Surprise of a book

This story started slow but really picked up and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Occasionally the wistful tone in the narrator got a bit much but overall very listenable.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Very entertaining

I was very surprised at how funny this was and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t impressed with the narrator’s male voices. It made them not as likeable

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Original idea, average storytelling.

Games: Disillusionists, Book 1 by Carolyn Crane narrated by Rebecca Wisocky. Great original idea but only average performance and story telling 3/5 for both. The good is that I loved the concept of this book. Justine Jones has debilitating hypochondria which is destroying her life and may eventually lead to the loss of everything she cares for. Then a stranger in a bar offers her not only salvation but salvation in a form that will turn her weakness into a weapon and allow her to help others. Now she just has to figure out how to live with the consequences. The plot alone kept me interested for the first part of the book as Justine is such an unlikely but likable heroine but the storytelling really lets it down and by halfway through the book I found myself completely unconvinced about any of it. The narrator does a great job getting us into Justin's mind and neuroses but the accents she uses for some on the men are just so over-blown, it became really annoying. Not one I'd bother coming back to or buying any more books from this author.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Excellent three book series

Loved all three of these books. The story was a bit slow to start in Book One - Mind Games, but then as the story evolved I became hooked and couldn't stop listening. Each of the books build on one another but are entire stories in their own right so can be treated as stand alone stories too. The premise is original and brought the listener into the confusion experienced by the main character.
The four stars for performance are because I found the voice used to narrate one of the characters a bit grating. However, that is only personal preference and it didn't detract from the story as a whole. I recommend all three books.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Wonderfully entertaining, original & witty.

I adored this trilogy, my favourite fantasy of its type.



The premise is tenuous, but unusual enough that I didn't mind. A woman with massive, crippling health anxiety is recruited to join a band of vigilantes (or, "reverse emotional vampires" according to Simon) who, taught by their enigmatic leader, channel their destructive emotions into criminals, working as a team to disillusion the target. Essentially, they are hired as a psychological hit squad, to mentally break a target. In reality, this would probably just cause massive longterm psychological damage, but in Mind Games this process causes the target to 'reboot' back to factory settings, filled with newfound empathy for their victims and remorse for their criminal behaviour. That's the tenuous part.



It's more superhero fantasy than magic fantasy, as the other fantasy element is "highcap" high capacity humans; humans with mutated mental powers beyond the norm. Telepaths, telekinetics, dream-invaders, and the like. There are some new ideas I haven't seen before in the genre, unusual powers which have some fun, inventive applications.



I think the reason I liked this it so much, though, was because I identified so strongly with the heroine. I suffer from social anxiety rather than health anxiety, but I felt that the subject was treated seriously and handled sensitively, and I found myself really liking the heroine.



She really struck me as a realistic person, instead of the kicking-ass-and-taking-names alpha-bitch type heroine in so many books of this genre. It's written in 1st person and Justine has a very strong voice in the prose, and her wry sense of humour as well as mad panic is conveyed absolutely perfectly by Wisocky, who captures the voice and keeps up with the book's fast pace.



The whole trilogy is a perfect meeting of great book and great audio performance. Absolutely worth five stars.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Great listen!

Audible recommended this book. I liked the blurb and took a chance.
I just loved the storyline, it is a new paranormal thing and was full of plenty of emotion and action.
The narrator was spot on and an enjoyable listen.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Loved it!

Really enjoyed this reading - great narration, fun characters and plot line. Not too frothy either… I enjoyed the narrator’s v evident sense of humour and I’m looking forward to the sequels. An easy, light-hearted and entertaining book.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Love the story, narration a little over the top

The concept and story is great, I love it
It gets affected by the dramatic voice of the narrator that, at times, makes you feel like it’s a porn movie 😂
Shame really, I might just read the book rather than listen so I can enjoy the story

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Good but the narrator isn’t quite right for this story

The story starts quite slow and boring and it picks up towards the end. I listen to is at 1,5x or 2x speed just because I don’t like to dnf books, I think the idea for the story is clever but the execution wasn’t quite right. Also the narration left some to be desired, some of the female and male voices were quite fitting. It was ok to liste for free but I wouldn’t pay for it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Unique story, I Loved it

I don’t think I have read a book like this before & it was such a brilliant change of pace for me, I loved the insight into Justine’s head & learning about the other people & near the end was great as well, but I will not say more as I would give to much information if I did.
A great listen/read

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!