The Shadow of Saganami

So far two reviews precede this one. Interestingly, I must agree with both. I strongly advise the reader who got through only the first 45 minutes of the book to go back to where they stopped and restart listening. My experience was exactly the same and I nearly stopped listening at the same point. When the first woman's voice I heard sounded like Mini Mouse it was fingernails on a blackboard. When I realized that women played significant roles in the book, and that each was likely to sound like a cousin to Mini, I really had to work to keep going. Thankfully, the thought of wasting a credit kept me struggling and I did in fact finish the book.

I don't know what happened but about an hour into my listen, the female voices became less of an issue and the writing took over. I am glad it did. In the end, I found the book to be one of the better Audible purchases I have made. I have not listened to any of the "Honor Harrington" series but I will now. I did read the "March" series and thoroughly enjoyed it. I cannot say this book is better but it is most certainly on the same plane. Now, I must go back and select my next listen. Whichever I choose, I hope it can match up in terms of enjoyment and that perhaps Micky will have called Mini home.

Suggestions will be appreciated.

The Shadow of Saganami is one of those "In The Middle" stories that David Weber seems to enjoy tossing into the Honor Harrington Universe. Although it is a very, very exciting stand alone novel, which introduces many new characters, its primary purpose seems to be to back fill some of the missing facts in the primary story lines of the main Honor Harrington series, and to setup some of the events which will be developed more fully in the stories "At all Costs" and "Storm from the Shadows."

Jay Snyder, in my opinion, should have been the primary reader for the entire Honor Harrington series. He can do a full range of both male and female voices and is masterful at characterization. He understands the story lines and works very hard to make it real for the listener.

The only problems that I have with the audio series is not with Snyder's reading, but with the Producers and Directors at Audible Frontiers, who don't seem to have read the series before they started recording it. They still have the readers pronouncing "Manticoran" as Man-TIC-o-ren. Since the folks come from "Manticor" it is very unlikely that the TIC would be emphasized in the possessive unless one managed to pronounce "Manticor" as Man-TIC-or!

Also, since the men and women from the planet "Grayson" are highly religions, have the planet wide pass time of playing "Baseball" and all of their music is "Country and Western" it is equally unlikely that they would have British Accents. I would be more inclined to speculate that they would have an accent closer to one found in the Eastern United States, say, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia or South Carolina. Of course, one would have to READ THE SERIES to know that ahead of time. Audible Frontiers doesn't seem to have done its homework quite a few areas.

I give David Weber's story 5 stars, The reader, Jay Snyder, 5 stars and Audible Frontiers 1 star.

"TRADITION LIVES !!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ever since the first years of colonization of Manicore, Royal Manticoran Navy was it's Shield and Sword against Pirates, rogue attackers and Military invasions.

New junction of the wormhole leads to Talbot Cluster (17 populated Staк Systems)
It's been decided that "Star Kingdom" is no more from this Point on "Star Empire of Manticore" is born, request for annexation from Talbot cluster has been granted and now Royal Manticoran Navy also have new responsibilities.
Pirates and terrorists, minority opposition to annexation, unstable political situation in every star system.

This is Helen Zilwicki's Midshipwoman cruise aboard the heavy cruiser HMS Hexapuma, deployed to the Talbott Cluster, under the command of Captain Aivars Terekhov.

And the worst part to all of it is Solarian League Frontier Fleet, according to all sources Solarian League Supposed to consume Talbot Cluster in the next 50 years, but these 17 Star systems have another Idea.


NEXT BOOK IS "At All Costs"

I read this book when it was first published and truly enjoyed it. I was ecstatic when it was available here. I had my first letdown when the reader hit his first female voice. I had to stop working to see if I had inadvertently switched to a Monty Python recording. Most of the women in the book are made to sound as if they'd jumped right out of a Monty Python skit.
Don't get me wrong, the reader is truly talented for his male voice range, he should either put a lot of work on the female voices he does, or just quit trying to sound female. Other readers can do it, and for someone of his talents otherwise, it might be the best bet.
My other problem with the book has already been mentioned: the pronunciation of "Manitcoran." Apparently, I'm going to have to endure this for any of the "Honorverse" books that come out.
The book easily rates 5 stars. This is Weber at his best with complex plots and characters from all over the galaxy conspiring to bring harm to the star kingdom. I had to knock off 1 star for the reader. After listening long enough, you can get used to the cringe-inducing female voices and just enjoy the story.

The narration was so misaligned from other Weber audiobooks, that I would not purchase in audiobook format, but would instead read in print or Kindel.

Obviously Jay Snyder is a highly trained professional voice, but his unexpected shift to a British accent for everyone in the Star Kingdom of Manticore, including Honor, threw me. I'd enjoyed Weber's style in the prolog, and tried to deal with the too slick accent. The Admiral Harrington rendition in the first chapter reminded me of a Saturday Night Live spoof of Margaret Thatcher! It was too much, I had to forgo the listen after just 20 minutes. I could not enjoy hearing 30 hours of out of character renditions.

While I heard all of Allyson Johnson's reads, I've listened to others read Weber's books. It's not that my listening is inflexible, or that I'm an Anglophobe. It's that the performance is so mismatched, and overplayed that it ruined my enjoyment of the story.

I wish I could preview narration, but I've not made that feature work on my IPAD.

I had completed all the Harrington series books before starting on the sub-series book. I wish I had read/listen to this book before I had read "At All Cost" and "Mission of Honor". The Shadow of Saganami apparently fits into the time line somewhere in the "At All Cost" story line. The narrator was not Jay Snyder but Kevin Parasal he just can not do women voices not all women have a soprano voice. Over all great story lots of battle scenes, espionage, political intrigue to keep me up all night and not get anything done all day.

Just when I got used to the female narrator for all of the other Honor Harrington books, I just was not sure what to expect with this narrator. Well, what I got was comedy! As soon as he did his first female voice, I burst out laughing. He sounds like Mrs. Doubtfire, sans the estrogen hormone injections.

It's a great book, but everytime he tries to do a "character" voice, especially female, I just start laughing. I have never heard the term "over-narrate", but this certainly describes Jay Snyder's style. His British accents are better than the previous narrator, but his female voices are just too comical for such a good book. The good thing is that if the female character has long dialogue, he tends to lose the fake falsetto as he reaches the end of the exchange.

If this narrator is selected again, someone tell him to just pull it back from the edge.

The content might be great, but.... I can't get past the narrator's "female" voice. Every time I hear it, I think of one of the Monty Python group doing their high screechy female voices... Too distracting to listen to.

This is one Weber's most complete books of honor and courage in the face of insurmountable odds. I thought this could be one of those long winded books as I was very much pleased, instead it had a strong depth in its plot with a complex but understandable twisted story. If you like Sci Fi War novels this is a 5 star read.

I had completed all the Harrington series books before starting on the sub-series book. I wish I had read/listen to this book before I had read "At All Cost" and "Mission of Honor". The Shadow of Saganami apparently fits into the time line somewhere in the "At All Cost" story line. The narrator was not Jay Snyder but Kevin Parasal he just can not do women voices not all women have a soprano voice. Over all great story lots of battle scenes, espionage, political intrigue to keep me up all night and not get anything done all day.