magical, romantic, beautiful, evocative

Would you consider the audio edition of Shadow of the Moon to be better than the print version?

This was a wonderful book. I loved every moment of it.
M M Kaye is an extremely talented and evocative writer. I felt I was there living the awful and the wonderful lives that are portrayed. I recommend this highly to anyone - everything all in one novel. I cannot wait to read her other books.

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3 people found this helpful

Great story, shame about the narrator

Where does Shadow of the Moon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have loved this story for many years and it was great to be able to have it read to you, the narrator managed to get through the story, though not without mistakes both in accent and dialogue. I winced at her pronunciation of certain words, and her pitiful attempts at some of the accents; overall it sounded like an American too much.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Winter de Ballasteros - engaging, smart, loyal and resourceful.... who couldn't help but admire her

How could the performance have been better?

Different narrator who understands how the English accents are used; I hate to be so negative but in this case it is a must.

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

The start of the mutiny, the Colonel facing his troops and them disobeying him, you could feel his pain and anguish at having lost the respect of his men.

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12 people found this helpful

The awful narration by an American.

Completely spoiled by the awful narration by an American who couldn’t pronounce even the simplest English or Indian place names or use the English pronunciation of simple words like “mama” or “papa”. This really spoiled my enjoyment of a much-loved book. Fortunately I know the story from the book, so I could understand the narration, which was gratingly poor.

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2 people found this helpful

Terrible narration

Would you try another book written by M. M. Kaye or narrated by Tara Ochs?

Not if it's narrated by Tara Ochs.

What didn’t you like about Tara Ochs’s performance?

Her narration was awful - not just poor pronunciation of Indian names and words but her English let her down too. Painful listening and ruined the story for me.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Possibly

Any additional comments?

A beautiful story spoiled by the wrong narrator.

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9 people found this helpful

Magnificent saga of savagery & beauty of the Raj

MM Kaye has written many books, most of which are not worth reading. She has also written two books about India and the Raj: this and The Far Pavilions. These two are unbelievably brilliant.

This book is about the first Indian Mutiny. MM Kaye beautifully describes the savagery and magnificence of India, and, while Eurocentric, still portrays a depth of understanding and love of the country.

The story follows a young woman of Anglo-Spanish heritage, Winter, who, through a strange series of circumstances ,is born and raised until the age of 5 or so in an Indian palace. She is then sent 'Home' to England until she can return to India. She marries a dreadful slob who makes her life a miserable prison. Her love for her country makes her life tolerable, that and her hopeless love of a British administrator of her husband's district.

Alex Randall shares her love of India. He is one of the administrators of 'John Company', the East India Company who administered India before the Mutiny and the annexation of the country by the Crown of Victoria. He has a deep love and understanding of the people of India and is one of the few who recognises the signs of the coming Mutiny. His warnings are ignored and he watches helplessly as the Mutiny sparks and explodes.

The story is beautifully told with loving descriptions and balance. Alex and Winter's love unfolds against this backdrop.

I'm in two minds about the narration. Many of the Indian words are not pronounced correctly but generally the accents are believable. She manages to cover Indian, Queen's English, 'common' English, even Russian accents, well. Overall, a good job. Easy to listen to and engaging.

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5 people found this helpful

I agree with Kate Gertie. A brilliant book, thoroughly spoiled by the narrator’s extraordinary failure to find out how to prono

Thoroughly spoiled by the narrator not taking the trouble to discover how to pronounce Hindi / Hindustani words and names. How Audible permitted her to do that, or didn’t check with someone who knew, defeats me.

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I reread this book and now remember how good it is

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend but advise them to skip the first 5 chapters which are so tedious it makes you want to give up. The early history is repeated several times over and you get the gist. Girl of European parents orphaned, sent to grandpa in England, age 5. Family dislike her, grandpa a dies, family send her back to India. Pick it up at chapter 6 when she's collected from family country pile, age 17, by dashing, sensible Captain Alex Randall.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Loue Carter. The woman had sense. From a life of indolent privilege she whips off her crinoline hoops, cares for a new born infant which is totally out of her comfort zone and totally against her character looks after the child as she would her own. No this isn't Mills and Boon- it's quite bloodthirsty with graphic descriptions of decapitated heads and brutal goings on.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Tara Ochs?

