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

how narrator going to change the names of all the

love this series but this one is hard to finish they changed all the names or mispronounce all the names

Narrator was aweful

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No,the narrator was so bad that he took an average story and made it very hard to even complete listening. It's a new narrator and he didn't pronounce names correctly making me figure out who he was reading about. You'd think a new narrator would have enough sense to listen to the previous narrator of a series so at least he pronounces the names the same. Also his "voices" pretty much all sounded the same giving very little "life" to the charachters.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Midst Toil and Tribulation?

The ending because it was finally over. Although I did like the coming back to life of one person.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

see my comments above. Please bring back the "old" narrator. This narrator was really really bad. Only my love of the series kept me listening with the hope that the next book won't have this narrator.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Moments that could have been very moving weren't because of the crappy voices and acting of the narrator.

Another good Safehold story, lousy voice actor!

What did you like best about Midst Toil and Tribulation? What did you like least?

Another great story by Weber; progressing the Safehold saga and building the cast and characters.

I usually don't post reviews, but I was so disappointed with the voice acting that I had to say something. Jason Collins is new to the series; Mr Collins' only redeeming feature is that he is clearly spoken. His forced breathless delivery is painful to listen to. He does settle down a bit in the later chapters, but the first 8 hours is positively painful. He has not taken the time to prepare for the reading, having obviously not listened to the previous novels. Almost all of the pronunciation of character and place names has shifted, in some cases to the point where the names are not recognisable. Changing the main character Merlin Athrawes’ name from “A-thra-wes” to “ath-RAWs”, Nimue from “NI-mu” to “Nimu-Ey” and the main protagonist state Charis from “CAr(e)-iss” to “CHar-is” , Chisholm from the very correct "Chi-som(e)" to "Chis-HOME". He is also unable to shift his voice sufficiently to differentiate between characters and the chosen accents and voices are not consistent through the work. I wonder if the producer has also changed (or possibly dropped the ball) on this rendition?

Please bring back Charles Keating or Jason Culp!

A necessary step towards the ultimate conclusion

Would you try another book from David Weber and/or Kevin T. Collins?

Absolutely!

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Omit redundant details.

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

Well, he pronounced the character names a little too accurately for my taste. Weber purposely misspells all the names on Safehold so that they sound similar to common english names, but I always read them like common names, it was a little offputting to hear the narrator rigidly adhere to the "proper" annunciation, no matter how torturous :-)

Do you think Midst Toil and Tribulation needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, this book is just a chapter in the entire story. It is an exceedingly LONG, boring, redundantly depicted and narrated chapter, but nonetheless, its required reading if you are to finish the Safehold series.

Any additional comments?

Generally, this book moves slowly, and has lots of unnecessary and redundant detail. David Weber seems to forget that his audience that has worked it's way through half a dozen of these massive books is probably smart enough not to have to have a flintlock rifle or steam ship described in excruciating detail every 5 pages. We get it!

Pronunciation!!

This is the editor's fault. Please make sure pronunciation is consistent. It takes away from the reading/listening experience to have to translate from book to book.

Too much blah blah blah

in what would have been one of the best books of the series the author wants to get bogged down excruciating and I do mean excruciating explanations any number of minutiae and overly detailed conversations. Then, combined with narrators pedantic tone it was almost unlistenable. Almost. Like I said it still comes close to one of the best books of the series.

Good story, poor reader

This is the third reader for the story, and definitely my least favorite. Although Collins carries energy in his voice I can't shake the feeling he will start crying in anguish at any moment... Very distracting...

Writer changes

The orator for the first 3-4 books was decent, then the guy who read the last book was great. This orator sucks, tries to be overly dramatic for every single line, whether it’s supposed to be or not. Seems like the guy took one too many theatre classes.

Come on David Weber. Don’t pinch pennies and hire someone decent to read your books. I’m not sure I’m even going to finish this book.

still a good series so far

the thing I've disliked most is the changing of the narrator multiple times. idk if it was this story or the last book the pronunciation of names changed to. it kinda throws the flow off a bit, but it's tolerable.

STOP CHANGING NARRATORS!

I'm not the only one. the shift from one narrator to another destroys the continuity of the story. I'd much rather wait a little longer for the "right" narrator. the story is ruined when the sequel has the tone, pronunciation, and voices completely change. DON'T DO THAT!!