Audio Book Review: Masters of Fate

Masters of Fate

By:  A.K. DuBoff
Publish Date:  October 17, 2018, Audiobook Release December 13, 2018

Format:  Audiobook - 8 hrs 55 mins
Narrated By:  Kristin James

Genre:  Young Adult, Sci Fi, Fantasy

Series:  3rd Book in Dark Stars Trilogy series

Synopsis:
A Space Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure

The final fight will change their perception forever.

Everything Elle Hartmut and her friends thought they knew about the alien menace—and the nature of their universe—is wrong.

With mounting evidence that the aliens behind the Darkness reside on a hyperdimensional plane above spacetime, Elle and the Dark Sentinels will need a new approach to win. However, preventing the impending alien invasion will test their team in ways they never imagined.

The ancient artifacts wielded by the Dark Sentinels may hold the key to victory. If they can understand and master their true abilities, they may still be able to save the Hegemony and their loved ones before the invasion’s final stage consumes them all.

The Dark Stars trilogy combines high-tech sci-fi with traditional fantasy magic, perfect for fans of Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, and Xenosaga. Join Elle in her final battle against the Darkness!


My Thoughts and Summary:

*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I love Kristin as a narrator. She breaths live into all the characters, giving each their own voice and personality. Such a great pleasure to listen to her.

We learn a great deal about the Crystalline network and the aliens. Some of the crystalline network was a deep detail that kind of skipped over me, but I like how there are different planes to the network. The Crystalline network reminds me of save points or respawning points in a game. But it also has a computer network feel to it as well. Very interesting blend to create different dimensions. As for the aliens... they are trouble. Yes, there's more to them but I don't want to give it away.

I enjoyed the new friend we pick up in this book. He's very special and willing to help. He adds to the gaming world feel with the group and their powers. I love this!

The crew finds a new artifact in their travels through new places. The new artifact fits right in as each one is important and a key to the hyperdimensional planes. Yes, hyperdimensional planes. That's a lot in one word. There are details about this in the book, however I fall in the same mind as Elle and I don't always follow what is told of it. But I get a solid feel for it through their actions. Thank you for showing and relating the descriptions to what we've seen and done!

This is the last book of the trilogy. We get answers to what's been happening as things have escalated through the series with the Darkness and aliens. This book felt to have more technical items to it for me, but with those details came answers. I didn't always understand what was said as I had to digest it and think on it because it came in the form of audio, I may have caught it sooner if I read it, but it was answers. We see what happens to our favorite four as things come to a close. I enjoyed the way this story tied up for us.

Audio Book Review: A Light in the Dark

A Light in the Dark

By:  A.K. DuBoff
Publish Date:  August 8, 2018, Audiobook Release November 20, 2018

Format:  Audiobook - 8 hrs 34 mins
Narrated By:  Kristin James

Genre:  Young Adult, Sci Fi, Fantasy

Series:  2nd Book in Dark Stars Trilogy series

Synopsis:
A Space Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure

The real invasion is about to begin.

An alien fleet is coming. Elle and her friends are the Hegemony's best chance for fighting back, but they'll need to head straight into enemy territory in order to identify the Darkness' origin.

The Hegemony is out of time... and the war may already be lost before it even starts. The only chance for salvation is the mysterious shard of the Master Crystal, supposedly capable of initiating a universal-scale reset. Except, no one knows what a reset of that magnitude might entail, or if it's possible.

Despite the risks, no step is too extreme in the frantic fight for survival. Elle and her friends must stop the insidious alien menace before every world is consumed.

The Dark Stars trilogy combines high-tech sci-fi with traditional fantasy magic, perfect for fans of Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, and Xenosaga. Continue the adventure today!


My Thoughts and Summary:

*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Elle and her team have done the first step for what they were made for, create back up the worlds in the archive. But when doing this, they learned there are aliens coming. They wait a week before Elle talks them into action. It's time to go learn what they can of the Darkness that's overtaking worlds so they can fight it. Off to investigate they go.

It is a pleasure to listen to Kristin again. I've not listened to her narration in a while, but once starting a story I knew why I enjoy listening to her. She brings the story to life to me as she voices each character as their own with tone and personality. Her pacing goes with the action of the story as well, keeping me hooked when things are moving quickly. I love her work.

