April

By: Mackey Chandler

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

April is an exceptional young lady and something of a snoop. After a chance encounter with a spy, she finds herself involved with political intrigues that stretch her abilities. There is a terrible danger she, and her friends and family, will lose the only home she has ever known, and be forced to live on the slum ball Earth below. It's more than an almost fourteen year old should have to deal with. Fortunately she has a lot of smart friends and allies. It's a good thing because things get very rough and dicey. They challenge the political status quo, and with a small population the only advantage they have in war is a thin technological edge. The entire "April" series is building towards a merge with the future series that starts with "Family Law".

Not bad for a digital narrator

yes, it's digitally narrated, so it's not as good as a human narrator, but it's one of the best digital narrations that I've heard, and one I don't mind listening to.

Yes, there are some word mispronunciations, but you just need to let the author know and he'll pass it on to his editor. There's already been corrections made to the audiobook.

As always, a good story, and I'll keep listening to the series even if it's just a digital narrator.

VV is very disappointing

VV is very disappointing it’s like listening to an answering machine. I’ll not try to purchase not to book with VV

Love the April Series, Virtual Voice not so much

I was delighted to see April in audio. The plucky young libertarians who take on the superpowers pushes several buttons for me. The only good thing I can say about Virtual Voice is that it is better than nothing. If this is the only way to get certain books on audio, I guess I will live with it. One problem is the AI confuses nouns and verbs that are spelled the same, making the sentence context confusing. Also, without an actor distinguishing characters by voice and without being able to see quotation marks, it can take several sentences before I can determine who is speaking. Often the author expects you to follow dialogue by quotation mark cues. Voice actors know this and clue the listener in with inflection. All in all its mentally taxing to adjust while listening.

love it's out in audio

I have been reading the April books since the first one came out. They are the first books that I intentionally reread and audio means I can reread while doing something else. I hope the rest of the series gets released soon. Now on the subject of AI narration, some reviews are crying about it, some complaining about it mispronounced acronyms. Acronyms are pronounced as a word or a string of letters, the narrator has to know which, human narrators get it wrong all the time. I listened to a series where SUV was pronounced Susie for three books before someone corrected him. It's about the story, enjoy it. Keep it up.

Excellent.. April the beginning

Love all of Mackey Chandler’s stories. I’ve read the April series 3 times, and am delighted to be able to listen to this one. I was delighted when the Family Law series came out, and astounded to have Lee and April meet up down the pike.

Virtual Voice is amazing. The narration lacks personalized voices for the different characters, but is totally reasonable listen to.. I never could get into the LibraVox books, but this is great. PLEASE do the rest of April’s series for Audible.. I’m working through the Family Law audiobooks now, but gotta say April’s series are my favorites (along with Ell Donsaii, of course)

Computer voice, such a failure

The computer voice is a downer when it comes to a series. I have read this series and it truly is a great story. Please use a human to read this story as the highs and lows are very important.

A mediocre real narrator would be better

This book and the entire April series are favorites of mine. Mackey Chandler has created a wonderful set of characters and the near future world building deserves top marks.
I was excited to see April finally appear as an audiobook but the virtual narrator was suspicious.
After completing the book the best I can say for the virtual narration is it’s better than no audiobook. The lack of character differentiation for dialogue is painful and the way acronyms are handled will make you grind your teeth.
It would be 10 times better with a real narrator, but as an April fan this was better than nothing.

rest of the series please

I've read most of the series I was very happy when I saw it was now on audiobook. I really look forward to the rest of the series.

Great Hard Sci-Fi story

April Series has been one of my favorite series of all time. I am looking forward for the next audiobook.

Pros:
* Near future Story and very believable (starts in 2083)
* A tense, suspenseful story.
* Great plot and characters.
* Man is just starting living in space.
* A little bit libertarian.
* Super fun.

Cons:
* While a professional narrator could be better, it is still pretty decent.
* Some problems with virtual voice pronouncing USNA.

Great For AI

The only real downside would be a couple awkward phrasings due to the AI reading acronyms as whole words. Occasionally a word here and there would be a bit goofy. Overall, better than some live narrators I have listened to. Considering the author himself is deaf (so as to be unable to checkbout live narrators) and the cost of making audio books, this AI reading is a very good alternative.