good story

great yarn but truly awful accents. Welsh Jamaican sounded like a toff. Dick Van dyke school of diction when it came to the Scottish accent.

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2 people found this helpful

Far, far too long

Way off the pace of snow crash this is a bloated novel which could have been told in about half the word count. Underneath all the flab is a decent plot marred by far too much waffle, some poor characterization (Jones ' dialogue is just painful) and some ropey narration (is that a Russian Scotsman or a Scottish Russian?) I lost interest about 2 3rds of the way in as I just didn't care enough to finish it.

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1 person found this helpful

Good book, shame about the narration

Enjoyable story with some interesting characters. Nice tongue in cheek critique of globalisation and the digital age. Unfortunately the narrator was very poor. Nearly gave up as his attempts at anything other than a broad American accent were so terrible. Would recommend reading this rather than listening to it as a result.

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent, but long

Audible eat my review. In brief: The book is not brief, at all. It has a slow and awkward start full of irrelevant things. But it pulls you in at the middle and reaches a satisfying conclusion.

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A tremendous read!

I love lengthy listens, and this one had me cut off from the rest of the world for a couple of days. The tale unrolls in episodes, from character to character, continent to continent, time to time, all intertwined in a switchback of action. A thriller, certainly, but one with well defined characters possessing a variety of traits. I was glad that the women were completely modern 'kick-ass' types - be warned that most of the characters wield weapons including a vast range of guns with terrific aplomb, or at least learn very quickly. Indeed, the tale opens at a gunfest. Enthusiasts of fantasy gaming will also enjoy this aspect of the story. This is the first I've read from this writer, and I shall certainly be back again. My only quibble with the very good narration was the wierd pronounciation from time to time - and I don't think it was just American v UK differences. Just be prepared to be antisocial for thirtyeight and a half hours!

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This could have so easily been a 5 star review

I've read the book a couple of times and really enjoyed it. This time, listening to it on Audible, the narrator nearly destroyed any enjoyment I could possibly get from the book. I'm sorry to say his Scottish accent was so bad my wife, who just happened to walk into the room at this point and never having heard or read the book, said, "is that man supposed to be Russian ... or Scottish?" Yes, it really is that bad. Oh, I forgot, the Welsh guy has an English public (ie private) school accent. What? I can't comment on the other accents but if they are anything like the British ones then they were probably terrible, too.

In all honesty I have never, ever listened to a book before where the narrator has intruded on the story in this way. His voice was fine for the story telling, but the dialogue was pretty appauling where the character wasn't north American.

I wonder if these performances are actually reviewed by anyone competent? Clearly not the case here.

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A huge listen for 1 credit

What a joyride this book is, may go into too much detail at points - but nicely takes a number of key characters on a joyride and brings them all back together again. At 38 hours it's no quick listen, but worth giving the whole book a go!!!

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Reamde - read me you would be foll not to.

Love this book! I have been a long time fan of Stephenson and as I have started to drive an hour to work needed something to pass the time. Reamde is just great. Funny, clever, exciting and most of all a fun listen. Well up there with his older stuff and the best I have listen to for ages. I listen to the last part whilst out running and actually whooped at the ending. Really great and worth anyones credit.

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Rambling

If a Book doesn't grab me by the end of the second ChapterI lose interest. With this Book I struggled through to Chapter Six because I loved "Snow Crash", couldn't put it down, but this...........!?!

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Persistence very well rewarded

I struggled a bit to get into this, as computer games are a foreign world to me, but I was sufficiently intrigued to persist and was very pleased I did. The gaming world is a novel one in which to set a crime thriller but the further I went the more intriguing it got. In the longer run, there was no need to be "a gamer" to get this, as all is explained eventually and the characters are progressively filled out until the reader does indeed come to care what happens to them. It's long enough to be good value but it was never too long to hold the attention. I found the narration good, although it did take a little time to tune in to it.

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