A review by frostbitsky
Beyond Strange Lands by David Peterson, Simon Taylor

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I'll start with some positives:  
- The world building was good. And I did like how the characters were connected (even if they don't into the details of how exactly they're connected). 
- I'll also give the narrators credit for performing what's essentially a radio drama. Even though it was really hard to imagine what was going on (this probably should have been a graphic novel) I can imagine acting this out was a challenge.
- I did like the music. Sounded a bit like Doctor Who.

But I had lots of other issues. 
- The sound was all over the place and I would constantly lower or raise the volume.  Then the sound effects would be too loud but the dialogue too low.
- Sometimes the characters would sound like they were in an echoed room or in a tape recorded, but for no good reason.
- Some action scenes dragged on too long. It would just be noise and like I said I couldn't imagine what was going on. 
- Fiona would sometimes get on my nerves. Pushing down her feelings. And I know she's a mom worried about her son, but it got receptive to hear her constantly protect Ethan. She also sounded too young to be Ethan's mother. 
- One sideline plot (the toads) was total filler. I didn't like that story and at first was holding off judgment to see if it connected to the overall plot.  It doesn't, so it was a waste of time. 

The negatives outweigh the positives so I'm giving this  2 out of 5 Tape Recorders.