James

comical narration

Reviewed: 05-28-23

the story was exactly what I was looking for! the narrator had odd choices when it came to phrasing and very peculiar pronunciation of many words, that were endearing, but really took me out of the story (e.g., "deaths head" as "death shed", "ominously" as "omni-us-ly", "bedraggled" as "bed raggled", and too many others to list here.

she was confident in her reading, though and had a good voice and differentiated characters well.

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easy to follow with many characters!

Reviewed: 06-16-22

I really appreciate how the narrator has given each culture a distinctive accent! And within each culture the voices of the characters are east to distinguish.

The story and prose is of course amazing as one would expect from Erikson. Deep lore and characterization with some much appreciated levity made this a really enjoyable novel.

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worthwhile

Reviewed: 04-25-22

the story was occasionally very captivating and the narrator did a fine job differentiating voices, but the quality. of the audio was tinny throughout.

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voice actor is amazing

Reviewed: 02-24-20

These stories are great, even for someone who isn't read up on 19th century or Napoleonic history. Even so, the narrator is bringing me back: his characterization of the dragon protagonist lends an air naivety, arrogance, and charm.

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Unique!

Reviewed: 05-18-19

I remember a lot of talk early on about this being a sub-genre's Harry Potter. that is unfair to Adeyemi. She has created a world that stands alone with deep characters and themes that are of that world while still relevant to ours.

I enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but it was covering well-worn territory. Children of Blood and Bone strikes out on its own path.

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drags in the middle

Reviewed: 04-14-19

There are vast swaths of exposition and internal monologue where the philosophy of various characters is laid out in excruciating detail often in lieu of character development (it seems to me), but it really picks up by the end!

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weird character voices

Reviewed: 03-19-19

All of the dragons and many of the other characters were given the sing-songy voice of a toddler. The descriptive narration was fine.

i found it frustrating that so much of the story's conflict arose from characters choosing not to communicate with each other.

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rote

Reviewed: 08-02-18

not exactly predictable, but I felt like the story beats were familiar. I never really felt surprised and the characters seemed to grow into familiar tropes. tension seemed artificially drawn out, a d I found myself exasperated with the pacing.

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narrated with flat affect

Reviewed: 04-10-16

Even after a character's family is murdered the narrator speaks in a glib voice. I appreciate that different characters have different voices and there are pretty varied accents employed, but all of the characters sound excited all of the time.

The characterization and character development are not great. These are all adults, but they none of them show forethought or suspicion, even thieves and people with something to hide. Nobody changes or grows.

I've enjoyed some of the other books set in this world, and maybe the narration spoiled it for me or maybe this one just wasn't for me.

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1 person found this helpful

problematic recording and book

Reviewed: 12-23-15

This was clearly a recording of a book on tape (at one point you hear "begin side two tape one"). I was not a fan of the narrator, although his voice sounded appropriate for the Era in which this recording was made (80s?).

As for the story itself, I found the characters shallow. The protagonist's well-being didn't concern me. it was an imaginative and an interesting world, but its inhabitants were not.

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1 person found this helpful