The Parched Sea Audiobook By Troy Denning cover art

The Parched Sea

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers, Book 1

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The Parched Sea

By: Troy Denning
Narrated by: Marty Moran
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Determined to drive a trade route through Anauroch, the Zhentarim have sent an army to enslave the fierce nomads of the great desert. As tribe after tribe fall to the intruders, only a single woman, Rhua, sees the true danger - but what sheik will heed the advice of an outcast witch?

Ruha finds help from an unexpected source. The Harpers, guardians of liberty throughout the Realms, have sent an agent to counter the Zhentarim. If she can help this stranger win the trust of the sheikhs, perhaps he can overcome the tribes’ ancestral rivalries and drive the invaders from the desert.

©1991 TSR, Inc., c. 2011 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy
Realistic Setting • Interesting Characters • Desert Adventure • Consistent Theme • Action-packed Story • Clear Delivery
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Story was great but the narrator was awful. If I hadn't returned the previous 3 books due to a bad narrator, I would have returned it also. I think Victor Bevine has spoilt me.

Narrator was awful

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Would you try another book from Troy Denning and/or Marty Moran?

I was really hoping for some epic fantasy and some back-story on the Harpers. What I got was a war story about how a girl saves her people from an invading force. The reader was terrible and had unnatural pauses, poor voice differentiation between characters and a flat, unemotional sound. I don't know how anyone could have rated this piece 5 stars.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The story would have been better with more back-story on the Harpers and some epic fantasy adventure. By epic fantasy adventure I mean having a hero/heroine travel to strange new places, encounter new races or monsters, crawl through a few dungeons or ruins and save the world.

How could the performance have been better?

Hire a new reader.

Where's my epic fantasy?

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I had gotten tired of listening to the endless legend of Drizzt books and so wanted a change of pace. The Parched Sea is certainly that! At first I was really sceptical that the setting and characters wouldn't come together, but I'm really glad that i stuck with it. Both the story and characters are fun and interesting. The setting feels real and well thought out and the theme of the story runs true from start to finish. The weak link in the audiobook would be the narration of Marty Moran, Which isn't at all bad, several of his pronunciations I found to be a bit odd, but forgivable. He's not much of an actor, but the narration is well paced and clear. If you like this Arab/ 1001 nights style setting you might also want to check out the Al Qadim setting novels. I have no idea if they are available on audio book or not.

Not what I expected and enjoyable

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It took a few chapters to get into it. I was half thinking of giving up. Probably won't do the sequel unless it changes a lot. It felt very dry. It wasn't bad, but I only really enjoyed about 10% of it.

It was ok.

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How in the hell did this guy get a job as a narrator? I could have read this book aloud if that's all I wanted. I'm sure he's a good ole boy but this was a boring as audio book thanks to his happy ass, lazy reading of this story.
I will black list him from any further purchases on the future. Not one single accent, not one time did he change pitch, timbre or tempo of his voice during battle. I'm confident he's very good at bedtime stories because his testing style could put a meth head to sleep. I challenge you to do better good sir. I just don't think he realizes what an action packed story sounds like.

Good story, boring narration.

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What a ride this was! I've never liked stories about the desert until I listened to this and now I have a thirst for it.
Zhentarim are evil and the Harper's met this evil head on. along with a witch.

Both the writing and narration is top notch!

Excellent adventure!

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I remember reading this when it first came out. Dungeons and Dragons was still in the early days of 2nd Edition rules. It was kinda interesting to read something set in this new world.
Troy Denning was still a sorta Ok writer--not the talentless hack he became when he started working on Star Wars.
In this case, he has set a novel in the desert. Weis and Hickman had written a non-D&D trilogy set among desert dwellers a few years before which I had read just before this book. It made The Parched Sea seem pretty shallow.
Fortunately, the next Harper book was by Elaine Cunningham, an actually talented and imaginative writer with skill and depth.

If you're looking for a Lawrence of Arabia epic, it is not here. This is the mission of a solo spy out to stop an invasion of another country by his enemies.
Marty Moran needs to work on his pronunciation. Several words (common, normal words, not some fantasy weird ones) are clearly unfamiliar to him, and he clearly didn't bother to find out what the preferred pronunciation was--rather he bulldozed through it.

It has been 30+ years since I read this book, and it can be 30+ years before I revisit it again, if ever.

Ah 1991... When Troy Denning was still sorta OK

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The narrator was not monotone, which is the worst, but he often had weird intonation and breaks in the middle of sentences. It very much seemed as if he was reading the text for the first time signalling that this was an fast and cheap production. It was about what the book deserved though. The writing is very dated, kinda racist, and pretty misogynistic. The plot wasn't bad, but predictable. The characters were basic tropes and very one dimensional. As long as you don't take it seriously you can push this into "so bad, it's kinda good" category.

so bad it's good?

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This was a basic story with nothing that sets it apart from other sand based adventures. The characters are bland, plot simplistic, and dialogue boring and labored. The narrator took some getting used to, as his cadence and tone are a bit annoying until you’ve become numb to him.

I’d suggest passing on this one.

Fine, but not great

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poor plot development, very poor dialogue, reasonable pacing, little investment in magic system. cannot recommend when there is so much else that is better

struggled to finish.. nothing redeeming about it.

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