This audiobook has all the ingredients to be a rip-roaring fictional trip through ancient Rome--food, lust, murder, politics, and Simon Vance, one of the top narrators in the business. However, Vance's fine performance can't disguise the book's weaknesses, which make it a bit of a disappointment. Thrasius, a slave who is great in the kitchen, is purchased by Marcus Gavius Apicius, an exceedingly rich gourmand with ambitions. The book, without any real defining plotline, follows the two men and their friends, enemies, and meals over several years. Vance does what he can to pump life into the numerous characters, but too many are fairly flat and stay that way. While Vance is the consummate professional, even he can't quite overcome this book's flaws.
Pub Date: April 25, 2017
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781504797535
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ayla, one of the "others," is adopted by a clan of Neanderthal cave people. She struggles to conform to their ways, but her advanced human traits overwhelm and threaten their primitive culture in this initial installment of an immensely popular series. Although the story might benefit from abridgment, Rowena Cooper easily carries out the formidable task of enlivening the mostly silent and stereotypical characters with consistent, diverse personalities and human dimension. Through skillful phrasing and inflection, she maintains the reader's interest and suspense, especially with Ayla and her plight, throughout this rambling and imaginative story.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This lyrical, sensual novel of woman's lot in Manchu, China, is as well researched as it is well written. Authentic in tone, it's nonetheless written for Westerners by a Western expert on China. Moreover, Susan Clark performs the demanding text superbly, with only occasional signs of fatigue. For the most part she not only sustains the quaint diction and Asian atmosphere, but also, creates whole worlds with her voice. She acts the book, rather than reads it, and, in so doing, turns a pretty trifle into a stupendous beauty.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Audio Literature
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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