Jens

To start, I found the opening segments along with the reader to make this one of the few audible books I've had to force myself to continue. For the first CD, and into the 2nd, I had to force myself to keep with it.

The reader is very skilled but I found difficult to listen to. By the end of the book I was keenly interested in seeing how it would play out, and even became impressed with the reader's skill at the range of characters he could successfully pull off.

You need to consciously turn on the 'suspension of disbelief' switch for the first CD or two, then you're Ok. Stick with it.

Absolutely enjoyed the book. Gerald's reading is the best of any Audible reader I've heard. Story detail is outstanding and has you looking for more. Not everyone will appreciate the author's effort in so fully developing a story; for these the abridged version is recommended. For those of you who are enthralled by dragons, dreams of 'what if', and the notion of Riders, this is the book for you.

I really found the book engaging from the start. Certainly has some good input worth the time to listen to, good food for thought. However, as you progress toward the end, you begin to feel 'beat over the head.' While I finished the book, I think I stopped listening by the 75% mark. You get the bulk of the message early on.

In response to the prior reviewer's comments about the book's referenced PDFs not being available, he neglects to point out that at numerous points during the listening they give you the specific website to go to to obtain the PDFs.

I received mine w/o problem.