Benjamin Dragon - Awakening

By: C. G. Cooper

Narrated by: Nathan William Heller

Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

Meet Benjamin Dragon, a boy with a gift...

Benjamin is smart, really smart. Without asking Benjamin, his parents move to a new town and put him two grades ahead of where he should be. Now a full head shorter than other kids in his new school, Benjamin is a perfect target for bullies. Is he destined to be an outcast once again?

Then strange things start happening. A bully brushed aside. A car diverted from smashing into a young girl. Is it coincidence or is Benjamin making them happen?

Follow Benjamin as he discovers his unique 'gift' while dealing with the complexities of junior high, friends, bullies, camp and strange visitors.

Benjamin Dragon - Awakening is Book 1 in The Chronicles of Benjamin Dragon.

Appropriate for ages 9 and up.

©2013 C. G. Cooper (P)2014 C. G. Cooper

Narration made this book almost unbearable

What did you like best about Benjamin Dragon - Awakening? What did you like least?

The story line was a replay of a couple of different teen authors that I've previously read (Michael Vey and Harry Potter.) The writing was fine, but the story line is tired.

Would you be willing to try another book from C. G. Cooper? Why or why not?

I may "read" the second book in the series if it is not narrated by Heller. If the future books in the series are narrated by Heller, my Audible journey of this series ends here.

What didn’t you like about Nathan William Heller’s performance?

Heller's narration reminded me of a non-native English speaker reading a script for the first time. He was not monotone, but even listenening at 1.5x, each word was clipped.

As kids books go - this a very good story

My wife and I like a good adolescent story now and then; they usually have good moral values and an entertaining story line. This story is no exception. It's gratifying to hear a story that builds character and leads you to the moral high ground. And it's especially gratifying to know that kids could pick up these values from a good story! Good job Mr. Cooper! Please continue!

A wonderful book for adults too

What did you like best about this story?

Awakening (Chronicles of Benjamin Dragon, #1) by C.G. Cooper is an exciting middle age kids book. I am certainly far from being a middle age kid but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A kid with that is mentally gifted and has another special gift. Bullies, but one of those is resolved in an unusual way. Suspense, fun, a camp, strange people with strange gifts too, and great fantasy. It was a fun read that didn't speak down to the reader. Great read.

Great Story. Awkward Narration.

This book is well worth the listen. It takes it's time setting up the world and gradually introduces you to the powers that Benjamin is developing. You discover along side the character. The narration wasn't awful, but I felt at many times that the reading of certain lines just left the moment awkward when it wasn't necessary.

A great book to READ

This book was quite enjoyable but the narration was very weird. Ike he word pause where there was no pause needed ,and his tone of voice made it hard sometimes to understand what he really meant in that moment.

great kids story, poor performance.

I almost stopped listening in the first chapter due to poor narration. but the story seemed to be interesting enough that I finished the book. my kids will enjoy this series.

The narrator needs to learn where to take breaths. His poor narration grayed on me throughout the book. things like:
It........... was his turn to play.
or
He........... hadn't done that...... in years.

He kept adding long pauses where they should not have been. Sometimes it confused me what was being said until the pause ended and the rest of the sentence was read.

And he would emphasize words that almost changed the meaning. There were times he sounded like he was asking a question when it was not.

His voice is pleasant enough, but he really needs to read like people talk and remove the incorrect pauses.

storyline good narrator bad

this was a great storyline in the book I really enjoyed it, BUT I did not like the narrator he had a monotone voice and kept trying to put me to sleep but like I said the story itself was great 👍.

The Audio was Awful

The Audio was broken, monotone, and sounded like it was being read by a robot :( I couldn't get into the story so I can't say whether it is good or not :(

Great story, narrator needs work

What did you love best about Benjamin Dragon - Awakening?

2 things: Benjamin's personality, and the fact that a bully gets transformed into a good kid!

How could the performance have been better?

Whenever the narrator was reading anything except actual quotes, his delivery was flat, ominous and robotic. It was almost as if each word was recorded separately and then just spliced together. We mostly got used to it by the end, but it was very distracting.

Any additional comments?

The narrator's conversational performance (voices, inflection, etc) was wonderful. But anything that wasn't actual speaking parts for the characters was so flatly done. He could be a GREAT narrator, but needs some coaching.

Awful narration.

Entire thing read with a very careful monotone. I listened to the first chapter and then skipped about halfway through. I cannot tolerate the narration