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A review by jenbsbooks
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang
relaxing
3.25
I thought I'd like this a little more than I did. It was pretty good, but I don't know that it will really stick in my memory. I didn't feel the need to stop and make notes/highlights. I have a physical copy, picked up from a nearby LFL, and I'll be returning it to LFL circulation (a book I LOVE I sometimes have trouble parting with) ... I got the audio and Kindle copy too, as I do, and went primarily with the audio.
One might say Weylyn is the MC of the book, but until almost the last chapter, we really only get him second-hand. We hear from the doctor who delivered him in the prologue, witness interaction between him and a boy during "interludes" (these reminded me a tad of "The Princess Bride" and a story within a story, going into these tales, then coming back to the two people talking).
The chapter setup was interesting ... the prologue, first of several interludes, then six parts (and an epilogue after) ...
1. The Wolf Boy
2. Rainmaker
3. Storm Seeker
4. The Forest Familiar
5. Firefly Keeper
6. Old Man Spider
Several chapters in each part, which continued to run chronologically through. I'm a "table of contents" gal ... I just can't comprehend physical books not providing a TOC. I wished that the Kindle/Audio also included the POV in the TOC. In part 1, it switches between Mary and her father. In Part 2 between Lydia Kramer and Mrs. Meg Lowry. In Part 3, the POVs are Bobby Quinn Jr and Mary. Part 4 POVs are Duane Fordham and Mary. Part 5 it's Lydia again, and her son Micah. We finally get a chapter from Weylyn's POV in the last part. He's featured strongly in the "interludes" but those are from the POV of Roarke. The audiobook TOC didn't even show the parts or interludes at all, just numerical chapters. Lacking!
In audio, there were two male narrators and two female narrators. That worked for Mary and Lydia, but one of the guys voiced the "interludes/Roarke" and the other did all the other chapters ... so he voiced Nelson, Bobby, Duane ... and Weylyn. These were all in 1st person, and I'm sorry, but while I think the narrator tried to switch up the voices a little, they all sounded the same, or at least too similar. Very distinct voice. I think four different narrators were needed for those parts, or someone who could really switch up their voice. This affected my enjoyment ... I don't think I even really realized that Bobby and Duane were different people, their voices just ran together, and then to have Weylyn sound exactly the same? The narrator would have been great for ONE of the voices (Bobby or Duane) but not all of them :(
The whole weather thing reminded me a bit of the book Savvy (which I loved).
The "man/spider" reminded me of a recent read (Murder at Spindle Manor) where there was a man/spider creature.
It was interesting how the stories continued and crossed ... but I never felt like I really got attached to the characters, enough to care about them. There were two perceptions of an attack (wolf on cow, two deaths) that was unique.
proFanity x2 ... other words I note: Carnegie (standard pronunciation), swath, cerulean
As mentioned, I was able to snag a nice BOTM hardcover from a Little Free Library. Grateful people are willing to share. I'll return this to the rotation. The audio/Kindle were easily available from my library. I then noticed ... I'd purchased the audio ($3 on Chirp), I'm wondering why I bought it, I don't usually if it's available at the library. Maybe it wasn't when I made the purchase (a couple of years ago).
One might say Weylyn is the MC of the book, but until almost the last chapter, we really only get him second-hand. We hear from the doctor who delivered him in the prologue, witness interaction between him and a boy during "interludes" (these reminded me a tad of "The Princess Bride" and a story within a story, going into these tales, then coming back to the two people talking).
The chapter setup was interesting ... the prologue, first of several interludes, then six parts (and an epilogue after) ...
1. The Wolf Boy
2. Rainmaker
3. Storm Seeker
4. The Forest Familiar
5. Firefly Keeper
6. Old Man Spider
Several chapters in each part, which continued to run chronologically through. I'm a "table of contents" gal ... I just can't comprehend physical books not providing a TOC. I wished that the Kindle/Audio also included the POV in the TOC. In part 1, it switches between Mary and her father. In Part 2 between Lydia Kramer and Mrs. Meg Lowry. In Part 3, the POVs are Bobby Quinn Jr and Mary. Part 4 POVs are Duane Fordham and Mary. Part 5 it's Lydia again, and her son Micah. We finally get a chapter from Weylyn's POV in the last part. He's featured strongly in the "interludes" but those are from the POV of Roarke. The audiobook TOC didn't even show the parts or interludes at all, just numerical chapters. Lacking!
In audio, there were two male narrators and two female narrators. That worked for Mary and Lydia, but one of the guys voiced the "interludes/Roarke" and the other did all the other chapters ... so he voiced Nelson, Bobby, Duane ... and Weylyn. These were all in 1st person, and I'm sorry, but while I think the narrator tried to switch up the voices a little, they all sounded the same, or at least too similar. Very distinct voice. I think four different narrators were needed for those parts, or someone who could really switch up their voice. This affected my enjoyment ... I don't think I even really realized that Bobby and Duane were different people, their voices just ran together, and then to have Weylyn sound exactly the same? The narrator would have been great for ONE of the voices (Bobby or Duane) but not all of them :(
The whole weather thing reminded me a bit of the book Savvy (which I loved).
The "man/spider" reminded me of a recent read (Murder at Spindle Manor) where there was a man/spider creature.
It was interesting how the stories continued and crossed ... but I never felt like I really got attached to the characters, enough to care about them. There were two perceptions of an attack (wolf on cow, two deaths) that was unique.
proFanity x2 ... other words I note: Carnegie (standard pronunciation), swath, cerulean
As mentioned, I was able to snag a nice BOTM hardcover from a Little Free Library. Grateful people are willing to share. I'll return this to the rotation. The audio/Kindle were easily available from my library. I then noticed ... I'd purchased the audio ($3 on Chirp), I'm wondering why I bought it, I don't usually if it's available at the library. Maybe it wasn't when I made the purchase (a couple of years ago).