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alexjarvis's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
gatun's review against another edition
2.0
The voice talent in The Sound at the End was wonderful. I recognized a few voices from Impact Winter. The story though, the story was really not good. It was a closed room mystery although the room was a base in the Arctic. There were so many red herrings, unreliable narrators, and sound distortions that the reveal at the end was exciting because the book was over.
notsogreen's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
hollymilloy's review against another edition
4.0
The audio production on this was great! Especially through headphones. I love full audio experiences like this, especially at the creepy bits. The story didn’t quite live up to my expectations but it was an enjoyable listen.
perjacxis's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. This ticks a lot of my boxes such as a cold location, related to water, written by a woman about a woman, and I really enjoyed it, but the ending got a bit carried away in my opinion.
eggcatsreads's review against another edition
2.0
The sound effects and voice acting were phenomenal, and if the story matched that it would have been 5 stars. If the story could have been as good as the premise and the sound design it might have been as great as the White Vault. It is not.
The main character is annoying and boring, and the entire plot of discovering more about each character from these "therapy" sessions just to have a tiny bit of backstory before they die, as a replacement of actually telling a story. What was the plot? What was the point? What was the theme? Could not tell you.
Each character has a random "plot twist" that sets them up to die, and while the original characters they do it too make sense they slowly just take it to the extreme for shock value instead of good storytelling (the one character going from mildly paranoid/liking conspiracy theories to suddenly believing he's one of the only real human beings alive and being monitored by everyone else was....a hard sell. And then what, the character with an eating disorder suddenly believing there's a virus with everyone else causing her to starve herself to death and destroying the radio. Once again, what was the point?). Plus, the ambiguous ending was supposed to be nice but overall it was just a letdown tbh.
It was an interesting listen but the main character going on and on about her lost love to narrating nonsense could have been cut to make the entire experience half as long and less painful to listen to.
The main character is annoying and boring, and the entire plot of discovering more about each character from these "therapy" sessions just to have a tiny bit of backstory before they die, as a replacement of actually telling a story. What was the plot? What was the point? What was the theme? Could not tell you.
Each character has a random "plot twist" that sets them up to die, and while the original characters they do it too make sense they slowly just take it to the extreme for shock value instead of good storytelling (the one character going from mildly paranoid/liking conspiracy theories to suddenly believing he's one of the only real human beings alive and being monitored by everyone else was....a hard sell. And then what, the character with an eating disorder suddenly believing there's a virus with everyone else causing her to starve herself to death and destroying the radio. Once again, what was the point?). Plus, the ambiguous ending was supposed to be nice but overall it was just a letdown tbh.
It was an interesting listen but the main character going on and on about her lost love to narrating nonsense could have been cut to make the entire experience half as long and less painful to listen to.
tiepilot_dandy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
shellock_ohms's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
jakobem's review
4.0
The production of this is second to none, and of course all done with Kirsty Logan's haunting prose and deep Vibes. Having finished this, I'm not sure I got everything I wanted or needed from it, but I enjoyed every second. Which is par for the course for Logan book, whose Novels I find captivating but never quite sated by. This is of course in contrast to her short stories which reach greater depths than her novels are able to.
The characters in this are crystal clear, especially those of the two main characters, but a structure for their individual arcs becomes clear about half way through, which will either seem like ominous foreshadowing or a frustrating plot device depending on how much you enjoy it. I feel like it works only because its in an audio format, but I can't help but feel it was done in the interest of saving time. Perhaps if this had been a traditional book Logan would have been able to stretch her muscles and write a more expansive book that wasn't constrained to audio production budgets - and really give her characters more time to shine.
I won't stress this too much, but the straight forward structure and lack of information about the setting and its history feel like missed opportunities. It's hard not to compare this to The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R Kiernan, which has similar themes and a fantastic audiobook, which was structurally labyrinthine and dense with information of questionable reliability.
Finally, despite my criticisms, it's a fantastic ride that wears its influences on its sleave, the acting is incredible and I feel like I got to experience the inner lives of each and every character. I'm not sure it stuck the landing, but I'm also not sure it matters.
The characters in this are crystal clear, especially those of the two main characters, but a structure for their individual arcs becomes clear about half way through, which will either seem like ominous foreshadowing or a frustrating plot device depending on how much you enjoy it. I feel like it works only because its in an audio format, but I can't help but feel it was done in the interest of saving time. Perhaps if this had been a traditional book Logan would have been able to stretch her muscles and write a more expansive book that wasn't constrained to audio production budgets - and really give her characters more time to shine.
I won't stress this too much, but the straight forward structure and lack of information about the setting and its history feel like missed opportunities. It's hard not to compare this to The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R Kiernan, which has similar themes and a fantastic audiobook, which was structurally labyrinthine and dense with information of questionable reliability.
Finally, despite my criticisms, it's a fantastic ride that wears its influences on its sleave, the acting is incredible and I feel like I got to experience the inner lives of each and every character. I'm not sure it stuck the landing, but I'm also not sure it matters.
burialshroud's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25