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The Windup Girl
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's summary
Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)
Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories.
There, he encounters Emiko...Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.
What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.
BONUS AUDIO: In an exclusive introduction, author Paolo Bacigalupi explains how a horrible trip to Thailand led to the idea for The Windup Girl.
Critic reviews
- Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2010
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- Best Books of 2009, Publishers Weekly
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On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past - while a world goes to war with itself. In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin.
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Captivating & thrilling
- By Sean Higgins on 09-19-15
By: Kameron Hurley
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Heroes Die
- The First of the Acts of Caine
- By: Matthew Stover
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions.
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Don't Let the Cover Turn You Off
- By Paul on 08-13-12
By: Matthew Stover
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The Survivors
- By: Kate Furnivall
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Germany, 1945. Klara Janowska and her daughter, Alicja, have walked for weeks to get to Graufeld Displaced Persons camp. In the cramped, dirty, dangerous conditions they, along with 3,200 others, are the lucky ones. They have survived and will do anything to find a way back home. But when Klara recognises a man in the camp from her past, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins. He knows exactly what she did during the war to save her daughter. She knows his real identity. What will be the price of silence? And will either make it out of the camp alive?
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Really interesting
- By Karen on 11-10-18
By: Kate Furnivall
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How Long 'Til Black Future Month?
- Stories
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Gail Nelson-Holgate, Robin Ray Eller, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.
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Great! One quibble with the audiobook editing
- By L on 03-05-19
By: N. K. Jemisin
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Tower of the Forgotten
- The Tainted Cabal Prequel Novella
- By: Mitchell Hogan
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Niklaus, master swordsman, has not aged a day since being chosen by his mercurial goddess. A slave to her will, he moves from one cryptic mission to the next in the hope of ascending to become her equal. But even a man who has lived for centuries can sometimes find himself out of his depth. When Niklaus is sent to kill a sorcerer of the Tainted Cabal, overconfidence leads to a fatal mistake, and neither experience nor skill with a blade can prevail against the forces unleashed against him.
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What's Next?
- By James on 06-04-17
By: Mitchell Hogan
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When the Lion Feeds
- The Courtneys, Book 1
- By: Wilbur Smith
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the 1870s, and twin brothers Sean and Garrick Courtney are born into the wilds of Natal. They could not be more different, and fate, war and the jealous schemes of a woman are to drive them even further apart. But as history unfolds, a continent is awakening. And on the horizon is the promise of fortune, adventure, destiny and love.... When the Lion Feeds is the best-selling novel that launched Wilbur Smith's stellar career and the first in the riveting saga of the Courtney brothers.
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What did you do with John Lee?
- By SAM on 04-03-19
By: Wilbur Smith
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The Alchemy of Stone
- By: Ekaterina Sedia
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Mattie, an intelligent automaton skilled in the use of alchemy, finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict between gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. With the old order quickly giving way to the new, Mattie discovers powerful and dangerous secrets - secrets that can completely alter the balance of power in the city of Ayona. This doesn't sit well with Loharri, the Mechanic who created Mattie and still has the key to her heart - literally.
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Steam Punk with a fizzle
- By Janice Budd on 12-29-11
By: Ekaterina Sedia
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The Queen of the Tearling
- A Novel
- By: Erika Johansen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler - and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her. On her 19th birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa.
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Volume changed a lot
- By Nik on 12-20-14
By: Erika Johansen
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The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination
- Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius
- By: John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Mary Robinette Kowal, Justine Eyre
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Mad scientists have never had it so tough. In super-hero comics, graphic novels, films, TV series, video games, and even works of what may be fiction, they are besieged by those who stand against them, devoid of sympathy for their irrational, megalomaniacal impulses to rule, destroy, or otherwise dominate the world as we know it. It’s just not fair. So those of us who are so twisted and sick that we love mad scientists have created this guide.
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HAND DANCING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-30-15
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The Spirit Thief
- The Legend of Eli Monpress, Book 1
- By: Rachel Aaron
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
He's not just any thief. He’s the greatest thief of the age - and he’s also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls - he’s going to put his plan into effect. The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he’ll need to steal some big things. But he’ll start with somethingsmall. Something like a king....
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Entertaining light fantasy
- By Kindle Customer on 02-16-12
By: Rachel Aaron
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SilverFin
- Young Bond, Book 1
- By: Charlie Higson
- Narrated by: Nathaniel Parker
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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What does it take to become the greatest secret agent the world has ever known? In this thrilling prequel to the James Bond series, readers meet a 13-year-old schoolboy whose inquisitive mind and determination set him on a path that will one day take him all over the world, in pursuit of the most dangerous criminals known to man.
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A Pleasant Surprise
- By Troy on 09-17-15
By: Charlie Higson
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Repeat of Alchemist with Unsatisfying Additions
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On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the East Coast of the US, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space and requires a much-larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York’s drive to become the first lady astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.
