Stop reading here if you don't want any spoilers. Technically, it's four-and-a-half stars for me. 'However long you may live, the world will never lose its ability to surprise you with its beauty.'' 'Here's a comforting thought for you, Peter,' he said. On the other, the opportunity for character enhancement is missed. On the one hand, it is a relief to be spared the adverbs of the beginning writer, who 'laughingly, retorts, whispers, utters, and bemoans' their way through entire scenes. 'No,' I said, 'but G is what Gandalf stamps on his fireworks.''

'And I suppose you're fluent in Elvish?' said Dr. I barely heard her because I'd just recognized the shape of the tattoo. But he loves architecture to the detriment of other aspects of writing, and if you pay attention to his dialogue, it mostly consists of 'said.' Witness: Since I save audio books for the car, this was no doubt a surprise to any friends who witnessed a month-long reading adventure.Īnyway, it was a pleasure having Kobna's voice echo in my head as I read. Aaronovitch's writing is clever, full of references, Britishisms, Latin words, and all sorts of things where looking at the format of the word is nice. I mean, except for that tiny part where I jumped ahead to the last paper chapter to see how it ended, and except for that other tiny part when I skimmed just a tad to see how we got to that part, but other than that, I was totally faithful about alternating between the two and not getting too far ahead. I did something I've never done with Lies Sleeping: I alternated between paper and audio for the duration of the book. Aaronovitch writes in a multicultural London and uses it all, and I'd say Kobna's only shortcomings are in the American (awkward) and Vietnamese accents (comes off similar to his Sierra Leone). Trained as a theater actor, I suspect his versatility shows in his voices from the Welsh pathologist, to Nightingale's upper-class 'posh,' to the saucy junior apprentice Abigail, to the breathy, Cockney accent of a new character, to the semi-insane voice of a returning one. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is a deity among readers. As much as I enjoy the written version of Peter Grant, the audio is superb. But then came Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, the reader for Aaronovitch's books. If I listened while cooking, I lost track of either my numbers or the plot (and that's no good when it comes to spices, let me tell you). When I listened to Harry Potter while driving, I found myself getting sleepy. I believe you until this series, you could have counted my attempts at audio books on one hand, as I suffered many of the same complaints.

You will likely not believe me you will tell me that you hate audio books, that you lose track, fall asleep, and are 100% unable to pay attention. Stop reading the paper copy and give listening a go. The Post in Which I Muse on Audio Versions of Books

Ben aaronovitch lies sleeping