A Meeting in Corvallis (Dramatized Adaptation)

Emberverse, Book 3

De: S.M. Stirling

Narrado por: Alejandro Ruiz, Amanda Forstrom, Christopher Walker, Dani Stoller, Laura C. Harris, Marni Penning, Megan Poppy, Nora Achrati, Patrick Bussink, Richard Rohan, Scott McCormick

In the 10th year of the Change, the survivors in Western Oregon live in a world without technology. Michael Havel’s Bearkillers hold the lands west of Salem in peace and order. To the east, the Clan Mackenzie flourishes under the leadership of Juniper Mackenzie, bard and high priestess.

Together, they have held Norman Arminger - the warlord of Portland - at bay. With his dark fantasies of a neofeudal empire, Arminger rules much of the Pacific Northwest, spreading fear with his knights, castles, and holy inquisition. Even more dangerous, and perhaps Arminger’s most powerful weapon of all, is his ruthlessly cunning consort, Lady Sandra.

These factions haven’t met in battle because Arminger’s daughter has fallen into Clan Mackenzie’s hands. But Lady Sandra has a plan to retrieve her - even if it means plunging the entire region into open warfare.

Performed by Scott McCormick, Nora Achrati, Patrick Bussink. Dani Stoller, Alejandro Ruiz, Amanda Forstrom, Richard Rohan, Marni Penning, Christopher Walker, Laura C. Harris, Megan Poppy, Eric Messner, Tia Shearer, Terence Aselford, Henry Kramer, Steve Wannall, Elizabeth Jernigan, Andrew Quilpa, Steven Carpenter, Jonathan Feuer, Holly Vagley, Scott Bruffey, Nick DePinto, Michael John Casey, Elanor Todd, KenYatta Rogers, Paul Reisman, Chris Stinson, Todd Scofield, Evan Casey, Joe Mallon, Matthew Pauli, Ken Jackson, Lise Bruneau, Yesenia Iglesias, Yasmin Tuazon, Nathanial Perry, Jillian Levine-Sisson, and Anji Cornette.

©2007 Stephen M. Stirling (P)2021 Graphic Audio

Not bad

I felt that the narrator and some of the male actors were flat and there was some overuse of really repetitive music tracks.

Alternate History A+

If the story in and of it's self wasn't compelling enough as a stand alone audio book, the Graphic Audio Poduction took it to the next immersive level.
This is the last of the GAP for this series, but I will absolutely be finishing the remaining books as read, because I can't wait to see what happens next.

great

loved it! I hope there is another graphic audio for the rest of the series

Terrible audio. Good story

I’ve read this series in paperback, so I knew I enjoyed the story. I saw the graphics audio option, and was feeling adventurous.

Mistake.

The sound effects are distracting. Often, they are louder than the voice that is speaking, or not related to what the speaker is saying. Scenes tend to end abruptly and often feel incomplete. Sterling does a good job of foreshadowing in his writing, but that is lost in the graphic audio version.

I have listened to ensemble audiobooks before and enjoyed them. This wasn’t an ensemble performance so much as a bunch of different people reading bits and pieces of a story. Overall, the performance reminds me of a children’s Christmas pageant performance where the lines are mostly memorized, and you can kind of hear, but the performers are speaking as individuals rather than as actors.

I will be avoiding graphix audio performances in the future.

This adaptation slaughtered the book & characters. Don’t waste your money.

If the mispronunciations weren’t bad enough, most of the female characters sounded worse than 12 year old valley girls from the 80’s. Even though the background sound effects transport one’s mind into the story, they don’t overcome the basic fact that the other narrations are truer to the books and better all around. I got all three adaptations with mixed feelings, hoping for better…didn’t happen. Adaptations are poor with the exception of the narrator who did a fair job in spite of slaughtering many pronunciations. A basic knowledge of Irish and French languages would have helped before fumbling so badly. Hard to enjoy a book when you’re cringing with so many mispronunciations & voices too childish to be believable in the age group they’re trying to portray.

A Great Story Tainted by Bad Audio Mixing

The book itself is great. It has good writing with satisfying character arcs, taking place in an interesting setting.

However.... the Graphic Audio format almost made me quit listening numerous times.

The book has background audio intended to make the experience more engaging. When done lightly, this is great. In this instance, the mixing was terrible. Background noise such as horses, screaming troops, explosions, etc were too loud and too distracting. Sometimes the background noise was louder than the narrator, and I had to go back multiple times to hear what was being said. Additionally, chapters that were intended to end in suspenseful cliff hangers had the surprise given away by the "Graphic Audio".

Overall, I think that you should skip the Graphic Audio version and stick with the standard audiobook.