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Never achieves lift off
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Extremely disappointing
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Neanderthals have developed a radically different civilization on a parallel Earth. A Neanderthal physicist, Ponter Boddit, accidentally passes from his universe into a Canadian underground research facility. Fortunately, a team of human scientists, including expert paleo-anthropologist Mary Vaughan, promptly identifies and warmly receives Ponter. Solving the language problem and much else is a mini-computer, called a Companion, implanted in the brain of every Neanderthal. But it can't help his fellow scientist back in his world, Adikor Huld, when the authorities charge Adikor with his murder.
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Scicen Fiction Can Be Literature
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A Memory Called Empire
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Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident - or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion.
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Reviews, Dishonesty and The Emperor's New Clothes
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The rock could use a bit more polishing
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Emanuel Goldsmith, a famous poet, murdered eight people, then disappeared. Three people want to find him: an aspiring writer, an embittered scientist who wants to use him, and a policewoman who needs to put him in custody before the Selectors, a vigilante organization, get to him first.
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fantastic, a whole new experience on audio
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Perdido Street Station
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The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the center of the world. Humans and mutants and arcane races brood in the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the river is sluggish with unnatural effluent and foundries pound into the night. For a thousand years, the Parliament and its brutal militias have ruled over a vast economy of workers and artists, spies and soldiers, magicians, crooks, and junkies. Now a stranger has arrived, with a pocketful of gold and an impossible demand. And something unthinkable is released.
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Brilliant, wonderful book -- horrible recording
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By: China Mieville
What listeners say about The Windup Girl
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Brian PDX
- 03-02-12
300 years from now..A nightmare Future
A long novel, set in a dismal future Thailand, there is no petroleum, all plant life is genetically modified and sold at high cost by the " calorie companies", computers are powered by treadle ( like old sewing machines), the world is full of tribes, and companies.
A fascinating view of the potential that our children's children may face if we don't make changes now, this novel was in dire need of a good editor before it first was issued in book form.
After a couple of slow first hours, I listened at one and a half speed and lost little I'm sure as the author spent chapters on, for example, a "Noe" fruit which I learned far too much about only to have it make no real difference in the plot.
But, it was fascinating to listen to the misery that people were living in, struggling to eat, living in dismal slums. The (former) US, which is now agro-corporations, hires these wretched people at minimal wage ( of course), enslaves genetically modified elephants for labor and is essentially the Ugly American.
The 3rd part, however, is much more exciting, and much of the plot is knitted together.
Jonathan Davis is an excellent narrator but he lacked the ability to keep his accents and names straight..one time a person might have an Asian accent, the next sentence he wouldn't. With all the Asian names, it can get a bit confusing for someone unused to the words.
Would I recommend it? Depends. It can be horrific to listen to, depressing and confusing but it IS a dark future novel, not one of peace and joy and life like Star Trek promised us on TV.
You'll have to decide for yourself if you want to spend a credit on an essentially depressing view of our future. I'm glad I did.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Msaly1
- 05-18-10
Wonderful surprise
This is not the type of book I usually read or listen to. I chose it because I wanted a change of pace over my usual read and because of the reader reviews .I am so glad I did. It is one of the best listens I have discovered on Audible.com and recommend it highly. I am not surprised to see it win an award. Can't wait to listen to his latest.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Ron
- 11-28-12
Award Winning
This book takes place in a futuristic Thailand where the world’s currency is based upon calories. This is not the only change from the world as we know it. We encounter beings that are used as slaves, solders and even for recreation. They are called New People and they were engineered to be stronger, faster, and obedient.
Overall this was an interesting sci-fi book and has won two of the biggest awards:
The Hugo Award and The Nebula Award.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Ryan
- 10-27-11
Original, troubling world creation
Despite my hesitation after reading some less-than-favorable reviews, I took a chance on this book and rather liked it. Bacigalupi's hard-edged, confident, cerebral prose resembles that of William Gibson. The novel takes place in an ecological dystopia some 200 years in the future, an era when fossil fuels are nearly exhausted, sea levels have risen, and genetically-modified plants and diseases have run amok, wiping out original species. Humankind has regressed backwards both in technology -- relying on specially-bred animals and stored energy springs for power, and using boats and dirigibles to get around -- and in civility, living in a world of xenophobia, factionalism, and human exploitation.
The events of the story occur in a future version of Thailand. In Gibson-esque fashion, Bacigalupi introduces a motley cast of characters with intertwining stories, a hustling North American "calorie man" desperately looking to make a quick fortune from the discovery of lost foodstuffs, a duty-driven officer of a militarized environmental protection force struggling to hold pestilence out of the Thai kingdom, a genetically engineered sex slave who's despised by a xenophobic population but possesses a strange power, and a once-wealthy Chinese refugee who now must make deals to stay alive.
