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Recent history reviewed

Reviewed: 08-01-23

Good overview and reminder of recent royal history, particularly given the events and turmoil of the past couple of years, but marred by poor narration. The author read the book as though she hadn't ever seen the text before with odd phrasing and pronunciation which I found distracting.

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1 person found this helpful

Atmospheric and unsettling and brilliantly told

Reviewed: 14-06-22

The story is atmospheric and decidedly unsettling. The author, Michelle Paver, conveys the extreme environment of the mountains and the physical hardships of climbing at high altitude and the tensions of sibling relationships expertly without going overboard . But it is the narrator, Daniel Weyman, who really makes this audio- performance outstanding. He "is" Stephen and conveys his thoughts and feelings and emotions convincingly and movingly. I have been listening to audio books for a good many years now and this is the best narration that I have heard.

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Five stars for book; one star for the narration

Reviewed: 14-02-22

This is a remarkable and a very moving book completely let down by very poor narration. My advice would be to read the book , don't listen.

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Some genuinely chilling moments

Reviewed: 12-02-22

I enjoyed this book but think I might have enjoyed it more if I had read it, rather than listened to it. This is not the fault of the narrator, who does an excellent job, even to giving each of the main characters their own, distinct Scottish accent so you can easily identify who is speaking, even if your attention has wandered. Rather it is a problem with the author's writing style. She is given to over long, flowery descriptions and gives the main character ( who narrates the story) over long soliloquies which slows the progression of the story to a crawl but which, if you are reading, you can skim over, which you can't if you are listening . I found that my attention wandered a lot and I struggled, probably missing some important bits of the plot. However, overall it is a mostly good read with some genuinely chilling moments and a lot of twists and turns and I would certainly read another book by the author.

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1 person found this helpful

A true adventure story

Reviewed: 03-11-21

This is an incredible story, as exciting and gripping as any fictional adventure story. The story of the Belgian Antartic Expedition encompasses breathtaking incompetence, amazing heroism, appalling hardship and larger than life characters - including some well known in the history of polar exploration. I cannot understand why the story isn't better known. It would make an amazing film. Only two quibbles. The first is that the narrator has a very idiosyncratic way of pronouncing certain proper names and place names, which grated and confused me a little. The second is the lack of maps and illustrations. This is of course always a problem with audio books, but some do come with pdfs with this information. I assume that the print edition of the book has maps and I would have found these really helpful to understand the route of the Belgica

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3 people found this helpful

Fascinating and a rather sad story

Reviewed: 11-09-21

This is a well researched retelling of the story of the Charles Bravo poisoning case with a well argued and plausible conclusion as to who the murderer actually was. A fascinating insight into Victorian society and the life faced by women in that society. Beautifully and very clearly narrated.

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Haunting and very sad

Reviewed: 06-03-21

A sad story of the love and sacrifice of an older sister to her younger ( and distinctly odd) sibling. It also describes the cruelty of ordinary people when faced with those who are "different". Shirley Jackson's writing is a strange mix of American Gothic and lyrical description. The narration is beautiful and brings life to the characters. It is a story that will remain with you for a long time .

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Great narration

Reviewed: 19-02-21

An audio book stands or falls by the way it is read aloud. I have listened to some probably perfectly good books which I have not enjoyed purely because of the way they were read. Similarly I have loved some books I probably wouldn't have enjoyed if I had read the printed word because the narrator has brought them to life. It is a real skill which not every actor( including some "stars") has. The two who narrated here did a fabulous job. They were Nick and Amy and kept me going through a rather slow beginning into the twists and turns of the middle and the end - which contrary to some I did not find disappointing. Thoroughly recommend.

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Fascinating story poorly retold

Reviewed: 16-01-21

I had recently read Marion Crawford's book The Little Princesses which is a fascinating factual account of her time spent as governess to the Queen and Princess Margaret, so I was interested in reading The Governess to see how the author would approach the story. I was disappointed to find the book is basically a rewrite of Marion Crawford's book with the addition of a lot of flowery prose and descriptions plus a bit of romantic interest to justify calling it a novel. The pace of the book is slow anyway and for me the narrator's reading style slowed it down even more. Listening was a chore rather than a pleasure. I skipped over large chunks - without missing any of the story line as it was so close to the Marion Crawford book - and was glad when I finally finished

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2 people found this helpful

Great middle. Beginning and end let it down

Reviewed: 08-01-21

Took me a little time to get into the book - the "Then" and "Now" repetitive storylines with different narrators took sometime to understand but once I grasped what was going on, the story was gripping with many plot twists and turns . But, the climax of the plot is revealed well before the end of the book - so the last 30 minutes of the book feel a bit contrived and unsatisfactory.

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