The Price of Blood

Emma of Normandy, Book 2

By: Patricia Bracewell

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Unwillingly thrust into marriage to England's King Æthelred, Emma has given the king a son and heir, but theirs has never been a happy marriage. In The Price of Blood, Bracewell returns to 1006 when a beleaguered Æthelred, still haunted by his brother's ghost, governs with an iron fist and a royal policy that embraces murder.

As tensions escalate and enmities solidify, Emma forges alliances to protect her young son from ambitious men-even from the man she loves. In the north there is treachery brewing, and when Viking armies ravage England, loyalties are shattered and no one is safe from the sword.

©2015 Patricia Bracewell (P)2015 Tantor

Good story narration annoying

I love the story and the previous book as well. I was disappointed in the narration. The inflections and accents are not consistent. It could be that the mother language of the author is not English. She inflected upward at the end of each sentence which is not the way English is spoken. I didn’t care for her accents and change of characters but admittedly she performed much better than I would have. It must be hard to try to be different characters in a book. The narrator of the first book was a master. If I had known the narration would be so lacking I would not have purchased this audio version.

Maybe a different narrator??

This is the second in a series about Queen Emma and her life as England’s Queen. I was looking forward to learn more about her, but this book was hard to follow due to the monotone narrator.

Narrator needed to do her homework!

The narrator needed to do some more homework of correct pronunciation. If I hadn’t liked the story and already invested in the first book I may not have continued. Book 1 narrator is far superior!

like the story but not crazy about the performance

The narrator had a very strange cadence to her speech and most of the time was very monotonous and droning. her voices were good but the listening became very boring. also this one had way more dialogue and less action than the previous one. I'm not sure if I'm going to read the third one.

Good Book, Bad Narrator

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The is second book in the series, and had different narrator than first book. This narrator has a strange style, difficult to listen to, very unlike first book. If this narrator had narrated the first book, I would never have purchased the second one in the series.

Poor narration performance

I was really looking forward to this second book in the series having just finished listening to "Shadow on The Crown'. However I was soon disappointed with the narrators performance or lack of. In many sections of the book I felt she was simply reading words off a page instead of telling a story. I am sure I would have enjoyed the story much more if I had purchased the book and read it myself.

Terrible narration, almost ruined story

Wasn’t crazy about the person who read book one because she didn’t do any different voices for the characters but i didn’t hate it either. This change in book 2 to this new performer was a really bad choice! She attempts some voices but I don’t think she pulled it off well. Very distracting and i totally disliked the performance! Excellent story though, love immersing myself this time period. I’m fascinated by events leading up to the 1066 conquest. I hope they choose a different narrator for book 3!!!

OH MAN...

Change the listening speed from 100 to 110 or 115, it makes a nice difference.

Patricia Bracewell: Amazing writer

The author is such a good writer, that I can hardly believe it! It is so easy to read - the story just flows. I loved both the first, and this,the second, books of this trilogy. I have to find out when the third will be out- maybe already, I am hoping! I am going to check straightaway, as soon as I finish writing this! I found the narration to be good, it’s a different narrator than the first book - two different narrators, so two different sounds! I just can’t get over what a gift this author has for making the past so interestingly palpable/present, rather than cardboard and distant. I am glad to have found the historical fiction genre. Authors like Bracewell, Grainger, Moran, Weir, Gregory - they all make me curious what other HF writers I might find to enjoy!

great story, okay narrator

I fell in love with the first book, A Shadow on the Crown. The narrator was excellent and the story gripping. I hate when the narrator changes mid-series, and I found it hard to listen to this one at first. The story and writing definitely makes up for the weird inflections of the narrator, though, so if you can get past that the book is definitely worth a credit!