While Bugles Blow by L Ron Hubbard (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

While Bugles Blow
by L Ron Hubbard
narrated by Multicast
Copyright: 2012 Graphic Audio
Duration: 2 hours unabridged
Genres: pulp fiction, adventure
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Click the image to visit the publisher’s website.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: An American lieutenant in the French Foreign is caught in the middle of an ancient feud between the Jeppas of the Atlas Mountains and the bloodthirsty tribe of Perviz al Bahman.

Tension mounts as a gorgeous female Jeppa warrior with golden red hair is drawn into the midst of the conflict and captured by Perviz's tribe. When the American lieutenant later finds her being sold on the slave market, he unthinkingly does what any man must: he rescues her. But while his actions may have saved a beauty, they have also just ignited all-out war.

© 2012 Galaxy Audio

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: It’s time for more action and adventure from one of the most prolific writers of our time, L Ron Hubbard. In their continuing effort to produce some 200 of Hubbard’s golden age stories, Galaxy Audio is releasing While Bugles Blow. This is another of Hubbard’s far-flung adventures featuring battles in far off places, a dashing young soldier, and a damsel in distress (or is she?).

Here we find a small detachment of the French Foreign Legion, along with a young American Lieutenant, at an outpost deep within Berber territory. There is a largely peaceful existence between the soldiers and the locals, but it is an uneasy peace that hangs by a thread. It would take but a mere push in one direction or the other to topple the truce and begin an all out war. That mere push comes in the form of a beautiful Jeppa woman who is captured and sold into slavery. When the American lieutenant rescues the woman and brings her into the outpost, the balance is upset and the battle is on. In what feels like the last stand of the Alamo, a small handful of Legionairres must hold the fort against a couple thousand frenzied Berbers.

As with all of the stories from Galaxy Audio’s Golden Age Stories collection, While Bugles Blow is complete with stunning cinema-quality music and sound effects, as well as a fantastic cast of voice actors. The cast includes the voice talents of Jim Mexkimen, R F Daley, Richard Rocco, Christina Huntington, and Phil Proctor.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
Shadows From Boot Hill by L Ron Hubbard (Audiobook Review)
Hell'S Legionnaire by L Ron Hubbard (Audiobook Review)
Death Waits At Sundown by L Ron Hubbard (Audiobook Review)

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Special thanks to Galaxy Audio for this review copy.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt.
This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from Audiobook-Heaven.

Free Audiobook Giveaway #6

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Hey audiobook lovers! Throughout 2012 Audiobook-Heaven is giving away a free audiobook every month! Read on to see this month’s free audiobook and find out how you can enter to win!

Entry Deadline: date

A Wild Ride Through The Night
by Walter Moers
narrated by Bronson Pinchot
Unabridged 4.3 hours
Copyright: 2012 Blackstone Audio
Filed in: Free Audiobook Giveaways
Click on the cover image for more details.

Translated from the German by John Brownjohn

Includes a bonus CD with illustrations

In the wake of the breakout successes of Walter Moers’ The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear, Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures, and The City of Dreaming Books, Moers is back with this fourth book, the tumultuous tale of a little boy and his encounter with Death. Moers bases his utterly delightful story on twenty-one woodcuts by the inimitable Gustave Doré, the most successful illustrator of the nineteenth century.

In a world between legend and dream, A Wild Ride through the Night describes the exhilarating and comic adventures of twelve-year-old Gustave, a boy who aspires to one day be a great artist. When a disaster at sea puts Gustave in the uncompromising hands of Death, he has the choice to give up the ghost or take on a series of six impossible tasks. Gustave embarks on a strange and perilous journey during which he must save a princess from an angry dragon, pull a tooth from the Most Monstrous of All Monsters, fly over the moon, and even, somehow, meet his own self. Will Gustave’s creativity and imagination be able to save him from his fate?

Sounds pretty good, eh? So there it is, the free audiobook giveaway for June is officially open. Good Luck, and don’t forget to check back for a new giveaway each month!

THE NOT-SO-FINE PRINT: It’s pretty simple: if you’re interested in receiving the free audiobook, just leave a comment on this post. Make sure you give us a way to contact you in case you are the winner. If you’re worried about someone’s spam-bot grabbing your email address, you can enter it like sbrandt at audiobook dash heaven dot com, or something like that. We will accept entries through the last day of the month and a winner will be drawn at random. We will contact the winner for a mailing address and the audiobook will be shipped off via USPS at absolutely no cost to the winner. If you have already won one of our free audiobook giveaways please give others a chance. Oh, and US residents only please as international shipping costs are prohibitive. See? Simple!

Germline by T C McCarthy (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Germline
by T C McCarthy
narrated by Donald Corren
Series: The Subterrene War, book 1
Copyright: 2011 Blackstone Audio
Duration: 9 hours, 12 minutes unabridged
Genres: science fiction, military
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Click the image to visit the publisher’s website.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Germline (n): the genetic material contained in a cellular lineage that can be passed to the next generation. Also (slang): secret military program to develop genetically engineered super soldiers.