Our crew tests their immunity to the black smoke as they investigate the first planet that was consumed to learn what they can of the black smoke and crystals.

As we investigate, we see Elle and crew in dangerous situations. But how else do you learn details? I love how we get to see them in action, fighting the darkness and working as a team.

I love how the characters are created from the world and with this, they react to the world. There's a great give and take between the characters and the world in events that happen. Never a dull moment with this team as they fight to learn and battle the darkness.

This book handled a situation that could be repetitive rather well and made it new for us. I really like how the same scenes become new as we learn different details that bring our characters to the conclusion they need. However, things are different. This difference is what drew me deeper into the story, to see if their plan B works or not.

I'm 100% invested in this series. I love the characters and their relationships along with the trouble of the darkness in the world. It still have a video game feel to what the crew does, but not as much as it did in the first book. I don't mind though because the group have grown as individuals and as a team and I love it.

With the ending of this book, I'm diving right into the third audiobook because I want to know what happens with the Darkness!

A Voice Behind the Words. With GIVEAWAY!

As many have seen, I've found my way to audio books. And I'm loving it. I do believe the narrator can make or break an audio book. I have found audio book narrators that I love listening to, and they make the books all the better by bringing it into a fourth dimension for us.

One of those voices I've grown fond of and love her work is Kristin James. Kristin has done many great voices for authors. She's voiced Melanie Karsak's books for The Harvesting series and Stormy Smith's Bound series along with several others!

I'm thrilled to have Kristin by for an interview about audio work along with a giveaway at the end for you.

Please give a huge warm welcome to Kristin!

M:  Hi Kristin. Thank you for joining us today.

KJ:  Thanks so much for having me!

M:  I've noted in several of your narrations that you do different accents and voice tones for characters. Did you, or do you still, do research on voice sounds, accents, and personalities of people to add to your audio works?

KJ:  Always! Sometimes the research is more traditional, like looking up a vocal coach or native speaker on youtube if I need a specific accent. Other times it’s in the moment. If I hear a voice or sound that I like I’ll try to emulate it on the spot. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve gotten in this area came from one of my voice coaches, Joe Loesch. He said, “Remember, even if you fail at perfectly mimicking a particular voice- you’ve still created a new voice in the process.”

M:  Have you always been a master at vocal changes and voices?

KJ:  You are very kind to call me a master; I think I’ll always think of myself as a student. I’ve often had people comment on my voice and how much they liked it, but I didn’t really take acting seriously until college. There, I trained for the stage and learned invaluable vocal warm ups and care. After graduating I decided to take what I’d been hearing from others about my voice seriously, and signed up for several voice-over specific classes. I fell in love and have never looked back.

M:  Have you ever played a trick on people in public with your many voices? Pretending to be someone else or anything with strangers?

KJ:  Not yet, but you’re giving me ideas. ;)

M:  You have a talent for getting into character. What does it take to get into the brain of the characters? Do you read the whole book first?

KJ:  I always read fiction cover to cover before starting the recording process. I think it’s important to know the journeys the characters embark upon and the ways in which they deal with things before committing to “their” voice. I use the process to experiment along the way. I’ll read aloud to myself to try out a voice on a character to see if it fits. If it does that’s how I’ll hear them in my head as I continue. If it still makes sense by the end of the book I know I’ve found a winner.

Non-fiction is different and I’ve found that listeners prefer consistency on those projects. I tend to just stay one chapter ahead in that field.

M:  Do you talk in detail with the author about the characters before or during the recording of their book?

KJ:  Sometimes I ask for a one or two sentence descriptor for the major characters, just to make sure we’re on the same page. But most of the time those descriptors come out in the writing within the novel. After I’ve read the book I’ll send any questions I’ve got their way. I’ve also worked together with authors on voices before I begin recording. I’ll send a few sentences of dialogue a few different ways and they pick their favorite version.

M:  When you record a number of voices, do you read in pieces by character or read straight through switching characters as you come to them? Your work sounds seamless as if you read straight through with adjusting as you go.

