Midst Toil and Tribulation

Safehold Series, Book 6

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 28 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

David Weber's New York Times bestselling Safehold series of military Science Fiction adventure, which began with Off Armageddon Reef, continues with Midst Toil and Tribulation

WAR AND FAMINE

Once the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold. Then, after centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of Mother Church—egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athrawes, who enjoys the Charisian royal family's absolute trust.

What vanishingly few people know is that Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which aliens destroyed Earth...and that since awakening, his task has been to restart the history of the long-hidden human race.

Now, reeling from the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the Republic of Siddermark slides into chaos. The Church has engineered a rebellion, and Siddermark's all-important harvest is at risk. King Cayleb and Queen Sharleyan struggle to stabilize their ally, which will mean sending troops—but, even more importantly, preventing famine. For mass starvation in Safehold's breadbasket is a threat even more ominous than civil war...

©2012 David Weber (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Really learn the words

Okay, the reading Charles Keating gave for "How Firm a Foundation" was disappointing, compared to the previous efforts by Oliver Wyman and Jason Culp, but at least he got the main character's name and the Empire of Charis' name right. Kevin T. Collins pronounces Charis with the ch from cheese rather the hard c adopted by ALL the other readers. Every other reader makes Athrawes a three syllable name, but not KTC. But where every other reader gave Nimue only two, there's where he chose to add the syllable stolen from Athrawes. Heck, he even changes the pronunciation of PICA. It really keeps me from enjoying an audiobook when I am constantly cringing in my mind every time the reader mispronounces the names of main characters and places.

Maybe in the next book!

I was looking forward to this book. However it was a bit of a let down
The war with the Church of God was a bit to much. I didn't need to know how all of the battles brutally killed people on both sides. I didn't need to know the in depth discussion of bore pressures etc. about the guns. There were many threads left hanging and I found that to be frustrating. I hope the next book doesn't take another year to come out. I could easily loose interest in the series and just stop reading them. This book felt like a filler book just to keep the readers on the hook, but I just might spit the hook out.

Please Bring Oliver Wyman Back!

Dreadful narration, Mr. Collins' histrionic and melodramatic delivery really detracts from the story. I have to say I was mildly miffed when Charles Keating took over because of the discontinuity, however, I have no gripes at all regarding his narration, then this. If there isn't better narration on the next installment I'm going to have problems with purchasing anything again from Macmillan Audio.

excellent narration

excellent duration, it makes a real difference when the reader has a clear accent and good narration skills

the story continues

I continue to enjoy this on going saga. the reader is a better fit that the last one. he interpretation is more in line with the first performer which really set the stage so to speak

Love the series, but...

I understand that narrators sometimes change between books, but wouldn’t it be one the producers basic jobs to make sure the names and words are pronounced the same as previous books... especially when it’s the name of the main character?

Story was good, need a different narrator.

I am slightly biased against the narrator because he reads like my mother and that annoys me immensely. The end of his sentences sound like he's out of breath. I dont know how to describe it. too much breathyness not enough vocal cords? eh. whatever. like nails on a chalkboard.

Good addition

it is a good story, but the narrator's mistakes, mispronunciations, and altering of names is hard to ignore.

Amazing Story, As Usual

The story is great and keeps getting better. This narrator performs voice inflections well but that's it. He doesn't change his voice enough with each character. Far worse, he pronounces the names many of the most important characters and places far differently than the previous three narrators. That really hurts his performance.

How spoken language changes - part two

Where does Midst Toil and Tribulation rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's an ok installment. I wanted more progress in the plot. The narrator was TERRIBLE.

What didn’t you like about Kevin T. Collins’s performance?

It was all around terrible. He messed up names and mispronounced regular English words. He didn't bother listening to previous books. He should never read another book, ever.