Anyone but Tara Ochs. Oh she is dreadful reading this book. Her pronunciations were so bad, perhaps a little research on her behalf would have been helpful to the listener. As one whose ancestors spent that period and more in India, I flinched a good deal of time at her pronunciations. She should read renditions by Sam Dastor for guidance. I thought for a long while she was pronouncing Lucknow (my birth place) as Lunio but it turns out she meant Lahore - according to another review. See "additional comments" for my preferred narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It's too long for that and besides Tara Ochs grates on your ears and brain after a while.

Any additional comments?

My comments all sound negative, I am sorry for that impression. I love the book. It's a great follow on from the Far Pavilions but a different narrator would have made it so much better - perhaps Sneha Mathan. She would have been perfect-beautiful melifluous tones. A total pleasure to listen to. Sorry Tara!

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7 people found this helpful

Fantastic book, beautifully read by Tara Ochs

Would you listen to Shadow of the Moon again? Why?

This was the second time I had read this book, and I would definitely read it again. I love the slow build-up, the huge cast of characters, some of whom you love, and some you hate, the historical facts that helps you understand the bigger picture, and the amazing descriptions of India itself. The book is beautifully written and read.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Shadow of the Moon?

Almost every scene with Winter and Alex is memorable because of the tension and chemistry between them.

Which character – as performed by Tara Ochs – was your favourite?

When I first read the book as an impressionable teenager, I was irritated by Winter, but I grew to like and understand her more during this reading of the book. But my favourite character was Alex Randall - principled, decisive, handsome and capable. What more could a woman want?

Any additional comments?

This book is well-plotted and it moves at a leisurely pace as it very gradually builds up the sense of unease and tension that explodes into the Indian mutiny. Definitely worth a read if you love well-written historical fiction.

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4 people found this helpful

7/10

The plot trots along cheerfully enough but the American narrator was not a good choice for this book in spite of her clear & measured diction. The problem is that there are many, varied, English accents & although her Indians are fine her pukka British accent is reminiscent of Dick Van Dyke's cockney chimney sweep in the original Mary Poppins. This wouldn't matter much but is muddling when the listener is trying to work out who the devil is speaking. It would also have been kind for someone to have demonstrated British pronounciation of various things eg Suez(not Suis) or Marquis (not Marquee, in Britain this is a tent or a French aristo).
But generally a pleasant listen.

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1 person found this helpful

Wonderful story with both action and romance

If you could sum up Shadow of the Moon in three words, what would they be?

Great romantic action

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's hard to say which character is my favourite. Apart from the two main protagonists who we all love, Conway Barton and Lord Carlyon are great characters to hate as they are such monuments of selfishness and self-interest.

What does Tara Ochs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I love Tara's weird and wonderful English accents. It's always a mystery to me why anyone would get an American to read a story based in colonial India, but Tara valiantly struggles with a variety of English accents. Though they don't always work (some of the English officers sound a bit on the cockney side!), I got used to them and started to enjoy their effect. They are slightly annoying at first, but stick with it and they become old friends!

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

The horror and savage nature of the Indian mutiny is so well told from an English point of view. M M Kaye doesn't flinch from some pretty unpleasant details, and really gives a powerful feeling of what it might have been like to be there. I particularly liked (well, not liked, but you know what I mean) the individual deaths on the first day of the mutiny of characters who were either very minor or did not appear in the book apart from to die - their deaths were moving, horrific and helped to understand all that happens afterwards.

Any additional comments?

Everything you want from historical fiction - personal stories against a grand backdrop of real life-changing events, an exotic location, heroes and idiots, courage and cowardice, love and hate, life and death on a grand scale. What's not to like?

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13 people found this helpful