Calling on Dragons

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book 3

By: Patricia C. Wrede

Narrated by: full cast

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

The third of four volumes in the critically acclaimed Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Queen Cimorene, Morwen the witch, and a host of other characters once again foil the plots of the perfidious wizards in this third volume of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

This time, the dastardly wizards have stolen King Mendanbar's magic sword, vital to the health of the forest, right out of the castle armory. Morwen joins Cimorene, Kazul, Telemain, several cats, and Killer on a quest to retrieve the sword. Meanwhile, back at home, the forces of the wizards are gathering.

©2002 Patricia C. Wrede (P)2002 Listening Library

great

some of the voices didnt seem to fit some of the characters. at least different in my head

Great book, amateurish performances

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better performances. This is Cathy Dobson level bad. The main characters sound like snotty, know-it-all 8 year olds in adult bodies, and the animal voices are a poor impression of cartoonish. I kept cheering for them to get better at it as the performance went on, in the way of the amateur audiobook readers on Youtube, but no such luck.

How could the performance have been better?

If any book series is screaming for a re-record with a professional audiobook narrator, this is it.

Telemain, Killer, and the cats

I loved these stories when I was growing up. This one is pretty middle of the road, but, oh my god... Telemain's voice is completely unbearable. It was alright in the last book, where he wasn't so much of a main character, but, in this one, the dude does not shut up. Stammering and stuttering at the beginning of every sentence. On top of that, there's Killer and almost all of the cats. The scenes where it's almost exclusively those characters are pure torture. It has to be an issue with direction, so I'm not blaming the voice actors. To have a character that stammers at the beginning of ever sentence and has a whiny voice be one of the main focus is, tragically, nails on a chalk board, for me. I'm only half way through, and I can't force myself to finish in the middle of a quarantine.

The one book every one should listen to

This is the audiobook that made me a fan of audiobooks. phenomenal!! Everyone I recommend it to loves it whether 6 or 60.

Downward spiral

What would have made Calling on Dragons better?

I read these books 20 years ago, and having them done by a full cast was a dream come true for the first book. The second book was alright, though I thought Telemain was a bit off, but I chalked it up to personal interpretation. But this book...All of the animal characters are terrible, the most obvious being Killer and Fiddlesticks. So very off-putting.

really bad voices

i was able to tolerate a lot of bad voice choices in the previous book but this one is even worse. telemain was bad enough - i hate hate hate that they chose to go with “high pitched whiny cartoon nerd” for a character i always interpreted as more of an overconfident, absent minded professor type - but the animals in this one are even worse. killer is e x c r u c i a t i n g, and he’s already an annoying enough character in the text version.

Volume of the different voices was not modulated

I loved the story and different voices, but some voices were booming while others you could hardly hear.

Full cast doesn't help here

It's been a long time since I read the first two books in this series, and I own the next two, counting this one. It was often annoying--because Killer, the rabbit/donkey is so annoying, and the cats are as well. Morwen was fine, as well as the Queen. I don't care for the "bad" wizards either. It was just overall annoying and childish, though perhaps would appeal to a child. I will finish the series, however.

The full cast treatment didn't do this book any favors. It would have been much more palatable if one narrator, skilled at varied voices--and Audible has access to many of those talented folk--had read it. I have concluded that the narration is what did me in on this and added to my feelings of annoyance with so many of the characters.

Captured the attention of my reluctant reader

My son is in second grade, and despite being a a fine reader, is reluctant to pick up a book on his own. With the hope of getting him hooked on the wonder of a good story, I thought audiobooks would help him exercise the part of his brain that requires imagination, patience, and focus. It was a hit! He loves these stories, and even asks to go to bed early so he can listen. He enjoyed Calling on Dragons, as the third book in the series, and listened to it in the course of a day or two. I'm thrilled that he is following the more complex story line than he is used to (again...he isn't confident enough to read anything substantial yet).

My favorite in the series!

My favorite in the series, maybe mostly because of Fiddlesticks, Arglefraster, and what happens with head wizard Zemenar and Arona Michaelear Vamist. ;-) If you haven't read yet, then that's all I'll say on the matter, but if you have read you know what I mean. :-D the only downside is Telemain (his just sounds annoying and hesitant where I never ever felt he was hesitant wheni reading the books) and Killer's voice makes him sound not intelligent and scared, and I always felt like he was scared and foolish which would sound different than not intelligent. The story itself is great and I've known it since I was about 12 and I'm 37 now. I highly encourage you to listen and if the voices get to you, switch to the books cause they really are a great read. :-)