Ivanhoe

Well-read recording of a great adventure book. Scott digresses a lot into social and cultural history, and much of this is outdated. But the tournament, the battle scenes, the meeting of Richard and the friar -- these are great listening. This has been one of my favorite audiobooks.

I had read this in high school but I don't remember it being this awesome! It felt too much like reading the bible, but the recording has a completely different feel to it. Mostly because this narrator is so familiar with the difficult language and distinguishes the character's voices so well. It starts out a little hard to listen to, but if you can make it to the tournament you won't be able to stop until you're done!

Take a rip roaring adventure tale with honorable thieves, despicable tyrants, a secretly returned king, beautiful damsels, and of course a knight in shining armor and you have the story of Ivanhoe. As if that is not enough, I have to say, Michael Page's narration is astounding. He gives each character a unique accent and speech cadence and is so good I thought I was listening to real actors read individual parts. I wasn't crazy about his early voicing for Isaac of York, it seemed a bit over the top at times, but as the story develops and Isaac's problems become more severe, Page does a great job of conveying Isaac's stress and troubles. Here is the mark of a great narrator, that I could easily identify the which character was speaking without the author's attribution. This is a great story and a great read and one of just two five star ratings I have awarded to date.

I loved this story. It held me right to the end, which was a bit disappointing in that it was not satisfying at all, but I could see why the author did what he did. The narration was also quite good if not a little overly dramatic. I was very happy with this purchase.

Ya know I've known that Ivanhoe was written by Sir Walter Scott since I was little... But had no idea what it was about. I was pleasantly surprised by the epic story. All the knighthood stuff and more. Thoroughly enjoyable story. Great narrator.

Narrator:
Interestingly enough, I originally began to listen to the book narrated by Jim Killavey, and although it has high reviews, I personally found his voice or possibly the recording a little grating. In my opinion, there is no comparison, and Michael Page has just become my favorite narrator. I intend to look for more books narrated by him. The voices are so expressive and distinct, and it made for a more understandable story, and I laughed out loud at some of the ways he expressed some of the lines of the jester and Cedric. Wow!

Story:
The poetry that opened each chapter gave such a marked elegance to the text and a chivalrous ambience to the portrayal of the people. The description of the land and the manner and attire of the people were so carefully detailed as to be perfect for a student studying the time period. Historical references were intermingled with a delightful story of honor and avarice, fortune and despair, which made you admire and feel for even some of the most despised characters.

Not for a while as I really don't need to go back

Robin Hood

Battle at the end

No it was too long I listened two hours a day on my commute

I LOVED this book. It probably is due in large part to the terrific narration. Yes, it's Robin Hood, and it's King Richard, and Prince John and all the usual characters. But this is so much more. The description of the terrible treatment of the Jews at this time in England, and the hypocrisy surrounding them (they were needed for loans, because Christians weren't allowed to earn usury) is palpable. The resentment the Saxons felt toward the Normans comes to life. The characters are heroic and humorous. The language of the times (thee's, thou's, etc.) is easy to follow because the narrator is so good. I wouldn't have selected it at Audible if it hadn't been free at the time, so what a wonderful surprise when I found it so thoroughly enjoyable.

This classic novel includes all the archetypes of a medieval story: knights, castles, tournaments, battles, damsels in distress, etc. Amusingly _ with debatable concern for historical accuracy _ it also includes famous characters such as Richard the Lion Heart, Prince John, Robin Hood and Friar Tuck.

Strangely, narration is not linear and often the action is rewound to look at the same events a second time, from the perspective of different characters. This makes things a bit difficult to follow, especially in audio format. There is also a surprising emphasis on Isaac and Rebecca, of Jewish faith, who appear practically more prominently than Ivanhoe himself. It must be mentioned as well that there is a strong anti-Catholic bias, the Church, its priests and its rituals being somewhat ridiculed throughout the work.

Still the result is entertaining and those unfamiliar with this famous work will not be disappointed.