When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable—until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.
As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world—and of each other.
Read by Fiona Hardingham
Unabridged Length: 17.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Unabridged Length: 17.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Sometimes my habit of listening at faster speeds is hardly noticeable. And sometimes it sounds like chipmunks. This time it sounded like chipmunks. Not a huge deal for me, but my family definitely noticed.
This was partly due to the accent of the reader. Ms. Hardingham has what I can only assume is a British accent, though being a very untraveled American I might be totally off. To my untrained ear, only going off of what I see on TV, it sounded British to me. And though I did listen to the book at 2x speed, I still noticed a good distinction between the two time periods. Rielle's chapters seemed to use a slightly higher range and using a somewhat clipped delivery, coming off as a bit more aristocratic or theatrical. Meanwhile Elianna's chapters typically used a lower, more casual voice for both the narration and voices in general. It gave a noticeable separation to the sections, further emphasizing the atmosphere and cultures we're experiencing even in the delivery of the narration, which I really appreciated.
I do wish that a little more had been done with the production, though. There was one lullaby that Rielle sings to her father, and a couple poems/verses that I would have loved being actually put to a tune. Obviously I know it's not nothing, but it's not unheard of. Also the audiobook included the reference material at the end of the book, which is literally one chart of the magical elements, symbols, temples, etc. Was it really necessary? And if so, was the end a better place than the beginning? I mean, I get reference indexes in books being at the end because you can announce them in the table of contents and flip to them for reference. But it doesn't make much sense in an audiobook, does it?
I also noticed some weird pauses. I honestly don't know if they were done for emphasis, or acting, or stray breaths, or if it was just my Overdrive file not appreciating the speed hike, but every so often there'd be a noticeable break in the flow. I think I noticed these most often during dialog, so maybe it was just direction? Regardless, I'm sure it was more noticeable because of my reading along, so full audiophiles might not hear it at all.
Overall, I was very impressed with the narration, especially in how the delivery helped further distinguish whose life we were in. The clipped delivery did make it harder to listen at faster speeds, so having the book in front of me was a necessity past 1.5x, and chipmunk voices (especially Ludivine's) may persuade you into headphones. Still, as a re-read in preparation for the final book it did all I needed it to do and corrected my pronunciations while it was at it (again, Ludivine). Continuing on, I'm hoping the great things continue and some of the hiccups might be fixed.
Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Meanwhile, to help her prince and love Audric protect Celdaria, Rielle must spy on the angel Corien—but his promises of freedom and power may prove too tempting to resist.
Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity's long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana's power dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted by embracing her mother's power or rejecting it forever.
Read by Fiona Hardingham
Unabridged Length: 22.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Unabridged Length: 22.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Really not much to report differently on this one.
The random pauses I noted in Furyborn were thankfully gone this time, leaving the narration and dialogue smooth and less jarring to read along with. The songs/poems still lacked musical interpretations, which I didn't expect to change but would have appreciated nonetheless. And they still decided to include the elemental table at the end of the book, which really doesn't do anything to help audiobook listeners and effectively blunts that gutwrenching ending. Again, if you're gonna include it, why not at the beginning of the reading instead of the end?
I did find myself questioning the voices for the characters more this time around, not recognizing them (notably Remy's) as the same as prior, but I'm mainly chalking that up to bad memory and reading this book over 2 days instead of all at once. Granted, there were also many, many more voices to keep track of this time around, so I can't say I'd fault the team even if there were inconsistencies.
Overall, Fiona Hardingham still does a great job in presenting this series. Honestly, the only reason I chose to revisit these books again, after the heartbreak I suffered with Kingsbane the last time (some of which I'd even repressed, apparently) was because I'd chosen to experience the 3rd book's audiobook and felt guilty not following her through the whole trilogy. Having reread in this format, even knowing what was coming, the emotion conveyed in the voices still kept me on edge and drove me to tears at the end. So, yeah, not the most stunning production I've ever encountered, but still one I'd recommend for those interested in the series.
No comments :
Post a Comment
Let me hear you howl!