Shelly

In the initial chapters, this book seemed to have potential. The characters had some depth, the story did not seem predictable, and the imagery did not seem contrived or hackneyed. My first impressions did not last. Quickly, the characters became paper dolls, and the plot and language seemed generated by a computer program. On the positive side, the excellent narrator makes the most of a limp tale. If you are looking for a formulaic romance that provides basic entertainment with no intellectual demands, you could do worse. If you're hoping for emotional depth or insight, look elsewhere.

Juliet Stevenson's narration is superb in all the audiobooks I've listened to, but even her skill cannot lift Mansfield Park to the heights of Pride and Prejudice. Fanny Price is a drip! Edmund is a doofus! The story is a treadmill of reiteration! But if you feel compelled to read Mansfield Park anyway, this edition is the best I've heard. For those not familiar with Jane Austen's works I recommend Northanger Abbey. It's goofy on purpose.

I've read all the previous Mary Russell novels, but I just couldn't induce myself to finish this one; ennui was overpowering. To my mind, the quality of both the writing and the plotting has deteriorated with each new book. Please... not another crazy religion. No more endless boring discourse on Hebraic minutiae. Annoyingly, Mycroft Holmes is all over the place in this one, not as a genuine character but basically as a shortcut for the author to provide things for Sherlock and Mary. By making things oh so easy for them, drama is garrotted. The narrator does a creditable job on the English characters, but tortures French accents to death. Maybe the ending made the beginning worthwhile, but I didn't stick around to find out.

Lest any reader be deceived by the title of this book, the "evil genius" refers to a general evil spirit or bad influence among the characters, rather than one malevolent person. This is a fairly well-written Victorian melodrama. Interest in the storyline is impeded by narration which is so ridiculously inept, so comically bad, as to induce amazed laughter. Personally, if it were my job to choose a narrator for a novel set in Victorian England and Scotland, I would not choose an American reader with a speech impediment. The Scottish characters sound like an amalgamation of a Swedish Chef, Charlie Chan and the Lucky Charms Leprecaun. The female characters are voiced in breathy falsetto. Every word ending in "ing" is mispronounced. "Singing while walking in the evening" sounds like "Singeen while walkeen in the eveneen." Amazingly, the story was interesting enough for me to accept and overlook these annoyances.
Far better novels available from Audible with similar themes and plotlines comprise The Forsyte Saga, by (Nobel Prize winner) John Galsworthy. The narration of these novels is far better as well.

Neil Gaiman narrates his novel beautifully. I loved the atmosphere he created: a slightly creepy but strangely comfortable vibe. I would like to go live in Bod's graveyard! I would love Silas to be my Guardian! The story and characters are memorable and vivid. I know I'll read this book again and again.

The sound quality of this production made me imagine someone propping a microphone in front of a television showing Romeo & Juliet being performed. It's tinny-sounding, and there are background sounds of birds, wind, feet scuffling, etc, which dilute and diminish the voices to a small degree. It's not unbearable, just a bit distracting.
On the positive side, the actors are very good. Listening to this play was different from reading it on paper, or seeing it performed live... I caught different strands of relationship between the characters. The Nurse, played by Fiona Shaw, was especially brilliant.

I've been waiting endlessly for this cherished childhood favorite to be released as an audiobook. This edition is the first section of T.H. White's epic "The Once and Future King." This part encompasses King Arthur's early years growing up under Merlin's tutelage at Sir Ector's castle. This book is more lighthearted and joyous than the sections that follow in "The Once & Future King," which are available on Audible as "The Witch in the Wood" and "The Ill-Made Knight." Although this book and the others are meant to go together as an epic work, "The Sword in the Stone" can easily stand alone as an enjoyable novel in its own right.

If I tried to tell you how superbly T.H White writes, you probably wouldn't believe me. The narrator does a smashing job of bringing the dialogue to life. I know I'll be listening to this book again and again over the years.

Sadly, at the time I'm writing this, the final section of "The Once & Future King," which covers the last years of King Arthur, is not yet released in audio format. Hopefully this will be soon be remedied!

I've been waiting endlessly for this cherished childhood favorite to be released as an audiobook. This edition is the second and third sections of T.H. White's epic "The Once and Future King." In order to appreciate this audio version, you really should read "The Sword in the Stone" first. It all flows together beautifully.

If I tried to tell you how superbly T.H White writes, you probably wouldn't believe me. The narrator does a smashing job of bringing the dialogue to life. I know I'll be listening to this book and "The Sword in the Stone" again and again over the years.

Sadly, at the time I'm writing this, the final section of "The Once & Future King," which covers the last years of King Arthur, is not yet released in audio format. Hopefully this will be soon be remedied!

The narrator does a creditable job, but the pace of the story seems overwrought and slow. At one point a the narrator says of a character something like "He had never felt so tired in his life." To which I mentally replied "Me too, buddy." But it was just interesting enough for me to keep listening.

Eventually there came some scenes of pedophilia and death that were disturbing and repulsive. You might ask "is it possible to have scenes of pedophilia and death that *aren't* disturbing and repulsive?" And you're right - these subjects are horrible. It doesn't mean that they can't be valid subjects to arise in fiction. But in my own personal opinion, the situations brought forth in this book were too much for me to find any redeeming value in continuing to read it. Just my opinion, and maybe I'm more sensitive than most people. I just thought I would provide my thoughts as a caution to others.

The narrator does a creditable job differentiating the various characters and bringing them to life for the listener. The pace of this novel is sometimes a bit slow - I knew where the story was going and wanted to yell at the characters to get a move on! There were moments when I thought I would give up listening... but I couldn't. Jane Austen really is a master of characterization; I cared about the characters and wanted the good guys to gain happiness and the bad guys to get what's coming to them. This is my least favorite of Jane Austen's novels... but still well worth reading!