Audiobook Review – Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World by Scott McCormick (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: All Ages
Genre: History/Humor
Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: May 29th 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1978665071
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Each volume of four 30-minute histories will dig into the petty name-calling and grumbling grudges that led to many of the world’s greatest advancements, all delivered with a cheeky sense of humor.”
Did you know that most of our dinosaur fossils were discovered because two grown men absolutely hated each other? It’s true!
Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World is a riotous audio exclusive, like if Monty Python taught your history class. Each volume of four 30-minute histories will dig into the petty name-calling and grumbling grudges that led to many of the world’s greatest advancements, all delivered with a cheeky sense of humor.
Choose sides: Cope or Marsh, the jerks who discovered so many dinosaurs; Hamilton or Burr, whose rivalry fueled American politics; Queen Elizabeth or Mary Queen of Scots, who fought to rule England; Adidas or Puma, whose rivalry changed the world of sports and fashion.
Kidnappings, rock fights, duels, and explosions, Rivals! shows world leaders at their absolute best and their worst, often at the same time.”
I got this for free as an Audible Original. This was okay. It’s four stories about “frenemies” who changed the world with their rivalry. The stories were kind of in a random order and I didn’t really understand how the last couple changed the world as we know it. This is more aimed at kids, so maybe kids will enjoy it more than I did.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was decent. I wasn’t a huge fan of all the sound effects throughout, they were pretty jarring. The main narration was fine.
My favorite story was the one about the brothers who developed Adidas and Puma shoes, I had know idea about all the history behind that! The initial story about dinosaur bones was kind of neat. I had heard everything about the rivalry between Mary Queen of Scots vs Queen Elizabeth (in the third story) before, and there wasn’t much about how this changed the world. The fourth and final, story about Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, was just plain boring.
Overall this was okay. I enjoyed one out of the four stories about historical rivals. The whole thing is targeted more towards kids, although the descriptions get pretty graphic so I would recommend for older kids. I don’t plan on reading any follow-up books in this series.