KJ:  On one of my earliest projects, I tried doing each character’s dialogue individually and then Frankensteined everything together after the fact. I thought it would keep the consistency of the characters more intact. After one of the most arduous editing jobs I’ve ever given myself, I knew there had to be a better way. Then I realized that I'd already been doing this at home. All my dogs have voices and have full "conversations" with each other and me and my family. If I could switch between them without issue, why couldn't I do the same in an audiobook? I practiced switching from one audiobook voice to another and found that it wasn’t as daunting as I’d made myself believe. Self-doubt had caused me to second-guess my abilities. Once I proved to myself that I was capable of switching between characters on the fly, I’ve read my projects straight through. My advice to anyone reading is to trust yourself. You are likely far better than you are giving yourself credit for.

M:  Would you like to share what your latest or next available narration novel will be?

KJ:  Absolutely! My most recent release is Damned if I Do by Erin Hayes. You can find it here:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/Damned-If-I-Do-Audiobook/B01AIWT50A/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1454438645&sr=1-1

My next title is Reflections in Psychotherapy and Paths for Wellbeing by Veis Djalali PHD. It should be out later this month.
The next project I’ll be starting is The Girls from Alcyone by Cary Caffrey.


Bonus! 
Kristin's inspiration to get into voice acting:
A question I get asked a lot is, "You're a voice actor? How do you even get into something like that?" Rather than give the standard, "went to school for theater, continued taking voice specific classes after graduating, ect" answer, I thought I'd get a little more personal.

When I was ten years old I had a heart attack. Thankfully, I was in the hospital when it happened. I was receiving treatment for ‪‎Kawasaki Disease‬, which Wikipedia defines as, "an autoimmune disease in which the medium-sized blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. It is largely seen in children under five years of age. It affects many organ systems, mainly those including the blood vessels, skin, mucous membranes, and lymph nodes. Its rarest but most serious effect is on the heart, where it can cause fatal coronary artery aneurysms in untreated children. Without treatment, mortality may approach 1%, usually within six weeks of onset. With treatment, the mortality rate is 0.17% in the U.S."

It turns out I was in that unlucky "rarest but most serious" category and had 2 aneurysms on the arteries in my heart. (Don't worry, as seen in the before/after photo they're gone now and have been for some time.)

During the attack I was rushed to the ICU where I spent about 5 and a half days of my 11 total days in the hospital. I don't know how much experience you all have with the ICU, but patients aren't really allowed to do much of anything except to rest and focus on getting better.

Fortunately, I had some very good friends who not only visited me, but also brought me a very influential present. I was given Lois Lowry's "The Giver" in audiobook form (on cassette!) performed by Ron Rifkin.

Listening to that story I was able to forget for a little while that I couldn't play soccer or softball anymore, that my days would be dominated by a medication schedule, or that I didn't know when or if I would be able to go back to school. I was able to just get lost in the world that Lowry created and Rifkin brought to life.

I still have that copy.

That experience has always stuck with me. I don't remember that time as blood tests and IVs, but rather as the first time Jonas ever saw color.

If Lowry and Rifkin could do it for me, then maybe, just maybe, I could do it for someone else.


About Kristin James:

Kristin “KJ” James was born and raised in the Nashville, TN area. Acting has always been a passion of hers. Starting on the stage as early as preschool, KJ pursued her passion into college where she received a BA in Communication with a double emphasis in Theatre and Public Relations from Mississippi State University. After college she found herself more and more drawn to voice overs. Several classes, coaching sessions, seminars, research, and a closet-turned-studio later, and she now records and produces audiobooks on a regular basis. She has also done several radio commercials for clients such as Advance Financial, TriStar Health, and GAC.

When she’s not in her booth, you can find her crocheting, playing video games, or running agility with her dog, Zeus. If you’re unfamiliar with the sport, check out the video!


Follow Kristin James to keep up with her latest works:
Facebook:  KJ the Voice Actor
Twitter:  @KJtheVoiceActor
Her Site:  KJ the Voice Actor
Her works on Audible (you can listen to samples there as well!)

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Kristin has offered up one of her audio books as a prize.

YOU PICK!

That's right, you get to pick which book you'd like from Kristin's narrations on Audible.
Fiction or Non-fiction. Urban Fantasy with Romance, Fantasy, Scifi Romance, and more to pick from!

Whether you are old hat and want to try a new voice, or new to audio books and would like to try Kristin. We are sharing with you all.
Please make sure you are able to listen to Audible in your country.

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