Good story let down by terrible narration

The first book I have ever returned to Audible unfinished. I would give the performance no stars if I could! I love KJ Charles and her writing never fails to impress but I'm afraid the narration completely ruined it for me. If this had been my introduction to KJ's work I would probably never have read or listened to another of her titles but fortunately I am already a fan.
Do yourself a favour and buy the book, either in digital or physical form and leave this awful version to wallow in the depths of the forgotten where it belongs.

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Fab story, worth persevering with narrator

The story is brilliant, usual solid, well written (inc the spice) stuff from Charles, great characters and an engaging mystery to solve. As per usual it’s character driven and they are human, flawed, fabulous and shades of grey.

The narrator is confusing. Better faster and does great accents and often reads very well, but then does a strange staccato delivery which you have to work hard not to really resent. Second book is the same, but worth it for the story and writing but I’d recommend reading this series unless like me you don’t have a choice due to disability!!

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Great story, awful performance

Why would you even consider another narrator than Cornell Collins? Unfortunately, it seems there is a new publishing house involved..

I started with the audiobook but had to switch to the ebook after a couple of minutes as the performance was chipping away the fun (and my nerves).

The sorry is amazing (as always) with a fair bit of mystery, wild goose chases across the moor and complex entanglements. KJ Charles writes realistic, relatable, and unpredictable stories, and I can heartily recommend her novels to anyone who loves a good story, including the naughty bits (:

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The story is good enough to overlook the narration

Who thought to employ a narrator who pauses after every three words was a good idea? I tried a few chapters and then the story grasped me. It is doable. I loved the action, the side characters, the villains and the rival smuggling gang. The Marsh in my head turned from grey and desolate to lively, colorful and social the longer I listened. It brought to mind Daphne de Maurier's work, which makes it not original but breathtaking none the less.

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2 people found this helpful

Wonderful

A fantastic story of two men from different sides of the track. Wonderful writing with amazing story building, character development and descriptions. The audio narrator was outstanding! Warmly recommend!

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Another absolute gem from Charles

Not for nothing is KJ Charles my favourite living writer, and this is another banger - engaging characters, meticulously researched world building, thrilling plotty shenanigans and a satisfying denouement. I’m already champing at the bit for the sequel.

Martyn Swain’s narration is confident and well-judged throughout, with good work on the character voices (…okay, with maybe a slight quibble on his vocalisation for Cecelia, but male narrators very rarely do a great job with voicing women, let alone teenage girls: with most men that tends to be the point where their capacity for empathy collapses). However, the rest of the characters are grand, and Cecelia isn’t jarring.

A thoroughly enjoyable listen, all in all!

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Fabulous story telling; mediocre narration

As ever with K J Charles the story-telling and characters are fabulous. Wonderful researched, with a hawk-like eye for detail and historical accuracy, the characters are rounded and interesting.

The performance is poor. Martyn Swain does a good accent, I’ll give him that, but the delivery of the prose is weirdly stilted, with odd pauses, bizarre cadences and a strange pace - to the extent that it sounds like Alexa or Google on a really bad day or someone trying to overcome a dreadful stutter. Such a shame.

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Who chose the narrator?

I enjoyed the story as I live where it was set, and it bought the marsh alive.

But seriously, the narration was aweful! no natural rythem of speech, confusing at times. It was at times painful and almost made me stop listening. Now I see they have used the same one for the next book I am probably not going to purchase it here.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book …

First of all I like to point out that THE NARRATOR #MartynSwain is doing a great job

I truly don’t understand this vendetta some seem to have started agains him! He is doing a great job!

The story - the book is intriguing as it is a gay love story with a twist.
In view of the time when the story plays I doubt that it could have been as open and provocative as told by #KJCharles .

I have noticed that most gay stories nowadays are told by women - and it makes one wonder.
I can see a female author writing about two women - but about two men?
Often far fetched !!

BUT THIS BOOK HAS A GREAT PLOT and worth listening to!!

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A mixed review

Ok - so once again I fell foul of buying the audio book without sampling the narrator - my fault!

But, in my personal opinion he’s totally wrong for this book and definitely made it a poorer experience for me.

I have complained before - when the main characters are clearly aged-defined - in this story both are 26 - don’t get a narrator who sounds like a middle aged middle class doctor or solicitor to read it.

It’s also painfully slow - the first 10 chapters were so plodding and pedestrian, including a lot of clunky dialogue.

After chapter 10 it perks up a bit and is more enjoyable - hence overall a 3 star review.

Others have commented that they liked the narrator so these things are always subjective - but he’s not for me.

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