Grizzo40

It's a survey, so it's understandably limited...

Reviewed: 02-06-23

...but it's limitations are not defects. The professor clearly loves the topic, and she does a fairly decent job making some occasionally dry content interesting. Of course, these lectures are really intended to be watched on video, and there were several occasions where I knew I was missing out by not seeing an example image or text (I've watched select chapters on video, so I'm familiar with the usual format). However, this only rarely became a problem--the chapter on Arthurian art was particularly frustrating.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as someone who has taught Arthurian legends for years (admittedly, at the high school level), I learned quite a bit. I even learned something about my own Scandinavian ancestors, which I was NOT expecting going in to this.

(If there is is one significant problem, it's the age of the content. The repeated references to 2014 and the "upcoming" Guy Ritchie movie are frustratingly distracting. I suppose it's too much to hope for an updated version some day.)

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easily the best in the trilogy

Reviewed: 12-08-22

This book doesn't suffer from some of the most egregious timeline issues that the previous two did, mostly because the characters are in the same place more frequently, so there's less opportunity for weird confusion about how long things take.

A successful conclusion to the story arc. I hate what happened to Walker in this trilogy, but I like that it matters. There are a couple of small threads left hanging, but that's not a bad thing.

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Strong narration helps a lot

Reviewed: 10-15-22

This narrator continues to impress with book two. He imbues the characters with emotion that I haven't seen in many audiobook narrators. Yeah, he occasionally mispronounces a word, but it's not usually distracting.

The book itself benefits from the narration quite a bit. The story is fine, but suffers a little from Brooks' tendency to have not much happen in a considerable number of words. There are also several moments in this book where the timeline just does not work. A character will spend one day doing something, then we cut to another character who has been doing something for a week, supposedly, then back to the first character who is still doing the same thing in apparently the same day. it's very confusing. But, fortunately, it's also the only real issue. The rest of the story is solid, if a bit weird. (A particular note: the word "plastic" shows up when it definitely should not. No explanation for it.)

Overall, I'm looking forward to listening to book three. it's been so many years since I've read it, I remember absolutely nothing about the story. Should be fun.

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amazing the difference a good narrator makes

Reviewed: 09-11-22

Terry Brooks has been a favorite author of mine for literally decades, so it was very frustrating that the narrator for the four Heritage of Shannara books was so... not great. It's so refreshing to hear someone read this book with something resembling skill. It actually elevates the writing a little bit.

It had been a long time since I'd revisited the The Jerle Shannara books. I'm glad it had been, too. I'd forgotten enough details that it felt fresh and suspenseful again. I'm still not sure that the central mystery/"twist" really works, but it's not something that completely breaks the story, so it's ready enough to look past.

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2 people found this helpful

Nostalgia wins for me.

Reviewed: 07-12-22

This was the book that triggered a lifelong love of fantasy literature for me. I can not overstate it's import. However, relistening to it (for the first time) as an adult, it's pretty clear that the book has some structural issues and falls victim to the same narrative redundancies that the other books did. I still love it, but I'm not as "in love with it" as I used to be. as a resolution to the four-part series, it does exactly what it needs to do. I just wish it had been a little bit better.

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informative, though not always instructive

Reviewed: 06-12-22

There's a lot of great information in this, and the organization of the topics is solid and progresses in a logical manner. The format isn't necessarily ideal, as it can be tough to retain some of the information over the length of the entire course, but that might be a personal preference. There were quite a few stories I was familiar with, and what was said about them made sense. There were even more stories I wasn't familiar with, and while it made it a little tough to follow along, it wasn't impossible, and my to-read list got longer as a bonus.

I'll definitely get relistening at some point down the road.

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the best of the Scions series

Reviewed: 06-12-22

I've always liked the Elfstone-related books a little better than the others in to Shannara-verse, and this is probably the best of the lot. The narrator is still pretty terrible, with a very distracting cadence, but it's eventually something I learned to ignore.

The story isn't quite as strong as I remember it being last time I read the book (e.g. a bit too much internal ruminating over things we were just told), but Brooks' penchant for over-describing the setting works really well here when they setting is so strange and so important. The action is as good as the series gets, and the characters, while occasionally undercooked, are as likable as ever.

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Nostalgia barely wind over bad narration

Reviewed: 05-12-22

I really enjoyed this book when I was younger. Narrator almost ruins it. Almost. The almost robotic delivery in which he stresses each sentence exactly the same, regardless of what it says, makes it difficult to stay focused on the story. Brooks uses a lot of meandering setting descriptions that in print are fine, but when this guy narrates them, they become interminable.

This is fine for a reread, but I would not introduce a new reader to Shannara via these audible versions.

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loses something without the visual

Reviewed: 04-13-22

Listening to him trying to explain equations was a bit frustrating, but overall this was pretty excellent. Occasionally I was surprised by which stories he DIDN'T discuss, but the ones that are included were pretty good examples.

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1 person found this helpful

short but good

Reviewed: 03-03-22

I didn't realize it was so short when I started it, but I enjoyed it

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