Review: Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read a couple of reviews that mentioned a "strange, Eastern European accent" of the narrator, so naturally, I was intrigued enough to go and check it out. I'm glad I did - it was a pleasure to return to this book. I'm pretty sure I'll read it again sometime, it's that good (though not without flaws). As for the accent... it was nice enough to listen to. At some points I suspected that the accent was fake, because there were noticeable inconsistencies in pronunciation. Either way, the story wasn't ruined being read aloud. It wasn't quite enriched, but that would be too much of an expectation. The narrator got Sarkan all wrong for my taste, but even he was bearable after all.

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Review: The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

This review is for the audio edition of The Martian, narrated by R.C. Bray. I happened to hear a dialog about a convertible towards the end of the book first, and my first thought was "It's completely wrong!!! That Bray guy completely messed up the emotions!!!"
'But well, yeah, I know people who liked that recording, so maybe it's not all that bad...' So I decided to give it a shot.
Surprisingly, the narrative style grew on me. By the end of the first disc I already liked it. R.C. Bray turned out to be not that bad with emotions after all. And I really like the way he talked differently (and consistently) for each character. Besides, the monolog at the end that so annoyed me in the book doesn't sound as pathetic in this performance. Maybe saying it out loud is better than reading it? So five stars as opposed to four for the books, solely to acknowledge the narrator.
I still don't like the 'convertible scene'.

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