Audio Book Review, "The Sirens of Titan"

I have a subscription to Audible.  They do not sponsor this blog, I am not important enough for that, but I do use them and will probably review a book I get from them every so often.  I did it before with “Miss Peregrine’s Home…” and now I am doing it with the first ever book by Kurt Vonnegut that I have ever read, “The Sirens of Titan”.

The story starts out as a somewhat low key sort of science fiction, there are spaceships and humanity has done some activity in space, but have decided not to do anymore because there exists a special anomaly in our solar system that has a funny name.  The funny name is said often and it is a running gag.  The main characters are all deeply flawed, even the time traveling mind reading billionaire who sets the plot into motion.

The story is pretty grounded initially, as most of the action takes place on Earth but takes an abrupt turn into Crazy Town in the second act as the main character joins a militia on Mars that is hell bent on invading Earth.  The third act has a bigger twist about the underlying motivations of the plot, so much of a twist that it kind of makes the rest of the story feel a little like a cheat.  The story end on a real downer.  No other way to put it.

I like half of the underlying philosophy, as a big thrust of the story seems to be that you should not attribute to god that which is just luck.  That the universe is guided by chance and some people get advantages that they don’t deserve and they should not rub other people’s noses in it.  The other half of the thing seems to be about how free will is mostly a crock, that we are guided by impulses and machinations well beyond our perceptions and even if we could perceive them we would not be able to understand them.  I suppose there is some charm to that idea too.

Overall the story has some funny wordplay and solid characters, I could see this being adapted into a movie or mini-series and am surprised it hasn’t been, the main character at times resembles one of the most egotistical people in America and it would work to lampoon them.  I am also a little taken back by some of the fan art I have seen of the character of Salo, whom I pictured so differently from everyone else that I think I must have missed a big percentage of his physical description, or I just subconsciously ignored and chose to do something more interesting.

There are parts that will be a little slow and a little too out there for many people, the entire section on Mercury felt like a big waste of time.  It is a good story but hard to recommend.

I "read" this by listening to it as an audio book, and I think that might have elevated it a bit.  The narrator is best known as Dan Green, the voice of "Yu-Gi-Oh", and he has a range of voices that do a good job of differentiating the characters.  A good performance can do a lot.

Maybe I will get another Vonnegut title in the future but I am trying to get a few titles by classic science fiction authors and he was just the first.  I am currently listening to “Stranger in a Strange Land” and am so far liking it a great deal more.

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Audio Book Review: "Miss Peregrine's Home..."

I have recently given up on “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”.  I listened to it as an audio book from Audible and that hurt it severely as the guy doing the reading was awful. That being said I can list many good things about the story that if not for a particular fatal flaw would have made me love it, but as is they just feel like a lot of wasted potential.

This book.  This is the book.

1)      I like the underlying themes of reliving things, a form of time travel is in the story and that plays along with the setting that time forgot and the pictures of the peculiar children, the strange swamp mummy that is in the little town’s museum, and allusions made to family legacies.

2)     I like the fascinating backstory about the protagonist's Grandfather, if there had been no supernatural elements and the story had just been about a kid finding out his grandfather's tragic life fleeing Poland and then having his adopted home in Wales bombed by the Nazi’s it would have been great on its own.

3)     The scenes in which real action and tension are happening are great, the death of the grandfather which kicks off the story is tense and awesome.

4)     The creepy/strangeness of the supernatural elements are great; they have the feel of a more magical Addams Family or a Tim Burton movie (hence why his choice to direct the movie adaptation was a smart one).

               But here is the fatal flaw: the main character is crap.  He is an entitled stupid asshole who mentions being in lots of honors courses, but aside from occasionally using a word you would see in an ACT prep book there is no indication of his intellect.  I think I muttered, "Go fuck yourself" multiple times when listening to him try and blunder his way thru a conversation any halfway intelligent person would have anticipated and planned for (again maybe it had to do with the voice actor whose constant upward inflection, like every sentence was a question or statement of being confused made the character sound like even more of an idiot).

The protagonist (whose actual name I have forgotten) isn't a complete blank slate like Harry Potter, so the audience can’t just jump into him and pretend they are the one on the adventure.  The lead also is not clever or funny so I don't enjoy being along for the ride on his adventure.  He's just a jerk and I don't have the patience to see how his character arc manifests.

The book also does not give me the impression that Miss Peregrine was hot like the surface of the sun.
I don't know whether to think of this as a miscasting or the filmmakers making something better in the adaptation?

  

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Best Video Game Voice Acting

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and will be writing out entries, hopefully I can get all thirty days without any breaks, and if I manage to do that (since August has 31 days) I will think of an additional entry to write about.  I have done a 30-day challenge before, it for movies, but that was a while back, feel free to read those too if you like.

            Today is day 20 and the topic is “Best Video Game Voice Acting”.

            “South Park: The Stick of Truth”.  This game is a ton of fun.  And represents the single best transition of an intellectual property to a different medium, with the entire creative team of the show working on the story, dialogue, and art.  It is actually kind of hard to compete with in regards to voice talent because it is the voices of the characters, not just vocally, but intellectually.  This is “South Park”.

I am also looking forward to the sequel which is about Superheroes,

            I don’t really have anything else to say about it.  I guess I will post my Steam review of the game, such as it is.

Even though I have not played the game to completion it is still a fun and definite recommendation.

The combat is a little limited (with only one other companion to help you in battles, and positioning is not a substantive factor) and the gear you get is so flexible that you can be a bit overpowered at times by switching between numerous different augments to fit the situation.

The story is ULTRA true to the South Park universe, and I imagine that the game was meant to reintroduce fans of the series who have not played games before (via the easy gameplay) but also to welcome back people who used to watch the series but hadn't in a while (hence why some of the references are to jokes from the series that aren't even referenced in the show anymore, like Mr. Hanky).

            But how about I talk about a game that I love which has totally original characters with voices and characters captured by the voice actors: Pretty much everything ever produced by Bioware.  Even when I didn’t care about the game all that much “Dragon Age Origins” I loved the voice cast and the dialogue is delivered in a natural tone with great comedic timing.  “Mass Effect 2” is one of my favorite games ever because of Jennifer Hale, the most prolific voice actress in video games, and the surrounding talent which allows her to get shit done.

Her actress has played space heroines elsewhere too.

            I could point to a game with voice acting that totally doesn’t work, but I tend to not play those very much… Maybe “Shadows of Mordor” a game I love but I hate the main characters because they are boring assholes.  But that isn’t a reflection on their performances, just the writing.  I guess I don’t have anything for a bad example of voice acting, except for stuff everyone already knows about (that I never actually played) like the original “Resident Evil”.

            How about the single best casting choice?  Armin Shimerman, was the actor who portrayed Andrew Ryan in “Bioshock”.  The lunatic founder of a Libertarian city under the sea is voiced by the same actor who played Quark on Star Trek, the character who spoke of the philosophical benefits of capitalism and free trade on Deep Space 9, a city in the stars.  He so completely disappeared into the role I didn’t notice until I started researching this blog.

Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? -Rule of Acquisition #70 

             I guess that is it for my rambling BS.  If you have a favorite voice performance, I am guessing “Batman: Arkham (Place)” will get a few mentions as they borrowed the most iconic animated performances for it, it is a good choice.  Maybe you think I am an idiot for picking “South Park”, also good, but if so please tell me why in the comments.

Though, there were numerous instances in which I just wanted this jerk off to shut up while I stealth his goons.

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