Queen of Sorcery: The Belgariad, Book 2

This second installment in the Belgariad is just as enjoyable as the first. Cameron's reading is excellent and he manages to bring the characters to life. A lovely fantasy adventure, that incorporates the best of family values. The story of a boy on his way to manhood, and the people who guide him along the way. A good listen for juveniles as well

I agree with some who say that Cameron Beirle perhaps wasn't the best choice for a narrator. At first I wasn't sure I'd be able to listen all the way through Pawn of Prophecy, but I managed it and I don't regret the purchase. Beirle's narration is very clear and crisp, although he does sometimes have difficulty with pronunciation. Part of it I think is his own accent, which suggests that English wasn't his first language. I'll give him this much though. More often than not I can understand him and he doesn't read in a monotone as some narrators I've heard do. He is, however, more than a little inconsistent with his pronunciations of character and place names. This is a bit easier to understand however since these are difficult names to read let alone say out loud. He makes a decent effort however. Sometimes he does slip up, pronouncing Cherek as Cherek once and Kerek the next time. Other names that give him trouble are Barak, which he sometimes pronounces Brak and others Brok. But I think he's beginning to find his footing, so to speak, with the second book in the series. I like him enough to have purchased all five Belgariad novels and the first three of the Malloreon. The final two I'll purchase next month whenI have two more credits.
One thing that I always liked about much of Eddings' writing is the humor found throughout each book. I was apprehensive about whether Cameron Beirle would be able to project that but he pulls it off quite nicely. Though his accent wavers between French and a few others, Silk sounds about like what I would imagine, sort of shifty and definitely unreliable. I picture his portrayal of Belgarath as less like Ian McKellan from Lord of the Rings as another reviewer commented, but more like Jeremy Irons. All in all I am very impressed so far.

Although I agree that the narrator defaulted to a French accent for the characters of lesser importance, I thought he did a tremendous job. I especially loved his portrayal of Silk.
I loved it!

This is a wonderful fantasy series and I hope they get the first book Pawn of Prophecy eventually. However unlike the other reviewer, I thought the reader was rather mediocre. The accents were inconsistant and frankly I didnt find them well done. They are mixture of Arnold Schwartzenhager..( and Boris Badenov with fake Scotts and French thrown in. They annoyed me throughout the entire story and usually I am not all that concerned about narration. On the good side Cameron Beierle's narration is clear. He would have done better however to just give the book a straight read.

Beierle had his faults--he gets a little carried away with his accents (and I think he misses the mark significantly on a few), but his narrations are the best so far.

However, I seriously wish the narrators would put in the time to get the name pronunciations right. I really don't understand how they can mangle some of them so badly. Here's something "straight from the horse's mouth" I found after a 15 second Google search.

As with Book 1 of this series Cameron Beierle simply ruined the experience. His narration was atrocious. Mispronunciations, inconsistency with regard to character voices, and over the top emphasis on certain words made me cringe. Do not waste your money/credits on this series like I did. You'll never get them back. I could only hope the publisher would re-narrate the books and actually pay attention to the performance before putting them up for sale.

The Belgariad was a favorite of mine when I was a teenager. I'm so pleased to share this with my daughter now. We had a long car ride coming up, so we downloaded this book. The story and characters are as fun today as they were 30 years ago. And Cameron Beierle is a master at getting the characters just right. It's hard to believe that one man can make so many voices!

This book is the 2nd of 5 books for this collection. There are a total of 10 for the storyline. It took my on a great adventure that I have not had any other author due.

Gorion finding his true self.

Garion

David and Leigh Eddings make the charaters come alive in all the books they have written.

The epic style of the Belgeriad story lends itself to be read aloud. Stories are meant to be told.

It is a great saga in the old style, like Lord of the Rings.

He has a great vocal range and apparently researches the characters to determine their vocal style. He moves seamlessly between styles when reading dialog. His insight into the characters brings them to life, like a great actor would in a film.

I can work and listen

when Polgara and Barak break into the queens castle

more emotion and pronounce the names correctly

no

these are fun books and I have read them many times when especially down and out. It improves my moods.