Hit and Misses
3 out of 5 stars
The full list of narrators for The Darwin Variant includes Emily Adams, Eric Pierpoint, Erin Chambers, Francesca Ling, Gary Graham, Jeff Marcus, Jenny Gago, Susan Appling, Katharine Jay, Terri Treas, David Henne, Mat Hayes, Stephen Mendel, John Duffy, and Kenneth Johnson.
Easily the biggest selling point of this audiobook is the full cast. There are a ton of talented voices at work in The Darwin Variant but another thing that the multiple voices helps with is the fact that this book jumps around a lot from voice to voice and without a full-cast like that it would be nearly impossible to read and understand – especially during the first 1/3 of the book.
The book itself, the story, and the overall “feeling” that I got from it would get between 4 and 5-stars. I enjoyed the heck out of it. I thought it was a blast and really “out there” in a good way.
The downfall of the book was a combination of two things. One, how it was told (looking back on it like history in a collection of different mediums) really hindered it from being a smash hit. Two being that it was quite wordy for no good reason. There were scenes and even whole chapters that just felt like they were trying to take up space and add to the page count. Much like this paragraph now, it just seemed to go on and on about the same point without ever really adding anything to the overall story arc.
Overall, combining the good with the bad leaves us with an above average story and below average storytelling which doesn’t sound like it makes sense, but after reading The Darwin Variant… it kind of does.
I’m going to maybe throw some fans under the bus while backhandedly complimenting this book. If you’re a fan of Steven King – you’ll probably like this book. The over obvious description and longwindedness is something that King pulls off and a lot of people love.
Reading through the other reviews tells me that people either loved or hated this book. I felt perfectly in the middle (and maybe leaning towards liking it a little).
Book Description:
The Darwin Variant by Kenneth JohnsonNarrator: David Henne, Emily Adams, Eric Pierpoint, Erin Chambers, Francesca Ling, Gary Graham, Jeff Marcus, Jenny Gago, John Duffy, Katharine Jay, Kenneth Johnson, Mat Hayes, Stephen Mendel, Susan Appling, Terri Treas
Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
Published by Brilliance Audio on June 12th 2018
Genres: Bio-Thriller
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I’m glad I’ve passed on this one.