The Great Ordeal

By: R. Scott Bakker

Narrated by: Kevin Orton

Length: 21 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The much-anticipated third installment of R. Scott Bakker's acclaimed series, The Aspect-Emperor.

Praised by fans and critics worldwide, R. Scott Bakker has become one of the most celebrated voices in fantasy literature. With The Great Ordeal, Bakker presents the long-anticipated third volume of The Aspect-Emperor, a series that stands with the finest in the genre for its grandiose scope, rich detail, and thrilling story.

As Fanim war drums beat just outside the city, Empress Anasurimbor Esmenet searches frantically throughout the palace for her missing son, Kelmomas. Meanwhile, and many miles away, Esmenet's husband's Great Ordeal continues its epic march farther north. But in light of dwindling supplies, the Aspect-Emperor's decision to allow his men to consume the flesh of fallen Sranc could have consequences even he couldn't have foreseen. And deep in Ishual, the wizard Achamian grapples with his fear that his unspeakably long journey might be ending in emptiness, no closer to the truth than when he set out.

The Aspect-Emperor series follows Bakker's Prince of Nothing saga, returning to the same world 20 years later. The Great Ordeal follows The Judging Eye and The White-Luck Warrior and delivers the first half of the conclusion to this epic story. Returning to Bakker's richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery, The Aspect-Emperor continues to set the bar for the fantasy genre, reaching new heights of intricacy and meaning.

©2016 R. Scott Bakker (P)2016 Recorded Books

Narrator sucks

Bakker's series is out of this world. But this new narrator isn't even trying. Shame.

Great book, lackluster narration

Would you listen to The Great Ordeal again? Why?

I think Bakker fairly demands it. This is not a book you will be able to absorb in one sitting.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Great Ordeal?

Sorweel's descent through Ishteribenth, the final confrontations, just everything with Dagliash... good stuff.

Did Kevin Orton do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I suppose so. He obviously has an expressive voice and can bring real drama to the characters, but his inconsistent pronunciation of names was distracting. He definitely phoned this one in, which is odd, because he's narrated other books in the series. I certainly think the book would benefit from a better narrator, someone along the quality lines of Simon Vance or Michael Page.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I would not. I mean, there's not a theater one that would touch it.

Any additional comments?

It's better if you read it, just because Kevin Orton cannot decide how he wants to pronounce names, sometimes within the same sentence.

Pronunciation is all over the place.

I love these books but please find someone who will at least stay consistent with how they pronounce the names, places etc. this guy changes how he says things between books and even between chapters. Just weird. Other than that good series.

Meh

If you have read the others, read on. Cliffhanger finish. I will read on. Meh.

Changing pronunciation!

Kevin Orton is a decent narrator, not as good as David DeVries, but after two book (40+ hours) suddenly many names are being pronounced differently. Not only are they different from the other two books he read but he changes during the book. It's super frustrating. Pick a thing!

Enthralling

an absolute adventure with phenomenal voice acting if you have read the previous books you wont be able to put this down

Narrator is not that bad

Many reviews cite poor pronunciation by the reader. This is a issue, but it isn't terrible. I could still easily follow the story.

This was my favorite in the series since the original trilogy. The "slog" sections of Books 4 and 5 started to feel like a slog. Here the story picks up rapidly. If you enjoyed the Prince of Nothing series, and the other Aspect Emperor books, you will like this. if you're like me and almost stopped at the White Luck Warrior due to the second series not being as good, and poor reviews of the narration, I would say go on. Once you adjust to the new pronunciations it flows fine and this boom has a lot of great moments. Baller's battle scenes are great and you get many. The disperate plots begin to unify. You get some cool philosophical issues.

Kevin Orton just keeps getting worse.

Orton is by far the worst narrator attached to such a great series. I've grown to love his voice, but his constant mispronunciation of basic English is grating to say the least. In this title, the third in this series (sixth in the grand scheme), he's also taken to mispronouncing character names he got right in the first two books, which makes it even more irritating. The mistakes in the opening credits alone were enough to make me stop listening and come vent about the professional reader being terrible at reading (this isn't my first time surviving the second apocalypse, but I'm not sure I can survive this narration again)

His voice is a gift, but he's bad at his job. I can't recall if it is this specific book, but as an example of how terrible Orton is: within the span of three sentences he pronounces a beloved main character's name two different ways.Consistency would be nice, as this is the third book and he's been familiarized with the names by now. I'm not sure if he's lazy, jaded, or just bad at reading. Perhaps he's a troll. I could probably suffer through him getting Bakker names wrong though, as Bakker writes some pretty wild names, but the addition of hearing Orton say words that are actual English words and thinking "I think he meant..." is just bloody aggravating. .

Bakker is great though. If you made it this far you don't need a review of the book itself. Listening to Orton butcher it is the slog of slogs though. Better off reading it yourself and pretending you're David DeVries.

good book ruined by a terrible performance

Kevin Orton continually changes pronunciations and it's infuriating. The lack of diversity between the voices of the characters also takes away from the experience.

Narrators... please be more consistent...

Love the series, I think Orton is great. I just don't understand how Bakker and his team don't insure that whomever narrates, pronounces all the weird names and places the same from book to book. Unfortunately, even the same narrator who read the previous several novels, changes the pronunciation from book to book. Even the main characters. (WTH is "Kell hoose?! ")