Another great Gemmell book, but...

I was so excited to see another Gemmell book in audio, however, I don’t know why they didn’t keep the same narrator as the previous books? I found it so painful to listen to those accents. I’m currently deciding if I can face it for the next three books.... Story as ever was brilliant, love Gemmell.

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1 person found this helpful

What’s not to love?

Typical David Gemmell in terms of theme and plot. And that’s certainly no bad thing.

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Brilliantly Read

Loved this version of the book, really well read and produced, difficult to turn off.

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Great story, awful narration

Loved the story but the narration sounded so wrong to me. Wrong accents, wrong inflections. I was so disappointed to see the same narrator reading the rest of the series. I guess I’ll have to find time to actually read the rest because I can’t listen to anymore

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Excellent story!

I had purchased this series a while back, when I was searching for something new to read it came up on a best fantasy to read site. I have to say I really enjoyed this book however it was over far too soon, luckily there are more books for me to read!

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Excellent Gemmell book massively let down by awful narration

I’ve been a fan of David Gemmells books for 20 years and have read them all. This is an excellent story but the choice of narrator was completely wrong. Clearly the narrator and producer have no knowledge of Gemmells works , which is the only explanation for some of the accent choices which can be summarised as:
- Camp German accents lifted from allo allo
- Devonshire accents reminiscent of Alice from the Vicar of Dibley
- Arabic accents of the sort you might hear at an amateur production of Aladdin

The producer didn’t spot that the narrator uses ‘sword in the stone’ on several occasions which is unforgivable!
Planning to send a letter to the production company and ask for a refund. Massive let down which is an insult to fans of Gemmell

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Brilliant

Captured from the beginning, the characters and the relationships were so captivating.
compelling story, i was in tears and laughter,.

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Brilliant Narration

As a die hard Drenai fan, when the Rigante books were released I was a little dissappointed. I never really gave them more than a couple of reads each and only picked up this Audible one on a 2-1 deal. I was spoiled by the fact that DG was releasing book after book. Sadly, that won't happen any more.

Adjoa Andoh's narration is brilliant in my opinion (and there are a lot of folks who don't like it). Comparing her to Sean Barret's rendition of the Drenai novels is unfair I think. They're just both very different. I don't care that she doesn't do Scottish accents when the characters probably demand it. I don't care that she's female, narrating a book with predominantly male protagonists. I don't think DG would either. To me, it sounds like she cares about her storytelling technique, and that she's genuinely enjoying the tale which she reads at a very nice pace, and throws a lot of effort into telling it.

The story itself is typically DG but after reading so much "realistic" fantasy, Gemmell's world has vibrancy, colour and character that sets it apart from a lot of the sub-par offerings out there at the moment. This is a great story, compelling and exciting, and as someone who read the Rigante books quite a while ago, it's fresh & new.

I don't know how Amazon handles refunds, but considering there are polar opinions on the narration, I'd urge you to give this a go yourself and settle into another one of David Gemmell's rich and entertaining tales. If you can't take the accent after the first 5 minutes, just refund. I loved it.

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very compelling

very compelling. incredibly well written and very nicely narrated. I am ordering the next book in the series now.

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Gemmell Classic

Loved the Rigante series as a teenager. You feel it’s a more fleshed out than the Drenai. Enjoyed the narration. Defo getting the next in the series, Bane is one of my favourite Gemmell characters.

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