Limits of Power

Paladin's Legacy, Book 4

By: Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Elizabeth Moon is back with the fourth adventure in her best-selling fantasy epic. Moon brilliantly weaves a colorful tapestry of action, betrayal, love, and magic set in a richly imagined world that stands alongside those of such fantasy masters as George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb.

The unthinkable has occurred in the kingdom of Lyonya. The queen of the Elves - known as the Lady - is dead, murdered by former elves twisted by dark powers. Now the Lady’s half-elven grandson must heal the mistrust between elf and human before their enemies strike again. Yet as he struggles to make ready for an attack, an even greater threat looms across the Eight Kingdoms.Throughout the north, magic is reappearing after centuries of absence, emerging without warning in family after family - rich and poor alike. In some areas, the religious strictures against magery remain in place, and fanatical followers are stamping out magery by killing whoever displays the merest sign of it - even children. And as unrest spreads, one very determined traitor works to undo any effort at peace - no matter how many lives it costs. With the future hanging in the balance, it is only the dedication of a few resolute heroes who can turn the tides...if they can survive.

©2013 Elizabeth Moon (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

worst reading of my whole library.

where this lady learned to read should be shut down. what a comedy of mispronounced words. its a crime. this is one of my favorite books in the series.

Good story, but I prefer the other narrator

The story is well written, and a great addition to the series. This narrator pronounces many of the names differently than the narrator of the previous books in the series. She is talented in differentiating a wide variety of character voices. The one thing the narrator could improve upon is varying the pitch of her voice more, to make it sound more natural. I found it difficult to listen for extended periods of time to the duotone pitch.

Horrible voice acting

Changing voice actor mid series is a bad call. This one tries to immitate the first and comes upp whiny instead of doing her own thing. This saddens me for I love this series.

Limits of Power

Loved the story and the many parts. Was glad to find Paks back in the tale

good story but cant stand the narrator

What was one of the most memorable moments of Limits of Power?

the way the new narrator mispronounced everything

How could the performance have been better?

different narrator

Any additional comments?

wish they hadn't changed narrator or at least the new narrator should have checked how the other narrators in this series pronounced some of the names

Narrator kills story!

If you could sum up Limits of Power in three words, what would they be?

Narration-ruined tale

What did you like best about this story?

I love this series, and the story reminded us of the intricate past while holding out complex possibilities for the future. Limits of Power gave us (for me) truly unexpected developments in the lives of some major characters, as well as revelations of their past. The reappearance of Paks was a highlight as well as the hope of a starring role for her in the next installment. However, frankly it was difficult to follow it and I missed important parts I'm sure because I kept being distracted by the narrator's voice and pronunciations, to the point where I didn't go back to passages that needed deeper attention. For the first time in reading a favorite and much anticipated story I actually bought another book in the middle of it, and had to come back to it later. That was after re-reading Echoes of Betrayal so that I could be clearer on what I was hearing (or not) in Limits of Power. I will definitely not be listening to this story again, as much as I may need to. Will buy the written version instead perhaps.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Angela Dawe?

Any of the previous narrators in the series, or my two favorite newly discovered narrators, Robert Glennister and Sophie Ward. Angela Dawe seemed to do fine with children's voices or young women but not with the adult male human characters,the elves or gnomes, and her cadence was cringe-worthy.In my opinion the reviewer Anita got it exactly right.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Sorry to beat a dead horse but truly the narration made me cry. I won't tell the things that made me laugh in the story as that would truly be spoiler alert!

Continuation of the Paksanarian tale is welcome

Would you consider the audio edition of Limits of Power to be better than the print version?

I am an avid Audible Listener, I haven't read a book in over 6 years preferring to hear them vice read them.

What did you like best about this story?

Elizabeth Moon's Paks world is one of my favorite series, I've just relistened to it for the third time in anticipation of the latest book. The series still has more to enjoy, as this latest book, while feeding my desire for more, has me awaiting the next book.

The characters are so engaging and as we initially followed Paks, through her becoming a Paladin, we now are experiencing each of the cast's growing into new roles within their respective domains.

Would you be willing to try another one of Angela Dawe’s performances?

I was disappointed with her reading, primarily due to her using her own pronunciation for places, cities and people and things, when one narrator has set the proper form for persons place and things its painful to have a new narrator change those name forms to something that is just off. It was a terrible distraction and very annoying. Why did someone like Ms Moon not provide the proper annunciation for the Tauge, Cities and peoples names, why did this producer let her change all that this late in the series???

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I truly love this series, following Paks, Kierry, Arcalan, Dorian, Stamell and the rest is such a joy. I personally loved the first narrator, Jennifer Van Dyck, I'm also a huge fan of the second narrator, who did one book, Susan Erickson, however Angela Dawe's pronunciation of places people and things in this world was extremely distracting.

Any additional comments?

Jennifer please read us the next book!

So. Many. Mispronunciations.

Being this many books into the Paks/Phelan world, it was VERY hard to listen to this one. The reader pronounced so many words differently than Jennifer Van Dyke. It disrupts the flow of the story. I feel like writers should now provide audio examples of how character and place names should be read. For older books in a series, a new reader should be required to listen to the previous book for continuity. Some simple words are said weird; almost as if it's intentional. It's like nails on a chalk board!

the voice never heard the other books

she mispronounced almost every name and place compared to the previous books and a handful of regular English words it was a huge distraction from the story

Story good- reader not so good

What made the experience of listening to Limits of Power the most enjoyable?

The story line and characters.

What did you like best about this story?

Continuity of the story line and characters. E. Moon always tells an enjoyable tale for me.

How could the performance have been better?

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, and have always liked E.Moon. This was the first audio book I have bought that was difficult for me to complete listening to the end. I had read a previous review that said "read the book", and I now know why. The story is great, but it was a very difficult listen. The voices kept changing, and not always the same voice with the same character. It got a little better toward the end. The pronunciation of some of the characters and places took me awhile to connect with the other 3 books.