The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne JonesThe Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones

Jones is a huge fan of dropping readers right into the middle of a story without much (if any) explanation, and of making readers piece together what the heck’s going on as they go. That’s fine, and probably part of what makes her books enjoyable, but it’s not a format that’s well suited to audiobook. So much is happening at such a fast pace that if your attention wanders even for two minutes (as it invariably does), you wind up irreparably lost.

That was my problem here. I’m sure there was a really great book going on, but because I don’t always listen to audiobooks with 100% of my brain (that’s their point, after all), I never got my footing as to what was going on in the story, to the point where I spent the last hour or so thoroughly confused as to who several of the characters that kept getting mentioned even were. So, while the writing was good, and it was definitely funny, and imaginative, and I’m sure the story was great, I’m not really the best judge. From here on out, no more DWJ audiobooks for me (plus I might have to go back and re-read this one) – I hate feeling like there’s a good story I’m missing! 3.5 out of 5 stars.

via Diana Wynne Jones – The Merlin Conspiracy « Fyrefly’s Book Blog.

No Tag