Through the Wildwood

The Legend of Vanx Malic

By: M. R. Mathias

Narrated by: Gregory Silva

A half-zythian bard named Vanx is in chains for bedding the Duchess of Highlake. The Duke wants him dead, but his wife secretly sends their daughter to buy his freedom from the slave markets. This is bad news, for bad things can happen to an ill-guarded caravan in the mountains. When the Duke's mercenaries attack to kill the adulterous prisoner all hell breaks loose. Now, the only way Vanx and the Princess of Highlake can escape the Duke and his men is to somehow make it through the Wildwood, a place that no one has ever returned from….

©2012 Michael Robb Mathias Jr. (P)2013 Michael Robb Mathias Jr.

don't get the narration Poor

The narration on this book is Poor. I returned it. The story is OK to good.

Not recommended

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I am afraid I would ask it to be completely revamped. The author had a great concept but lacked the writing maturity to present it in a cohesive manner. The fact that the main character does many flashback type scenes that are not clearly defined as such leaving the reader wondering. The writing seems to be chaotic and not well planned out.

Would you be willing to try another book from M. R. Mathias? Why or why not?

I do not think so. I hope this author continues to write and learn from his mistakes. I think he has good ideas, he is just lacking the talent to layout a storyline in a manner that does not leave the reader confused. Also, I found it unnecessarily crude in spots.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

No not at all, The reader could not change his voice a whit to help distinguish the change of character speaking or thinking. Also, his inability to pronounce words correctly was very irritating. It is shameful to my way thinking for someone to take on a production such as this with such a minimal grasp of the language and its usage.
In all fairness, he was very good showing emotions and adding sound to the description as he read them.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It might be easier to discern what is really going on and who is doing what to whom in film form. However, I would probably be offended at many of the more x rated scenes LOL

Any additional comments?

I would be helpful if the author could use something other than sexual liaisons as motivation for every single thing that goes on in his stories.

Decent story, horrible narration.

Would you listen to Through the Wildwood again? Why?

No. The narrator has issues pronouncing simple words, like "liege," "cicada," and "Wyrm." It's like the narrator has read the words, but doesn't know how they sound like. This, in turn, ruins the experience for me. There are no real differences between the characters voices.

Would you be willing to try another book from M. R. Mathias? Why or why not?

Sure. These seem like small books and I'm okay with that as they're fun to read.

How could the performance have been better?

Have the narrator learn what the words are so that he can read them properly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really, but it's a decent book.

Any additional comments?

I would appreciate it if people would listen to these and vet that the audio is correct. Unfortunately that throws off the experience so much.

Struggle to listen to

I really wanted to like this book. The author set up some great cover art I love the 'haul cats'. I want to support new talent in the genre. This narrarator ruined it for me. I can't even finish it.

Words are mispronounced which is forgivable. However, he has a monotonous sing-song phrasing: he escellates up then descends in pitch almost every time. This really interferes with genuine emphasis and emotion. There are times when it sounded like all punctuation was simply lost. Also there is poor distinction between characters.

The intro is misogynistic even though it's a dream sequence. For many this will be off putting.

Awful narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I love the series, but the narration was awful. I will always download a sample before buying from now on.

Would you be willing to try another one of Gregory Silva’s performances?

No