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cpalmerpatel's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Stalking, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Cannibalism
amethyst_knight's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Torture
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent and Grief
charles423's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Really well written Urban-fantasy thriller. Dan Wells brings his strong sense of pacing, Brandon Sanderson his patented Sanderlanche.
The narrators were all top notch; the main character started out a bit rough, but she grew on me as a character and narrator. I think she got better as she fell into the podcast-feel. There were one or two narrators in the cast that just didn't have "it," but the appearances were short lived.
In some cases, I thought something would contribute to the plot in an interesting way (e.g. a character named Lamar is forgotten (not forgotten in a plot-significant way, just forgotten by the narrative) and isn't mentioned again until a near random-moment).
You should not be too worried about not having read the Dark One comic; Forgotten could work as either a prequel or a starting point, in my opinion.
If you liked projects like The Magnus Archives or The Black Tapes, I think this will be a salifying edition to the "Serial-like supernatural fake-real-crime podcast" genre.
The narrators were all top notch; the main character started out a bit rough, but she grew on me as a character and narrator. I think she got better as she fell into the podcast-feel. There were one or two narrators in the cast that just didn't have "it," but the appearances were short lived.
In some cases, I thought something would contribute to the plot in an interesting way (e.g. a character named Lamar is forgotten (not forgotten in a plot-significant way, just forgotten by the narrative) and isn't mentioned again until a near random-moment).
You should not be too worried about not having read the Dark One comic; Forgotten could work as either a prequel or a starting point, in my opinion.
If you liked projects like The Magnus Archives or The Black Tapes, I think this will be a salifying edition to the "Serial-like supernatural fake-real-crime podcast" genre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Minor: Kidnapping, Torture, Murder, and Violence
Torture explanation:lizbusby's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I didn't remember much about the graphic novel this audiobook is a prequel to. I read it as a PDF because the pandemic had delayed the printing and the whole experience was kind of bad and confusing. However, I really enjoyed this audio-play and don't think any knowledge of the Dark One graphic novel is necessary to enjoy it.
At the beginning of the story, I was irked a bit by some verisimilitude problems of the faux-podcast format. As a podcaster myself, I found it hard to believe that our protagonists had a full day of recording interviews and managed to edit and release it in such a way that it could be going viral by early the next morning. I'd estimate a minimum 3 hours of editing per hour of audio, and it takes a while for people to actually listen to it and share it, so this seemed unrealistic in the extreme.
My persnicketiness fell by the wayside once I got wrapped up in the story. The way the characters manipulate and overcome the main magical obstacle (left vague for spoiler reasons) was exactly the kind of cleverness I want from a quick fantasy read. The final wrap up of the plot line is horrifying for just the right amount of time before reaching the release. Overall, I really appreciated Dan Well's horror and dialogue touches on this interesting Sanderson worldbuilding. I hope the Dark One multi-genre franchise Brandon pitched us years ago eventually materializes, especially if it contains more like Forgotten.
At the beginning of the story, I was irked a bit by some verisimilitude problems of the faux-podcast format. As a podcaster myself, I found it hard to believe that our protagonists had a full day of recording interviews and managed to edit and release it in such a way that it could be going viral by early the next morning. I'd estimate a minimum 3 hours of editing per hour of audio, and it takes a while for people to actually listen to it and share it, so this seemed unrealistic in the extreme.
My persnicketiness fell by the wayside once I got wrapped up in the story. The way the characters manipulate and overcome the main magical obstacle (left vague for spoiler reasons) was exactly the kind of cleverness I want from a quick fantasy read. The final wrap up of the plot line is horrifying for just the right amount of time before reaching the release. Overall, I really appreciated Dan Well's horror and dialogue touches on this interesting Sanderson worldbuilding. I hope the Dark One multi-genre franchise Brandon pitched us years ago eventually materializes, especially if it contains more like Forgotten.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Torture
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