Touch the Dark

Cassandra Palmer, Book 1

By: Karen Chance

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits - talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead alike. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot.

The undead are another matter.

Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires, but when the bloodsucking mafioso she escaped three years ago finds her again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.

The undead senators won't help her for anything, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire - and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay.

©2006 Karen Chance (P)2008 Tantor

Terrible Narrator, A Little Boring

This book could be much more exciting, but the narrator is TERRIBLE. I listen to tons of audio books and a bad narrator can destroy a great book...this is a perfect example. This narrator doesn't even use correct pronunciation! If she has to say the word "costume" which she calls "coshtume" one more time, or "were" which she pronounces as "weer", or even the word "vague"(...who doesn't know the pronunciation of the word vague???), I think I might loose my mind! I hate to be rude or insulting, but for those of you think this is a good narrator, please, expand your horizons, because you must not listen to many audio books. There are some really great ones out there who really know how to stimulate the imagination, however; this lady is not one of them.

Ugh! Hate the Narration!

I need to preface my review by saying that I've read most of Karen Chance's books, and am a big fan! I hate to make one of her books with only two stars.

However, the narrator has completely killed this story. She must not know the difference between 'telling' a story and just reading one. If I want to hear lifeless droning I can get my kindle or mac can do that for me for free.

The opening paragraphs, in which the heroine receives a death-threat and has to flee for her life are read with less emotion than than Ben Stein's economics lecture in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Sarcasm must completely fly over the narrator's head, as the lines are read with no change in pitch. There is some inflection, but no change in tone, voice, or emotion!!!

Kind of Boring....

I really thought I would like this book, but it was reeeaallly s-l-o-w. It felt like there was a lot of repetition. I just didn't care about the characters.

Urban fantasy gone wrong

What did you like about this audiobook?

A different narrator. This person is so monotone I couldn't focus on the story. I kept tuning out. Couldn't even finish the book.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

no

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

no

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Very monotone the different characters need to have better voices

Do you have any additional comments?

To bad I wasted a credit!

plain

I loved the books but the reader is reading the story and characters as one long sentence. Her timing is so bad and the emotions she is supposed to be giving these people are simply NOT THERE!
I already miss Cassie's sense of humor... hope the reader gets better hate to think i 'wasted ' my money

Help!!!!

I listen to a ton of books and this one is bad! I say that because of the way the book is read. She begins the book like she is angry and continues to read in a weird monotone that rarely gets my attention. I really wanted this to be better! The story? I have no idea because the reader bored me to death. I actually daydreamed while listening to this???

Slooooow pacing in fiction

Oh, good heavens, get on with it already. We all sit around the room arguing. Then we have a fight that lasts forever. Then we all sit around the room arguing. There is very little plot, very little meaningful action. This is a five-snooze book.

I want my money back!!!!!!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Horrible Author and even worse Narrator. Can you learn to explain something in less than 30 minutes? Good lord. I WANT A REFUND!!!

Very hard to get into

I still have not finished this book even though I’ve had it for over a week. I have not managed to get past chapter 11 and I still have no clue what the hell is going on. I wish I could still return it.

Do Not Want

This has got to be the worst book I've ever read. The writing is juvenile at best, the plot is convoluted and contrived, and the characterization is so shallow it's laughable. The main character of the story spends the entire book a helpless, clueless figure that you just end up hating. Come on lady, get a freaking clue! Whole narrations could have been skipped if she had had at least some sort of intelligence. Instead, the writer acts like every plot revelation wasn't already predicted for several chapters, and takes hours to tell us something we already figured out and the main character should have as well.

Setting aside the barrage of various supernatural aspects to this story the reader has to contend with and the use of historical figures as prominent characters, the writer's understanding of dramatic timing is absent. You don't interrupt a dramatic fight scene to go into narration about the nuances of various supernatural entities. If you must, then you've failed as a storyteller. Couple all this with horrible dialogue and I was begging that the story just end, though I listened to the entire thing just to give the author the benefit of the doubt. Seriously, do not buy this book.

As far as the narration, I have a suggestion. Not every line of a book needs to be read with sultry intonations or biting sarcasm. Just read the book. Stop trying to make everything sound so much more important than we've already gathered is not. I will probably avoid any book narrated by her in the future.

Again, don't bother with this book. I didn't enjoy a single minute of it, and I hope to help someone else avoid wasting their money.