Time of the Twins

Dragonlance: Legends, Book 1

By: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

Narrated by: Ax Norman

Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Sequestered in the blackness of the dreaded Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, surrounded by nameless creatures of evil, Raistlin Majere weaves a plan to conquer the darkness - to bring it under his control.

Crysania, a beautiful and devoted cleric of Paladine, tries to use her faith to lead Raistlin from the darkness. She is blind to his shadowed designs, and he draws her slowly into his neatly woven trap.

Made aware of Raistlin’s plan, a distraught Caramon travels back in time to the doomed city of Istar in the days before the Cataclysm. There, together with the ever-present kender Tasslehoff, Caramon will make his stand to save Raistlin’s soul.

Or so he believes.

©1986 TSR, Inc., 2000 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

The best Dragonlance Story, ruined by narration...

The "Twins Trilogy" is my favorite of the entire series... I was really looking forward to getting to this trilogy after Chronicles and Lost Chronicles, BUT...

This narration is awful. I understand that mispronunciations happen, and there even is arguments between fans on how words are pronounced, but it's insanely infuriating when the narrator can't even make up his mind on how HE pronounces the name throughout the same book or even chapter. The narration is dry, and sometimes even wrong, whispering when shouting and visa versa. I'll likely finish the trilogy anyway, because I don't have time anymore to reread the physical books, but I will avoid like the plague any book read by this guy. I just hope the new book, Dragons of Deceit and the trilogy Dragonlance Destinies is not read by this man, if so, I won't buy it and I will have to get a hold of a paper copy.

Horrible narration

Ive never left a review before, but the clash between the story and quality of writing and the flat narration with constant mispronunciations drove me to this. I never read the books but they still shine through his flaccid, disinterested, rookie reading.
The books are worth the listen. Ax Norman needs to read soporifics.

Waste of Money

I had just finished listening to the chronicles trilogy as narrated by Paul Boehmer. Honestly it was fantastic and I had to get more Dragonlance books!

I bought the this trilogy hoping for more of the same fun adventures and was shocked at the difference a narrator can make.

The performance of Ax Norman was so flat it killed the story for me. It was hard to know who was talking as he just read everything in the same voice. The pronunciation of things was horrible.

Every time he said “paladin” instead of “Paladine” hurt me.

Honestly just going to go buy the physical books and read them myself instead of having this fantastic story ruined by poor narration.

make narrator listen to prior books!

most names mis pronounced. personalities of characters wrong... great story hope they redo these with a lil research to get them right.

Great story, poor naration

Great fantasy series but narrator is very monotone compared to previous narrator of the Chronicles set.

Ax Norman Ruins This Listen... Book Is Great

I bought the audible version of this book because I have loved the Dragonlance series since I was a child. Because I enjoyed the stories so much, I was able to muscle through the horrific narration of Ax Norman. Don't get me wrong, the man's voice is not unpleasant to the ear. What I object to is his mangling of names and places, the lack of expression, his inability to distinguish individual characters and the obvious fact that, before he narrated this book, Ax Norman never even HEARD of the Dragonlance series, never mind read them. While I will buy the rest of the series because I love the books, I would strenuously recommend that if the series is redone, the authors/producers seriously think about returning to Paul Boehmer (from the Chronicles series). He, at least, did his homework and provided a pleasant and textured listening experience.

Great book ruined by horrible narrator

Would you try another book from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and/or Ax Norman?

Weis & Hickman? YES!Ax Norman? Never

Who was your favorite character and why?

All of them

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Every character sounded almost the same, and he mispronounced multiple names... and not always the same mispronunciation. I didn't know "Sturm" could be said so many different ways. Storm? Really?

What character would you cut from Time of the Twins?

None.

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful book that brings back nostalgic memories from my youth. It's a shame Ax had to ruin it. I was actually inspired to write my FIRST EVER Audible review, just to complain about the narrator. Sad days.

Eh

The story was great but the narrator was awful in his telling. please get a better narrator.

Cloud users beware...

Any additional comments?

If you purchased this or any book on Audible, and like the reader, be aware that, unless you download and save your purchase, Audible can and has replaced books with an alternate reader at their whim. This is true of the Chronicles series. I bought the books when they came out. All read by Ax Norman. I like to have all of the books in a series read by the same reader, so the names and voices all sound the same. Audible has STOLEN my books and replaced them with the new reader. So if you enjoy the reader... please download and save your books. Audible says you own them... but their actions say differently. Calling customer care, all they tell me is I can get my money back.... I don't want my money I want what I paid for, what I purchased...

Don't be discouraged by other reviewers

This is an excellent narration. Ax Norman performs the dialogue with emotion that persuasively reflects the characters, and he doesn't resort to silly-sounding voices for women that a lot of male narrators are prone to. There is a bit of singing (Caramon's drinking song) and Norman does a rollicking job. The non-dialogue is read without drama, but simply and clearly.

OK, so his pronunciation of names varies. It's clear Norman wasn't given much background or prep on the books. Despite the many years, I see that the publishers still have NOT fixed the obvious typos ("Alone" when they mean "a lone," "aesthetic" when they mean "ascetic," etc.) So I blame the publishers for any odd-sounding reading.

Don't be discouraged! Norman does this great story justice. I'm looking forward to downloading War and Test. A wonderful nostalgic read from childhood. Weis and Hickman have refined their craft in this trilogy. I wish there was an audio Deathgate Cycle.