See review for previous book

Great sci-fi, terrible romance plot. I won't be buying the third book as the two characters relationship was that painful to read. Which is a real shame, because the plot itself was interesting.

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Unnecessary narration

The use of two narrators is distracting and limits the text. This is not theatre and only serves to reduce the broader experience a reader/listener can experience. Theatre is a different language and achieves a depth by other means; this confusion of the two is a reduction in either form (theatre is written differently). The beauty of text is that it allows imagination; we are quite capable of hearing a feminine or masculine voice without it being made obvious. This does the author a disservice.

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Let down by the narration

What disappointed you about Remanence?

I read the first book in this series and enjoyed it, so when I found the sequel on audio I thought I'd give it a try. There were things I didn't like about the first book, but the likable characters and interesting story line carried me through, enough so that I wanted to find out what happens next. Sad to say I didn't make it to the end of this book.

This book suffers from the same issues I had with the first book... the author tends to go into too much detail, and over-explains things rather than trusting the reader to follow what's going on. I also found some of the alien technology didn't ring true. Yeah I know, it's alien, it's fiction, but even so it needs to make a certain sense, and for me it didn't. Likewise I found some of the conclusions the characters came to about what was happening seemed a bit odd.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I didn't make it that far, my issues with the narration and the pacing meant that, while I wanted to find out what happened, I didn't want it enough to listen through to the end.

What didn’t you like about Susanna Burney and Mark Linden ’s performance?

I could have forgiven issues I have with the writing (as I did in the first book) if it weren't for the audio book narration. The male reader was fine, but the female read speaks *very* slowly. Even in the action sequences where the characters are frantically running around trying to stay alive she ... reads ... at ... a ... slow ... methodical... carefully... enunciated... pace. It felt like she was deliberately talking slowly to make sure she enunciated every work correctly. This made it impossible for me to get swept up by the action. Combined with the (to me) excessive detail in the text, it meant the book seemed to really drag.

About 4 hours in she loosens up and starts speaking at a more normal pace.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I like the characters and the overall story arc. I'd like to know what happens next, but I think I'll buy the eBook and read it at my own pace.

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