One hundred years from now, Russia and the United States are at odds again. This time the war has gone hot. Heavily armored soldiers battle genetically engineered troops hundreds of meters below the icy, mineral-rich mountains of Kazakhstan.

War is Oscar Wendell’s ticket to greatness. A reporter for the Stars and Stripes, he has the only one-way ticket to the front lines. The front smells of blood and fire and death—it smells like a Pulitzer.

But Kaz changes people, and the chaos of war feels a bit too much like home. Hooked on a dangerous cocktail of drugs and adrenaline, Oscar starts down a dark road he won’t be able to turn back from.

©2011 T. C. McCarthy (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: This one is definitely for you lovers of military fiction. It’s the Subterrene War, a war between America and Russia, where the soldiers do much of their living and fighting below ground. The main weapon for both sides is plasma: hot, exploding gas that can turn a person to ash in a heartbeat, even through their fighting armor. The tunnels are safer, you can see and hear the enemy coming in the tunnels and going up to the surface means almost certain death.

Unfortunately, this is not a good war for the American forces. The Russians have recently developed some new advances in their equipment giving them a definite edge. For the Marines, it is mostly a case of retreating quickly enough to avoid being completely cut off. Time after time they are overrun and are scrambling to evacuate. From a historical perspective, it reminds me of the German forces that invaded Russia during World War 2. They drove deep into Russian territory, but then the Russians held their ground and, just as quickly, drove the Germans right back out again.

For a while, I thought that the military maneuvers were all Germline had to offer, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Eventually, however, T C McCarthy delved into some slightly deeper topics like the friendship and brotherhood that forms between soldiers. Also, both sides in this war use genetically altered soldiers: human beings formed and grown in a laboratory to be something like super soldiers. They are designed to fight for a specified period and then simply expire. Things go slightly awry when some of the G’s decide they don’t want to expire. McCarthy has a few things to say about what it means to be human and the unquenchable thirst to live. The sentiment is mirrored in main character Oscar Wendell, who went into the war not really caring if he lived or died, but eventually finding something to live for through his experiences on the front lines.

Narrator Donald Corren was a pretty good match for this audiobook. He did a nice job of making each character distinct and handled a handful of different accents very capably. His reading was overall very natural sounding, almost like he was telling the story rather than reading it; something not many narrators achieve.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Audiobook Review)
Matterhorn: A Novel Of The Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes (Audiobook Review)
Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein (Audiobook Review)

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Special thanks to Blackstone Audio for this review copy.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt.
This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from Audiobook-Heaven.

Harvest by Tess Gerritsen (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Harvest
by Tess Gerritsen
narrated by George Guidall
Copyright: 2000, Recorded Books
Duration: 12 hours, 30 minutes unabridged
Genres: medical, suspense, thriller
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Click the image to visit the publisher’s website.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: As compelling as the best of Michael Palmer, Harvest soared to the top of best-seller lists across the country. In this novel of harrowing suspense and superbly crafted plot twists, author Tess Gerritsen draws on her years of experience as a doctor and delivers an explosive debut thriller. A second-year resident selected for Boston’s Bayside Hospital’s elite cardiac transplant team, Dr. Abby DiMatteo is just beginning to learn the nightmares involved in finding a donor heart for a transplant victim. But when a wealthy private patient checks into the hospital, and a donor heart appears without the proper paperwork, Abby uncovers some horrifying clues to where the mysterious organ was harvested. Brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed, Harvest spins the listener into an explosive world of medical miracles, lethal greed and unforgiveable conspiracy. Read by veteran narrator George Guidall, Harvest will keep you on edge until the highly-charged but satisfying conclusion.

© 1996 Recorded Books

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: First, let me explain that medical dramas are not my bag. I never liked watching them on TV, with the exception of Quincy M.E., and I never thought I would enjoy reading one either. The only reason I came across Harvest at my library is because I was browsing the online catalog for audiobooks narrated by George Guidall. Even with a narrator like Guidall, I didn’t think I would like this audiobook.

Boy was I wrong! Tess Gerritsen grabbed my attention right away with a scene of some young Russian orphans being purchased. The price was $5,000 each, and the premise was that they were being sent to America for adoption. But moments after the boys are loaded into a car, their caretaker is murdered, and the money is reclaimed by the people who offered it. The author lets you know right away that something fishy is going on. From there, we are whisked away to Boston, to the site of a very prestigious heart-transplant center, where the wife of an extremely wealthy businessman is waiting for a new heart. A donor heart suddenly appears, even though there was no record of a match the day before, and the woman was not at the top of the transplant list.

