• Alta

  • Dragon Jousters Series, Book 2
  • By: Mercedes Lackey
  • Narrated by: Ryan Burke
  • Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (467 ratings)

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Alta  By  cover art

Alta

By: Mercedes Lackey
Narrated by: Ryan Burke
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Publisher's summary

Nationally best-selling fantasy legend Mercedes Lackey created a vivid, dynamic fusion of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of ancient Egypt with the most exciting, authentic and believable portrayal of dragons ever imagined. In the second novel in Mercedes Lackey's richly conceived Dragon Jousters series, the dragonrider Vetch escapes to Alta, the subjugated land of his birth. There, he hopes to teach his people to raise and train dragons - and build an army that will liberate his homeland.

©2004 Mercedes R. Lackey (P)2019 Tantor

What listeners say about Alta

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Characters

I have read this book several times. As this story is based on Egyptian culture, I find the character voices odd. I never Imagined The character voices to sound British, Scottish, and Irish.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story but ridiculous accents

One of the best dragon series around. Horse whispering for dragons. Set in a clearly Egyptian based world the odd Scottish and English accents are very distracting.

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2 people found this helpful

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a fitting addition

I could hardly wait for this, the 2nd in the series, to continue this captivating adventure. Now I am anxious to begin the next. Great fun and very imaginative.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I Love This Series

I love the world the has been created in this series. It is familiar but oh so different. The story itself is also so plausible one could almost believe it happened. I love the characters, the plot and even the little hints of romance. I can't wait to hear the next part of the story!

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1 person found this helpful

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Excellent

Love this series and I'm so happy to have it on audiobook. This book is even better than Joust!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Such a great series

love this series so much, and cant wait for the remainder to be released. This series is great for almost all ages

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    4 out of 5 stars
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So many new characters, but they're all wonderful!

I cant wait for the next two books! Ryan Burke is a terrific narrator, finally bringing this most unique of Mercedes Lackey's series to life.

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So good.

I am loving this series- utterly absorbing. I was skeptical in the first book but it gets better and better. Excited to start the next in the series. Few things compare to finding an absorbing series with lots of books/hours of listening. Highly recommend.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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So Much Better

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ryan Burke at 1.2 speed for my personal listening pleasure as Burke reads somewhat flatly. I’m continuing the series as recommended by a co-worker.

Right away, the audio quality changes revealing Burke recorded in different controlled environments or with different settings.

Lackey goes right back to her “telling” style of writing, but the beginning of Alta does start off with a better mix of dialogue than the first book, Joust, did. And at least there’s a fairly good action scene in the first chapter. About 3/4 of the way through, the book gets to where you don’t want to stop.

There is still a lot of worry by the main character that almost never comes to fruition. If worry is expressed, readers expect more of those worries to be proven right; the main character still comes off as a worrywart in this second book. At least in this edition, Vetch/Kuron grows in a much faster rate and for positive change in the reader’s mind than in Joust.

Another little annoying bit is that the author only uses innuendo when it comes to sexual situations. Even in earlier editions of the story, it was strange to have the main character thinking in innuendo rather than simply even thinking plainly. Even as a youngster the main character’s age, I didn’t thin about how people “danced horizontally,” I called the act for what it was in my thoughts.

Throughout the narration of Alta, Butke’s intonation is a little strange, when one expects the end of a sentence, it isn’t. It’s a little awkward to listen to at times and makes for what feels a little like droning on at times.

Alta is much better than Joust in terms of things actually being done and said. The overall story is leagues better as so much more actually happens. There is also more political intrigue. More characters are introduced. More action takes place. The characters are still a bit predictable, and there is a lot of foreshadowing, basically, if someone thinks if could happen, it generally does; even so, the story is enjoyable.

I recommend this book with or without reading the first book, Joust. If you want the full backstory, go for both, but if you’re fine with the summarizations Lacky provides, then starting with book 2, Alta, is just fine. I, honestly, wish my co-worker would have told me that, and I would have skipped Joust all together because when I was finished with it, I almost didn’t start Alta.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great story..bad narrator

He is using extremely heavy Scottish and Irish accents for what is clearly an Egyptian culture his English is mild but I really don't understand his reasoning.. it is constantly distracting and pulls you out of the story. also sometimes he is subaudible..what's the point of that? we need to hear the quiet thoughts too you twit

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