Loving this

This second book in the series , I’m on chapter 18 and although I know where the story is going , thanks to my history classes many moons ago, it is compulsive listening , I really care about the central character and her circle , including her beautiful if sometimes feisty ravens .

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Initially promising, tailing into limpness

Having recently listened to a Philippa Gregory book, I really wanted to get lost in the period and the characters. However, the story was a little over-sentimentalised, although not unbearably. It did rely overmuch on flowery adjectives though, instead of letting the tale shine on its own merits.

The language was a strange mix throughout. The narrative might have flowed better if the author had chosen either a contemporary or historical style, rather than pepper the text with references to ‘my countenance’ and similar, then in the same paragraph, have a character describe herself as being ‘miffed’. The use of brilliant to mean fabulous rather than the more historically apt: brightly shining, was another example.

There was an historical issue in Ch 43: which referred to ‘citizens’ (instead of subjects) and was used more than once. This is a status that UK naturals have never been and certainly would not have considered themselves in this period. The UK has subjects.

The narrator is always important in any audiobook and this one started moderately and became more irritating.

The voice she used for the queen and most other female, royal characters) was a terrible, strained, twee, suburban-social-climber (proper Hyacinth Bucket parody, for UK readers) effort. Grating to listen to. Thus tower became ‘tewer’ and so on. There were also frequent mispronunciations from start to finish, which had a cumulatively annoying effect for me!

In Ch 3: she misread inconsolably as inconsol-u-ably.

‘Wundering’ was a recurring irritant - a wizard doesn’t have a wund, so why can’t the simple word meaning ‘meandering about’ be pronounced correctly?

Ch 6: lootenant - when, in the period described, the Americas had not yet been discovered, the British English rendering of ‘leftenant’ for lieutenant, is correct.

Ch 32: jub-u-lant for jubilant and pen-er-y for penury.

Ch 35: pron-ounce-iation for pro-nun-ciation - grrr..this cropped up frequently.

Ch 36: shtroke and other, similar strangling of ‘s’ words - except, strangely, for stream!

Ch 40: brassiere for brazier. Different - and even amusing in different context or story.

Ch 48: Hevver Castle instead of Hever (Heever) Castle.

Ch 50: nightstand. Ugh. This Americanism is insidious and increasing in frequency in British English books (along with flashlight for torch). Washstands did exist, pre-indoor plumbing, but now we have bedside tables - not necessarily just for use at night!

Ch 61: again, British English for a British book please? Berkeley Castle is not pronounced as it is written; Berkshire the county is the same, so it shouldn’t be a shock! Shouldn’t a narrator do some preparation/research?

Also Ch 61: ‘tummult’ instead of t-you-mult (tumult).

I hate not finishing any book, but must confess to skipping several middle chapters, because the story was pretty steady and it’s direction quite obvious. Having done this, I certainly didn’t feel I’d missed anything or compromised my understanding of it.
For me, this is another narrator to avoid, but I might consider listening to the author again with a different reader.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful