The Paths Between Worlds

Wow, this book is a lot of fun to listen to!

Normally, I listen to audiobooks with one ear (usually as more of a distraction as I work). But this book tore my attention away from my PC and held it firm.

I wasn’t too sure about the narrators voice as Meredith as I listened to the first 5 minutes of the book. Their tone felt a little too droll. But as I kept listening (and the Meredith character became fleshed out), I actually now think the tone fits her personality perfectly.

I have only listened to the first 3.5 hours so far (all in one sitting) of this mega-eleven plus hours long book. But I just had to leave a review right away!

If you want to read a sci-fi book that takes you down a crazy rabbit hole of twists and turns, Get This Book!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

An average listen ..

I couldn't seem to visualise the characters as the descriptions were somewhat lacking. One dimensional characters in my opinion. Story started good but didn't reach a satisfactory conclusion. I hope the second book offers far more descriptive characterisation and maybe a plot twist and reaches some important high points along the way The premise of this book is good however it underwhelmed me.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Incredibly fast-paced & filled with suspense

I’m incredibly impressed with how the plot of this book is developed. Excellent writing, with very good descriptions of the setting/world, really clever dialog, and observations about humanity that remind me of the wit of the really great authors and entertainers.

I love books that make me reflect on morality/ethics and this does that.

I also found the characters engaging and well developed. The pace is great and maintains throughout the book. I loved the idea on reading the synopsis of the book which is that different people from different times in history are thrown together. That’s a cool idea and makes for a great story!

It evoked excitement and sadness in me and I think that in itself shows it was a great book.

It wraps up nicely in that I didn’t feel that I had to wait for the next book but it also made we want to read the story in what I hope to see as the next book. Which is also important to me as I hate it when books only seem to set themselves up for the next without giving me an ending.

I enjoyed it from start to finish.

The narration is great for the style of the book and the characters are brought to life by the narrator.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A lot of world building and not really much else.

The Paths Between Worlds (TPBW) spends most of its eleven hour run time building its rather big little world and introducing its limited number of players (from the hundreds) deposited on said unknown world*. Though this isn't an overly bad thing, quite often you find a number of books which flyby the new found land in an attempt to deliver the meat, the problem with TPBW is the lack of meat between the world building.

There are only few moments in which you'd call 'action'. Please don't get me wrong, I don't crave the Michael Bay like explosions in my Sci-Fi, but here in TPBW I think you could count the actual action scenes on one hand. Even then, titling them 'Action Scenes' is being overly generous. Except of course when the Nazi's come into play for a few minutes, then it (for a moment) ramps up the tension.

One of the strong points of this release is from Kate Reading who delivers an excellent narration for all characters involved, from all time periods and from all corners of the globe. She is now on my list of narrators I'll look for when choosing an Audible book in the future.

TPBW isn't the greatest slice of Sci-Fi, nor is it the worst. To much time however is spent building up part of this new world, that come the end - of Book One - we seem to be it leaving behind. There's a trace of a mystery, thinly woven throughout Book One, which I'm positive (hopefully anyway) will be explored more in Book Two. However the bait that is attempting to hook you on to this upcoming mystery is so small that I - in-truth - didn't feel like it was enough to warrant chasing.

N.B. This audiobook was supplied for free via Audiobook Boom.

*No spoilers

This book is a rewrite of the classic Riverworld

After the first hour, I thought the general premise was oddly familiar. Basically, it is Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld, with new names and minor changes.

Another reviewer noted this online, calling it Riverworld for the new generation.

The performance was quite good, but the fact that it was so closely scripted like Riverworld, that it stuck in my throat. I have returned the book uncompleted.

Humans transplanted to another world by aliens, they interact with other humans in a struggle between good and evil, with the inclusion of various historical characters. In Riverworld the good guy was Mark Twain, here Wild Bill Hickock.

I am sorry to rank on this book. I was waiting for the bad guys to appear, assembled around some historical Baddie, and lo and behold, the SS shows up. I could not go any further.

Interesting if a little frustrating

I appreciate the commercial drivers behind an author wishing to create a series that readers/listeners buy into for multiple titles but this title ended in such an abrupt manner that I found myself checking to see if I'd failed to download the last part, which I appreciate is silly as things don't work like that. For me, it took a challengingly long time for this story to get going, but I persisted, and then the pace accelerated and it became more interesting, and then it suddenly stopped. I found the first few chapters a bit of a grind through the very long struggle to survive, before some more interesting elements started to be added to improve matters. This is Sci-Fi, so we're not necessarily looking for plot logic but some of the character introductions and stereotypes and aspects such as, for example, the translational voodoo and the quick availability of, shall we say, water-borne transport, push plot credibility/acceptance to the limit, but that's sort of OK in this context. So will I buy into part 2 when it appears? Maybe, but the test will be whether the story has stuck in my mind when I come to consider the new download in a few months or whenever it becomes available.

Awesome!

Gripping story and the narrator is brilliant, listened to many books narrated by Kate and this was also brilliant.

Time flew

I cannot believe I got through this book so quickly, it was over before I knew it and I am hungry for more. Excellent story line, and a nice change from the usual sci-fi books I listen too. Never a dull moment.

Nice Opener

New to the author but liking the sound of the story I picked this one up. The premise is totally new but is different done quite well in building the story as it is well written and keeps your attention.
The characters are done with a good touch of realism and my main fault is I had often deduced the thread or the conclusion from previous happenings. It did take till just over 50% before I was properly surprised.
Despite this I found this quite easy to follow and enjoy although I think the supporting characters helped this along a lot with their tales of woe and hardship.
I'll be interested and curious to see where the 2nd in the series will go.
Narration was surprisingly good and i will keep my eye out for further work from Kate Reading.

Good grounding for the series

This was very enjoyable and easy to listen to. There was enough going on to make me want to listen to the next book