Good story - Narration hit and miss

I read this book maybe 10 or more years ago. It's a great Sci Fi story, very typical of Brian lumley and I wanted to re visit to pass the journey to work. However, I couldn't get used to the narrator who seems to warble his way through the book, which in turn made me lose interest and I had to rewind a few times. Also, the sound quality drops considerably around mid way to a very low bit rate which just made things worse. Hopefully, if audible consider the sequel, it will be better.

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2 people found this helpful

Great story spoilt by the tinny sound .

The narration was good but the sound is very tinny and irratating, to the point that you want to turn it off.

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2 people found this helpful

Lumley's Weakest Story with Abysmal Narration

I'm a big Brian Lumley fan, but this is easily his weakest novel by a long way. The first few chapters are quite interesting, but then it just quickly decends into a long, uninteresting journey through the house itself. It doesn't help that many of the characters are annoying. I'm not really sure what Lumley was thinking when he wrote this one.
I don't normally leave negative reviews but this audiobook's narration is so bad I feel like it's my duty to. In my previous experience, Crossroad Press releases are normally of the highest standard, but something went seriously wrong with this one. The narrator is truly awful. It feels like the real voice actor didn't show up in the studio on the day of recording, so they roped the maintenance man in to do it instead. Andy Barker lisps, splutters, pauses at inappropriate moments, murders several accents and, on one occasion, repeats a sentence at the end of a chapter. The whole audiobook was an absolute chore to listen to. Mr Barker is a terrible narrator with absolutely no talent for storytelling whatsoever.
A massive misstep from Crossroad Press. AVOID!!!

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Bad audio, somw good ideas, not followed through

Summary: The overall concept is good, but the book doesn't deliver. The book is old, and I found myself bored a third of the way in.

The bad:
- Audio recording is horrific, but it's not as bad as others make it to be. At least in my opinion
- Narration could be better
- The book starts well, but quickly goes nowhere
- Too much "magic" for my taste
- The book is old and it shows.
- Ultimately, the book starts well, but is boring

The good:
- The idea of a castle of doors and the relevant stuff (won't give spoilers) is good, unfortunately while the castle is at the core of the book, it's not really important and is just a background for the other stuff.
- Some nice ideas here and there

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