I enjoyed the calm intensity that Bacigalupi brings to his story, the vivid sense of a declined world in motion, where people are nonetheless surviving and living their daily lives as best they are able. I appreciated that the author didn't try to lead readers by the hand, but left us to soak up his reality and a set of intrigues already underway. The Windup Girl's setting, texture, and level of literacy feel quite different from a lot of other science fiction books, but its images and scenes stuck with me more than most. Perhaps this one will be remembered for painting a stunning vision of the-future-in-the-hazy-distance for 2009, in the same way Neuromancer did for 1984.
Criticisms? Well, some readers have complained that the plot is slow-moving and the characters aren't very involving. The former charge -- arguably true in this case -- rarely bothers me in a good novel, but the latter is hard to deny. The characters, cogs in a complex plot, never quite become sympathetic (we hardly learn anything about the backstory of the American), and the only one I found truly interesting, the vile but mesmerizing Dr. Gibbons, doesn't get much stage time. Still, the book swept me up as its plot strands converged towards a blazing finale, and I would certainly consider Bacigalupi a writer to keep an eye on.
The audiobook reader deserves a lot of praise, with subtle but distinct differences in accent for the various characters.
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Overall
- Steve
- 01-15-10
Absolutely terrific
One of the best books I've purchased in 5+ years with audible.com.
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- P. H. Daniel
- 10-18-11
Don't listen to the detractors, this book ROCKS!
What can I say? An engrossing story, masterfully told, and unique in concept. Just hear it.
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- Matthew
- 10-19-09
Solid but not spectacular
It gets hold of thailand pretty well - though the narrator could have gotten some help with pronunciation. It's concepts of the post carbon energy economy are limited and are as though the author hasn't read anything on the topic since 1970. Good first book, better than most but not yet up to something like the Diamond Age. I would read this author again.
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- P. J. Benyei
- 09-24-10
Great ideas, but doesn't quite deliver
Like most sensationalized headlines in the news, when you get into the actual story I felt this book fails to deliver. There are so many interesting ideas brought up, but just a tantalizing glimpse that the author never really delves into. You never hear exactly what is going on in the world, exactly how it all happened. I feel like, as the reader, I had to do too much of the work with my own imagination. For example, his characters drop ominous hints about "what happened in Finland" but never really talk about what it was. There is a desperate hunt for VS attempt to protect/hide a potential seed bank, but really, why would a government keep a seed bank if it is not going to be used in the event of some Apocalypse- which has obviously taken place? If it is to protect every single plant from some sort of disease (also never really explained) than what good is it to keep the seeds if they can't be used? I don't really know why, this is one of those areas where the author forces you to come up with your own believable inference that fits his story and I'm just not that creative. The actions of the characters is even more mystical to me. Let me rephrase, the actions of the entities - government and commercial factions - that create the situations our characters find themselves in- don't make sense to me. I just finished it and I have no idea why the warring factions took a lot of the actions they did. I don't think he justifies the escalation or provides sufficient motive for the overall conflict that our characters find themselves in. A lot of reason has to be suspended and a lot of imagination added. I read the book because of the world it takes place in and wanted to see the imagination that created it. Unfortunately, the world is just interesting background color and really not what the story is about. It feels almost like this book should have been a sequel- as if something should have come before and I started in the middle.
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- LoRe
- 04-21-13
early impression: well-executed tripe
Fair warning for the first three chapters: extended and lasciviously detailed violence, and a brutal public rape scene that is apparently the de-rigueur motivating background for female characters in "edgy" fiction. Thai and Malay cultures are treated with the sort of casual contempt that might put you off if you're sensitive to that issue. Bad science.
Not super-impressed so far. Hoping the pace will pick up and the characters will become more interesting.
Good narration - almost disappears into the background, and the reader gets through the rape scene without over-acting. It's hard to pitch that kind of thing just right. Amused by the choice of stock (but subtly rendered) character voices.
We'll see how the rest of it goes.
I'm sure it's unfair to review based on a few chapters, but I'm not sure I'll have the patience to get much further along. Figured some forewarning is warranted.
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- James D Kempton
- 08-11-13
Amazing detail amazing world
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
The detail to the world and characters almost lost me and yet that made it very difficult to stop listening. The world had gone so wrong all because of mankind.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Emiko the windup girl was so real in the story, I had felt sorry for her and her life. Another innocent placed in unacceptable conditions out of her control.
Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favorite?
Emiko and Anderson tied for first place.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
The treatment of Emiko was very disturbing her programming of reactions sad. No control in her own life.
Any additional comments?
One of the hardest audio books I've listened to. The depth and detail made everything so real at times I wanted to jump ahead. It was a grind sometimes difficult other times I hated to stop. So glad I listened all the way through well worth my time.
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