Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Best/Worst Series Enders. I came up with three for each category.

BEST

1) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Epic in every sense of the word.

2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – The perfect way to wrap up the series; a bit of tragedy and a bit of hope. I just loved it.

3) Mockingbird – A lot of people didn’t love this one, but the tone felt right to me. War is chaos; there aren’t always long goodbyes before people die.

MEDIOCRE

1) Breaking Dawn – If vampires and werewolves weren’t weird enough, how about we throw in a gruesome birth, rapidly growing kid and a strange affection between the newborn and mom’s old crush.

2) Monsters of Men – I didn’t hate this, but the ending was pretty frustrating to me.

3) The End (Lemony Snicket) – Again, it’s not horrible I think I just wanted a lot more answers than I got.

What Makes a Good Narrator?

There are so many elements that go into a good audiobook. Obviously the plot of the book itself, but you must consider a slew of other factors. I know that I have a few preferences and I’d love to discuss those today. 

I love when the narrators’ sex matches that of the main character. I hate it when some male tries to do an awful high-pitch imitation of a woman when speaking for a female character. A few examples of perfect narration that come to mind are Lenny Henry’s reading of Anansi Boys, Frank Mueller’s reading of Motherless Brooklyn, and Jenna Lamia’s reading  of The Secret Life of Bees.

I enjoy a full cast of narrators when there are multiple main characters. For example, I’ve listened to a few of Shakespeare’s plays that were done with a full cast and they are excellent! Also, the audiobook of The Help was done this way and it is one of the best I’ve heard.

I almost always dislike it when authors read their own work. For the most part, authors do not have the skill of a seasoned narrator. There are a few major exceptions to this rule that come to mind. Neil Gaiman and David Sedaris are wonderful at narrating their own work! Also, I know Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling both did their books and they’re both great. 

I particularly dislike special effects or music in the background of the performance. Some audiobooks rely on this as a way to explain what is happening to a reader. Here’s a tip, if the book says, “And then he closed the door,” I don’t need to hear the sound of a door closing.

As far as genres go I’ve found that I prefer listening to nonfiction on audio rather than reading it. I’d highly recommend trying one of Erik Larson, Bill Bryson or Mary Roach’s books if you’re interested. Young Adult books, especially series also worked beautifully on audio. I’d recommend the Percy Jackson series, the Flavia de Luce series, the Harry Potter series, the Lemony Snicket series and The Dark Materials series as good audiobooks.

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to narrators is blatant mispronunciations. It drives me bonkers! I don’t mean an English to American difference, like pronouncing aluminum Al– Loo – Mini – Um. I mean just saying the word wrong. Some are funny and others make me cringe. Does this bother anyone else?

Here’s a few of my favorites…

Despot … pronounced DespoTATE

Fruition … pronounced Froot – Uh- Tay - Shun

Guillotine … pronounced GILL – Uh- Teen

Carnagie … pronounced Car – NEG – E

How about all of you, what do you love or hate about audiobook narrators?

This post is part of Audiobook Week hosted by Devourer of Books

Image from here.

The End

** There are no spoilers of Book 13, but this review assumes you’ve read the first 12 books in the series.

The End (Book 13, the final book)
by Lemony Snicket
★★★★

We have come to the end… finally. For me, this was a long time coming. I loved this series at the beginning, but after 6 or 7 books it felt repetitive to me. I stayed with it though, reading only two or three of the books each year, because I wanted closure.

As I mentioned in my review of the 12th book, I had high expectations for this final installment. I’ve had a mixed reaction to some of the books in this series, but to me, this was one of the better ones. I loved all of the literary references to Moby Dick and The Tempest. I thought the “Call me Ish” bit was particularly funny.

I do think that there were still quite a few unanswered questions and that was a bit of a disappointment. There was such a big build up to the finale, I guess I thought there would be a lot more about the past and what led everyone to this final point. There was some of that, but not quite enough.

Here are a few things I wish were different about the entire series:

1) I understand that 13 is an unlucky number, but there didn’t need to be 13 books. The first 4 are great, books 5-10 have some good moments, but they are also incredibly repetitive. I think the series would have worked better if it had been condensed to about 10 books.

2) There are a few moments in the final book where the orphans think back on sweet memories they shared with their parents. I really wish there had been more of those throughout the whole series. There are very few times when we learn what their parents were like and I think I would have been more invested in the kids if I’d known more about their life before they became orphans.

3) I wish the book provided more closure for different characters. We never got to see the Quagmire triplets again. The books alluded to one of the Baudelaire parents possibly being alive, but unless I missed it, we never find out if that’s true or not. I just wish there had been a bit more information across the board.

Overall, I’m glad I read the series and there are so many things I loved about the way it was written. It was clever and funny. I think it would be a perfect read for preteens and a great vocabulary lesson for young readers. There are things I disliked and things I wish were different and because of that I can’t say I loved the series. But I’m glad I stuck with it and I would definitely read it with my niece and nephews one day if they were up for it.

“It's almost as if happiness is an acquired taste, like coconut cordial or ceviche, to which you can eventually become accustom, but despair is something surprising each time you encounter it.”

“It is a well-known, but curious fact that the first bite of an apple always tastes the best.”

The Penultimate Peril

** There are no spoilers of Book 12, but this review assumes you’ve read the first 11 books in the series.

The Penultimate Peril (Book 12)
by Lemony Snicket
★★★☆

The word Penultimate is defined as “The second to last in a series or sequence.” What a fantastic word to use in the title of this, the second to last book in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Kit Snicket (fictional author, Lemony’s sister) takes the Baudelaire orphans, Sunny, Violet and Klaus, to the Hotel Denouement, where the mysterious VFD will be meeting in a few days. The siblings must disguise themselves as concierges to find out more information about the society. Along the way they run into almost every villain or friend they have met along the way in the first 11 books, though the Quagmire triplets were no where to be seen. The hotel is cleverly organized by using the Dewey Decimal system, which I loved.

The series is finally coming together and we are able to see what role the characters have played in the wider saga. Everyone has to pick their final side, good or evil, and a few decisions are surprising.

I am desperately hoping that Snicket can pull off an ending that makes the whole series worth while. I’m sure my expectations are pretty high at this point, but when you leave so many questions unanswered for 12 books, your readers are going to expect you to explain everything I the final book. I know that I’ll be really disappointed if things are left open-ended.

Fingers crossed.

Book Reviews: The Grim Grotto

** There are no spoilers of Book 11, but this review assumes you’ve read the first 10 books in the series.

The Grim Grotto (Book 11)
By Lemony Snicket
★★★☆

I’ve been disappointed with the past few books in the Series of Unfortunate Events, but book 11 reminded me of why I liked it to begin with. After this one, there are only two more volumes left in the series, so I was happy to find that the Baudelaire orphans were making some headway in solving the mystery of VFD.

Sunny, Violet and Klaus meet Captain Widdershin and catch a ride on his submarine, the Queequeg. His step-daughter Fiona is both kind and knowledgeable and Klaus takes a particular liking to her. The novel is funny and clever, especially the first half. I found myself enjoying the book much more before Count Olaf made an appearence. His scenes tend to wear me out because they rarely vary.

Along the way we catch up with old characters and meet a few new ones. Fiona and her step-father are great additions to the series. We also get a few more answers and for the first time I felt like we were nearing a resolution.