Superb

A beautiful reading of one of the best short story collections in the English language. If you’ve never read Kipling before, then start your journey here. Recommended.

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A true classic!

I am doing a tour of the ‘classics’, which is certainly no easy going. Horrors like Moby Dick and Little women makes you doubt the sanity of the wisdom of the crowds.

As a result, I was really pleased with these books. Interesting, funny and novel. Greatly recommended!

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Great fun

It's great fun to listen to a story with characters you grew up watching. If you're expecting it to be like Disney it is quite different, darker slightly and less silly. It's hard to believe this book is over 130 years old. One odd thing to me is the old fashioned language. Yes, it's an old book, but the language almost seems Shakespearean; thee, thou, wouldst, thy, etc.

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Fantastic Wordsmith

Masterfully written, could have been written today. Narrator is great, shall seek out other stuff they've done.

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1 person found this helpful

Reasonable

I have the physical copy of The Jungle Book but couldn’t get into the writing style so when I saw the audiobook thought I would give it a go.

I liked the story and the narrator was ok. Whilst I understand it is unabridged which is my preference on audiobooks…

I wish that there was some acknowledgment of when the main Story of Mowgli has ended before going onto the short stories of afterwards in the first book.

It was easier to listen to then to read for me and not my typical writing style.

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The Mowgli collection is worth it.

With both books present I gave this a shot. The Mowgli stories show a rather interesting coming of age story and all the characters he meets, helps and fights were great additions, particularly Bagheera, Akela and Grey Brother.

Unfortunately the Mowgli stories are so good that the other stories just felt underwhelming, with the exception of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the Undertakers.

While Ralph isn't the most flexible narrator in terms of voice acting and the songs after each story he does provide a grim but intriguing overtone to both books.

If you liked Disney's film and want to hear the original stories as intended or just want a collection of, mostly, memorable stories give this a listen!

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truly, a classic novel.

Written in 1894, Kipling's love of India and it's animals is sure to warm anyone's heart. listening to these short stories again left me moved and nostalgic, recalling my mother reading it to me as a small child. Hearing Rikki-Tikki-Tavi again was an absolute joy. I also discovered new nuances in the wonderful Mowgli stories. You can not go wrong with this book.

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This is not the Disney version.

You have to concentrate as the language spoken is old English. It doesn't help that the tone of the narrator's voice is likely to send you to sleep.

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A masterpiece

The likes of this is seldom found nowadays. A delight and a treasure and Disney version does not do it justice.

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2 people found this helpful

A classic set of stories excellently narrated

Obviously the book itself is a classic, children's stories set in the jungles of India revolving around the interactions between man and animal and the Law of The Jungle. Chances are you know at least some of the Mowgli stories anyway and they are the best of the bunch for me. Not that the others are bad but those stand out. There are some poems interspersed which vary in quality but do help flesh out the background a bit. It's obviously written for kids and at times the language is overly simple for my taste but in the main I loved it. This was my first exposure to the book, having not read it in physical format before.

Cosham's narration is pitch perfect for me, he captures the poetic nature of the writing without making it sound like a recitation. Recommended.

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