KATRINA

What a rollercoaster!

Reviewed: 18-11-24

What a rollercoaster this book is! The story is thrilling from beginning to end, with great characters. It's the science that really sets this book apart though. AI characters, robotic marine organisms, amphibious ships, dolphin communication technology - are all totally believable. A great ethical message comes across in the tuna harvesting methods and in the pelagic community living in harmonious balance with the marine ecosystem. Honestly, this book leaves you wishing the world could really be like this.
The descriptions make it very visual. All the while I was thinking how well it could be adapted as a feature film. I do hope this happens - I really think it would be a blockbuster.
The audiobook narration is outstanding - Christopher Ashman skillfully manages to give identity to multiple characters all with the same regional accents. Very impressive.
I enjoyed this book so much. I can't wait for the second installment!

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Excellent performance - let down by the songs

Reviewed: 25-10-23

Andy Serkis does a marvelous job as general narrator. The voices are mostly great, and his storytelling style is a joy to listen to. I have two gripes though. (Sorry Andy!)
First is Pippin's Scottish accent. Pippin is a Took, and a hobbit of the East Farthing of the Shire, so there's no reason for him to have a regional accent when Merry and Frodo do not have accents.
The second, and more disappointing, is the tune and delivery of the songs. They're awful. Gimli's song in Khazad-dum - supposed to resonate with ancient memory - has all the tunefulness and atmosphere of a rugby song hollered out by drunken revellers when all other rugby songs have been used up. And Tom Bombadil's songs were an unbearable screech and bellow that I even considered fast-forwarding.
I have a CD version of L.O.T.R. read by Rob Inglis who has made a considerable effort to perform the many songs in a style that befits the mood and characterization. His were beautiful. Songs are such an important part of this book series that it requires some effort to devise suitable tunes for them. Unfortunately Andy Serkis has failed in this, and the lyrics of these lovely songs are thereby wasted.
(But we love him to bits anyway).

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The best one yet

Reviewed: 02-11-22

Difficult to write a review without spoilers, but a superb and heart-wrenching story, brilliantly read by Tim, as ever. It's made me want to go back and read all the other books again. Thank you, Michael, for having the courage to give the book the ending it needed. This is possibly the best one yet.

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A good story ruined by poor narration

Reviewed: 17-08-21

Although Brian Hall has a pleasant enough voice, the poor quality of narration completely spoilt my enjoyment of this book. The voices of the characters are all given with the same idiotic-sounding west country accent and are frequently mixed up - with the deeper tones of Jude cutting into lines that should have been spoken by female characters. Young women supposed to sound playful and seductive sound like whining old hags. Equally annoying is the frequent lack of correct intonation at the ends of sentences. By the middle of the book I couldn't wait for it to end, though I was nevertheless enjoying the story.
Listen to Jude the Obscure, but listen to a different version of it, read by some other narrator.

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Excellent narrator

Reviewed: 12-02-21

A gentle country portrait rather than gripping storytelling, but don't let that put you off. The writing is sublime; this is Hardy at his best.
For anyone choosing which version to listen to, Jamie Parker is just superb. The one song in the book is so beautifully sung that it will, I guarantee, have you rewinding it to listen to again and again, and humming it to yourself all day. Quite exquisitely beautiful.

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Outstanding narration

Reviewed: 28-01-21

Jamie Parker really goes the extra mile. The voices of the labourers are superb (especially Joseph Poorgrass who's hilarious!). The songs are delivered especially well. Most narrators merely narrate songs in a more-or-less musical tone, but these are sung beautifully and believably. I've listened to several versions of Far from the Madding Crowd before, and this is by far the best.

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Awful narration - painful to endure

Reviewed: 21-01-21

I listened to Saul Reichlin read the Gormenghast Trilogy, and thought him a good narrator. Seems he was just lucky with the Gormenghast characters suiting his repertoire. Everyone in this sounds old and half-witted. Carol Jordan is given the slow, breathy voice of Lady Groan, Flay is in there too. As for accents, he can't even manage a Geordie. Despite the excellence of the book I'm going to be sending this back. It's a shame, as I was looking forward to listening to the whole series. But this is just painful to endure.
This is the worst narration since Roy Dotrice massacred Song of Ice and Fire.

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Masterful storytelling

Reviewed: 07-12-20

I listened to this with the same enthusiasm as a child who begs a bedtime story that they know off by heart but love all the better for it.
Beautifully constructed, written, and narrated. The book is not just a retelling of The Iliad, but weaves in a clearly explained backstory to the Trojan War, and all the threads and side plots from the plays of Sophocles, Euripides, and others. The characters are masterfully portrayed, with humour and sympathy. My only criticism is that it wasn't much, much longer. Oh well, I'll just have to listen to it again!
Stephen Fry, if you're reading this, please accept my grateful thanks and hearty congratulations. I have so enjoyed listening to all three of these books, and Troy in particular.

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Superb narration.

Reviewed: 05-02-20

Saul Reichlin's performance is outstanding. His ability to give character to both male and female voices, young and old, (without once sinking to the cheap recourse of regional dialects) is second to none. (Based on this, I'd love to hear Reichlin read other books with multiple voices - Song of Ice and Fire, for example, the audio version of which is so irritating I returned it half way through Book 1, or His Dark Materials).
I very much hope Reichlin will be recording Titus Alone, to complete the trilogy.
If you're reading this, Saul Reichlin - congratulations, and thank you!

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Superb narration and a great book

Reviewed: 30-11-17

Would you listen to La Belle Sauvage again? Why?

Oh yes! Definitely. You can always squeeze more out of a book. And I can tel that this one will have plenty more than you can squeeze out of at one sitting.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lord Asriel has real potence.

Which character – as performed by Michael Sheen – was your favourite?

All of them! Michael Sheen's narration makes me regret giving so many 5-star ratings for some other narrators previously! He goes so far beyond the call of duty, and reads out-loud the way I read a book in my head. That, surely, is the highest accolade a narrator can possibly get. I give Michael Sheen, 10; 15; 20 stars out of 5!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The pathos of the wounded (though despicable) hyena daemon is quite disturbing.

Any additional comments?

See above for my reverence to the narrator, Michael Sheen. I hope he gets to see these comments.

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