Reynolds.

Dante Galand is for all intents and purposes an orphan from a small village where a priest had taken him in and introduced him to a quest for knowledge. By sixteen he had launched himself out of the village and fully into a quest to learn about Arawn. This quickly led him into mugging drunks nightly to stave off starvation, killing a guard hanging around an old temple so he could get a precious copy of a book, hiring his own private thug (Blase Buckler) and eventually being mentored by Callimandicus, a centenarian Nethermancer who wants his head council position back. That is a large bit of the beginning but storyline is only part of the experience.

There are a wealth of species in this tale also. Some kind of lizard folk play a small role as disposable assassins, seven foot tall nomadic clannish hominids called Norren and some really fantastical predator called a Capper that has huge horns, scales and is resistant to most any weapon.

I really enjoy how Dante and Blase play off of each other and others with their constant dry humor. The Antagonists are good too, Cassinder the monologuing bastard trying to enslave everyone, King Morddegan who wants…everything, Samarand who wants to every city in revolt and The Minister who wants to destroy the rest of the world in revenge.

I consumed this work in audible form during my never ending work commute and I enjoyed it immensely. The storyline and narration really never sagged though in the later chapters there four or more places where there were repeats in the narration missed in editing. No problem though, it didn’t detract much.

Good job! Giving this work four out of five entertainment units.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Cycle-of-Arawn-Audiobook/B00W8DAB9M