The inaugural audiobook review

Everyone loves reviews, they're fun to read, help us decide what to spend our time on and they're a great way to form opinions. Most reviews are about movies, TV shows..and even books (yes! those heavy looking objects situated in rows on your shelves). 

But, as someone who has spent countless hours of precious time stuck on GTA highways in agonizing bumper-to-bumper traffic I would much rather review audiobooks. Yes, yes..I know what you're thinking but I tell you audiobooks saved my life. Seriously, during those difficult early morning commutes as a sleep-deprived new parent, music, talk radio, cold air, water on my face, food and prayer could not keep me awake. 

It was the wonderful voice of Jim Dale that kept my ears peeled to the car speakers. His wonderful narration of the Harry Potter series had me on the edge of my driver's seat, my clammy hands in a 9 and 3 position as Harry and his friends escaped from many dangerous situations and I bravely admit that I had my car-designated tissue box close at hand as Jim aptly narrated the more sorrowful moments of the book.

Rendezvous with Rama

So today I will briefly review the audiobook Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and performed by Peter Ganim. First off, the book itself was surprisingly wonderful. Expertly judging the book by it's title I assumed that it would somehow tie science fiction to Hinduism - I wasn't even close. It's an amazing blend of eerie atmosphere, suspense and action within a backdrop of a largely unknown entity. I won't ruin the book for you but Clarke does an astounding job of putting you right into the story and have you want to have your questions answered as soon as possible. I would be lying if I said I never sat in my parking spot at home/work for a few extra minutes because it was just too good to hit pause.

That brings me to the audio portion of it. Because it's a book that is constantly on the move; exploring, scouting and running away, it complimented driving very well. The narrator does an excellent job of emphasizing the most important parts of the tale. As for voices he uses a colorful mix of accents and tones to portray the various characters but deliberately avoids letting the characters become the focal point simply because of the voice acting (in contrast to Jim Dale's very colorful portrayal of Harry and Co). Peter builds the suspense extremely well, something not that easy to do in this book because of the of the mostly in-animate antagonist.

All in all this is an excellent audio book and I would highly recommend it. Don't be scared off by the genre of "hard science fiction", it's completely readable and no it is not like reading a science textbook!

I give this audioboook 4.5 head phones out of 5