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A Man of Honor, or Horatio's Confessions
- Narrated by: Alex Knox
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
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A Man of Honor, or Horatio's Confessions
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Summary
How far would you go to keep a deathbed promise?
Surrounded by the bodies of slain monarchs, a dying prince extracts a promise from his friend, Horatio: “Tell my story”. Rival kings of warring nations strive to lay claim to the throne, now vacant, but what will happen to the people who live there, at Helsingør’s Krogen Castle? How will Horatio preserve his honor and the prince’s legacy while surviving this murderous kingdom and the men who would rule it?
Despite the odds and threats against him, Horatio persists, weaving the story of his dear friend into the fabric of one of their oldest and most revered medieval texts. But when a nefarious Spaniard thwarts his plans, Horatio must once again risk everything to fulfill his oath. With the help of some unexpected allies in the form of Margrete, a courageous lady-in-waiting, and Lanier, a disgraced French nobleman, Horatio undertakes this perilous quest that will lead him on a journey none of them could have ever predicted, to a place none of them ever thought they would see.
And after their hard-fought journey will it all be for naught? Will Hamlet’s glory be Horatio’s downfall?
This historical adventure story tells the fictional tale of how Horatio’s oath gave birth to the legend of Hamlet.
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What listeners say about A Man of Honor, or Horatio's Confessions
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Melodicus
- 08-05-20
Entertaining but spoilt for me by the narration
This is entertaining stuff but unfortunately as an audio book the whole thing was utterly ruined by the narration. For some reason the narrator was directed to perform the whole thing with an awful faux English accent. Why? The inconsistency of the accent, mispronunciations and stilted, mangled delivery utterly spoilt it for me. There are hundreds of examples within the 13 plus hours worth, but the sort of thing that springs to mind are the French king Louis referred to as 'Lewis' even by his French subjects and the word 'buoyed' (as in to be uplifted) was somehow pronounced 'boo-yayyed'??? It seems a bit churlish to pick this sort of thing out, but the fake English accent drove me insane. And what's more it was totally unnecessary because the main character was Danish?
As for the story, I thought it was a really good idea. It struck me as a little over long, and it was a overly wordy. For example, the sun never set; instead the golden solar orb slowly sank beneath the distant magenta sky line etc. Adjectives were rather too liberally scattered through every paragraph for my taste. Perhaps the overly wordy nature of the text was supposed to reflect Horatio as a verbose wordsmith and scholar, but the nature of the narration didn't allow this to come through. Again, this really isn't an issue but this sort of material badly performed is never going to be easy listening.
Once again the stilted narration hid the subtleties of the story. At times I genuinely couldn't tell if it was supposed to be serious or tongue in cheek: Horatio masters the art of archery in a single afternoon! Horatio and the civilian upper class inhabitants of a besieged castle are taught to fight with long swords and other medieval weapons 24 hours before the attack of an all-conquering army! Hand cannons seem to reload magically (I thought reloading took minutes, not seconds) to allow for a shoot-out in an inn! A better performance from the narrator would have either played up the farce to make it apparent it was comical, or down played it to make it more serious. Perhaps the whole point was that Horatio was continuously lying to us even within his confession and hence the inconsistencies, which would make sense in terms of the plot, but again the narration was not up to conveying that aspect of the story. As it was, I just could not tell.
BUT, what a brilliant concept for a story!!! And that, in itself is why you should listen to it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rebecca
- 05-07-20
Excellent, well crafted plot
I am always intrigued by anything linked to the works of Shakespeare and have recently enjoyed listening to audio books as I travel so, Man of Honour seemed the perfect combination! The narrative takes off from where Shakespeare’s Hamlet ends, with Horatio, Hamlet’s dear friend, taking the main stage as he seeks to fulfill a promise to the dying Hamlet, albeit reluctantly. You feel that you are stepping into the very point where Shakespeare leaves us, standing amidst the murder and tragedy that ends Hamlet. I was extremely impressed with the believable flow from Hamlet (which I love!) and the way the old and new tales weave together.
While I have given it 4 stars overall, it would be 5 for the content because it really is very enjoyable, excellent language and well crafted. However, the narration lets it down. It is maybe because I am listening in the UK and in other countries it may not appear to be such a error to have asked someone to put on an English accent. I found the mispronunciations frustrating and distracting. I found that it was harder to ‘read’ the expression and nuance of the speech than I have come across in previous audio books, but again this may be a personal irritation with the limitations of the narrator who came over as a little robotic at times.
Overall, if you can get past the narration it is well worth listening to, or maybe reading the book if you would rather. The plot is excellent and in keeping with Shakespeare’s style. It feels a very plausible continuation and because of how the author draws on the characters from the original tale, filling in backstories for characters that I am so familiar with. I did feel like I was embarking on Horatio’s journey with him and he is an excellent, although flawed character and I was increasingly drawn into the depth of his despair and his complexities. A highly recommended story, and hopefully others will be better able to get past the odd accent of the narrator.
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