From then on, it is non-stop suspense. Like the drawstrings on a purse, Gerritsen slowly draws the two ends of the story together, plunging the reader deeper and deeper into the mystery with each tug. The ultimate fate of those boys seems clear, they are meant to become organ donors, but the author doesn’t let us off the hook that easily. She develops her characters so well that you can’t help but care about them. It isn’t long before you are almost screaming for someone to save them.

For me, there are a couple of major elements that can make or break a story. I’ve already mentioned character development, and Tess Gerritsen passed that test with flying colors. Another is credibility. Even a fictional story must seem plausible. Again, I give Gerritsen high marks because she totally convinced me that something like this could really happen, as sad as that is.

On those two qualities alone, Harvest is a good audiobook, but the icing on the cake is the plot twists. Our heroine, Dr. Abby DiMatteo, is the one who stumbles upon the underhanded dealings at her hospital, but she never truly knows who’s in on it, and who might help her. Tess Gerritsen will have you leaning one way, and then she drops another clue that will send you reeling the other way. And she keeps you guessing right up until the climactic finish. When Abby is strapped to the operating table, and she finally sees who is behind it all, it blew me away.

So yes, I was very pleasantly surprised by Harvest. I expected something bad, and instead found something I liked a lot. That’s why it’s so important to be open-minded about books, as well as many other things in life. If you never read outside you’re favorite genre, you’re going to miss out on a lot of good fiction.

I scarcely need to say anything about George Guidall’s narration. Anyone who knows anything about audiobooks knows that Guidall is the best. He’s just a natural. I think I read somewhere that he has narrated more than 800 audiobooks. I hope he does 800 more.

I think it goes without saying that I will be looking for more audiobooks by Tess Gerritsen in the future, especially if they are narrated by George Guidall.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
The Hunt For Red October by Tom Clancy (Audiobook Review)
The Partner by John Grisham (Audiobook Review)
Deep Six by Clive Cussler (Audiobook Review)

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Special thanks to Kearney Public Library for this review copy.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt.
This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from Audiobook-Heaven.

Thursday's Child by Sonya Hartnett (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Thursday’s Child
by Sonya Hartnett
narrated by Melissa Eccleston
Copyright: 2005 Bolinda Audio
Duration: 6 hours unabridged
Genres: general fiction, young adult
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Click the image to visit the publisher’s website.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The creature held a great bundle of something tied up in a rag. For a moment we stared, not recognizing him, but who else could it have been, who else but wandering Tin. We saw his naked limbs, his discoloured hair, his hooking razor-sharp nails. He raised lashy eyes to us and we saw a face on its way to another world. Through the long years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute watches with a child's clear eyes her family's struggle to survive in a hot and impoverished landscape. As life on the surface grows harsher, her brother Tin escapes ever deeper into a subterranean world of darkness and troubling secrets, until his memory becomes a myth barely whispered around the countryside.

©2000 Sonya Hartnett; (P)2002 Bolinda Publishing Pyt Ltd by arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia)

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: First of all, where on Earth does this novel take place? Thursday’s Child is set during the Great Depression and so, being an egocentric American, I naturally assumed it was in the American Great Depression. But then I was confused because the characters all had Irish or Scottish accents. I read what someone else wrote about Thursday’s Child and they said that it takes place in Australia based on some subtle clues in the text like local flora and place-names. That makes sense since Sonya Hartnett is a native of Australia, but do a lot of people in Australia have Irish accents? Well, at any rate, Thursday’s Child isn’t about the place, and it isn’t even about the times so much; it is definitely about the people.

Regardless of where they live, or how they speak, these are human beings just like you and me and it is easy to sympathize with them as times go from bad to worse. Our main character is Harper, youngest of the family at the beginning of the story. Little Harper doesn’t know anything about depressions but she knows that times are tough and she can see how it is affecting the various members of her family. Through Harper’s eyes we witness first-hand how one setback after another wears away at the resolve of her parents until they begin to withdraw, leaving the children mostly to fend for themselves. It is the final, climactic tragedy that strikes the family that finally wakes the parents up.

Sonya Hartnett had her first novel published when she was just 15 years old and it’s been full speed ahead ever since. It’s easy to see why so many people like her books. Sometimes I read a book and only get fuzzy, gray images of what the author is trying to describe, but Hartnett’s pictures come in sharp and clear and in full color. She creates characters that you can really sympathize with and care for. Thursday’s Child, like many of Hartnett’s novels, was written for young adults, but I think most anyone would enjoy it.

Melissa Eccleston was a good fit for Thursday’s Child. She’s British so the accents came naturally to her I’m sure. I thought Eccleston did a good job handling the various characters and making them distinct, and I also thought she read with some feeling. Not all narrators do that and it’s always nice to hear one that does.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett (Audiobook Review)
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente (Audiobook Review)
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers (Audiobook Review)

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Special thanks to Brilliance Audio for this review copy.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt.
This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from Audiobook-Heaven.