What a pity the reader didn't check the pronunciation of words he was unfamiliar with before making the recording. Archipelago, mellifluous, amenable are all mangled. He also reads too quickly, making the transition between dialog and description hard to catch.
I've read a lot of podcasts, and most of the good ones get almost universally good reviews. I can't explain the negative ratings, as I thought the story was top notch. Well worth your time, particularly since it is free in this format.
I love the story and the tie-in with the pre-historic times, but the transitions between parts (and even the beginning of the book) are abrupt and can be disorienting. The reader (and audio editor) hit his stride near the end of part 3, when he started to differentiate voices, which helped keep the story straight. All in all, an intriguing listen!
Like karaoke, where singing is best left in the shower, this writing was better left upon a shelf. The reader will have you slitting your wrist in two chapters or less. With his best friend only hours dead, our hero finds himself in a house with a beautiful woman fighting-off an erection. I mean, come on...this is junior high grade slop.
For the most part, I enjoyed this story. Some of the ideas seemed a little far-fetched but once the story get going, its easy to overlooks some of these issues. Perhaps I am a little slow, but at times I got lost during the narrative. This is however, a truly unique story.
The Silk Code was great! Bold concepts and interesting science. I especially like the historical parts.
The reader Shaun Farrell was great. Most of the podcast novels have really bad readers but Shaun was perfect aside from some questionable/so so English accents that I grew to like by the end of the podcasts.
This is an intelligent story that combines loads of interesting ideas and history with good characters. Not a combination you find that often. Thank you for creating this podcast, which is the first book I've ever "listened" to. Made for some good jogs. I'd buy books by this guy. Nice narrating, too.
