Darkwalker on Moonshae

Forgotten Realms: Moonshae Trilogy, Book 1

By: Douglas Niles

Narrated by: Dara Rosenberg

Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

Kazgoroth, the Beast, has come into the world to destroy the power of the Earthmother. Changing its shape as needs be, the Beast goes across the island of Gwynneth, corrupting everything in its way. Its destination is a large gathering of Northmen raiders at Oman's Isle, in the middle of the Moonshaes, where they are preparing an assault on the kingdom of Corwell. The Northmen don't realize yet that this is going to be more than just a plundering raid. They don't know that their leader isn't King Thelgaar Ironhand, but the Beast, who has killed the king and assumed his shape.Meanwhile, the Earthmother, aware of the danger and hurting from the corruption brought to the land, her body, by the vile presence of the Beast, awakes her children - the Leviathan, the Pack, and Kamerynn, the Unicorn. They will try to stop Kazgoroth in different ways, but that won't be enough.At Caer Corwell, the seat of the king of Corwell, rumour brings word of war coming to the kingdom. Preparation is under way, but the Ffolk don't know where the enemy will strike. It is up to Tristan to organize the Ffolk against this both human and demonic threat. In his fight against the odds, helped by Robyn, he will grow into the responsible leader that should inherit his father's kingdom.

©1987, 2004 TSR, Inc., c. 2004 Wizards off the Coast LLC. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Decent enough

The story is just as great as any of the forgotten realms stories are. The drawback here is the narrator. She pronounces things strangely and reads in a manner that leaves the listener confused at times. Also a problem I had with this recording was the lack of a breath or any sign that we switched character view points. One moment we are the prince fighting to keep his castle safe and then suddenly in what sounds like the same sentence we are the trusty Moore hound running home with a pack of wolves confusing the listener to exactly what's going on. If you can pour all your attention into the recording it's decently easy to follow but if you are multitasking it's very easy to get lost as to what's happening.

A good story ruined by a bad voice actor.

Would you try another book from Douglas Niles and/or Dara Rosenberg?

I read this book years ago, while there were a lot of loop holes and typo's it was a decent read.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Better voice actor.

What didn’t you like about Dara Rosenberg’s performance?

I typically don't do reviews unless I find something terribly wrong....and Dara's performance on this novel is horrid. It's like listening to the Amazon Echo read a book except that Alexa reads better. You can tell when she messes up (which is often) because there is an overdub and it's evident. Either she can't read very well, or she just doesn't like this story.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was definitely disappointed at the performance on this novel. It's a Forgotten Realms classic. I now wish I had just read it again in lieu of paying for such a terrible performance.

Any additional comments?

I won't be purchasing any books soon that is read by Dara Rosenberg.

This narrator is atrocious!!!

The Story is fantastic!! but It was a chore listening to this narrator s weird breaks and eflictions. If you play this at 1.60X she is almost bearable. Her voices for characters are well done, but she has no sense of rythem and her voice acting is just bad. Bad Bad Bad BAD!

Wrong voice reading this.

The readers stilted way of presenting the story ruined any enjoyment I was hopping to get out of this book. Each word was over enunciated to the point that you felt as if the words were being presented for memorization not enjoyment. Disappointed.

Too many glaring mispronunciations

The story is fine (not great, but fine, it's Doug Niles and you know what you're gonna get), but so many mispronunciations - I'm not talking about fantasy words, or even the Welsh ("Simrick" for Cymrych, fine, whatever), but "dogd" ("dogged"), "lopd" ("loped"), "bed-raggled" ("bedraggled") and on and on. One or two here and there are fine, but if you're a voice pro, you should have a better grasp on the language.

the voice acting is absolutely horrible...

if I didn't already buy the audio book I would give up on listing and just buy the physical one instead. I just need to know the rest of the story now so I guess I'll suffer though XD

A fair book marred by a poor performance

What didn’t you like about Dara Rosenberg’s performance?

There are a lot of words that are mispronounced or misread, from pronouncing "Macabre" as "muh-cab-re" as opposed to "muh-kahb" (but, thankfully, not "ma-carb" as in the trailer for "Color Me Blood Red"), or pronouncing words spelled with a lowercase "m" as if they contained a "r n". The story itself is fair, but the poor performance made it incredibly difficult to listen to.

Any additional comments?

The author relies heavily on diabolus ex-machina in the latter portion of the story in order to raise the stakes, which is frustrating when you're experiencing a story in an audio book format.

Horrible Narrator

Would you try another book from Douglas Niles and/or Dara Rosenberg?

Dara Rosenberg mispronounces several words. She confuses the front of a boat with a twisted bunch of ribbon. There are others but that one really sticks out. She also has very annoying "voices".

Would you be willing to try another book from Douglas Niles? Why or why not?

I like Douglas Niles' writing. Sure it is a bit heavy handed and very lite but I still like it.

What didn’t you like about Dara Rosenberg’s performance?

It's ending. Very painful.

Did Darkwalker on Moonshae inspire you to do anything?

No.

great book

look forward to the rest of this trilogy. great start to tease you into continuing.

good old fashion Fantasy adventure

To be brief the storyline is very classic D&D. My only true problem with this story is that I feel the narrator was trying to be to goofy with many of the characters. I didn't always feel like I was listening to a different character or scene so I had trouble change scenes in my head.

Aweful performance

Couldn't get passed the 2nd chapter, the reader's voice is childlike, flat and annoying. I'm sure the story is good, but I can't listen to the reader's voice anymore!

A Great Forgotten Realms Story Narrated Abysmally

I love D&D and it's lore, the Darkwalker trilogy were my intro to both and I fully believe this series as worthy as any of the D'rizz't series. How sad I was to see it let down by a narrator who speaks in a stumbling, halting manner, but who also seems to have no idea how to say some pretty common words.
I have heard better narration on amateur creepypasta podcasts!

God-awful performance makes this unlistenable

What would have made Darkwalker on Moonshae better?

I can't say I've understood the story because the insipid, tedious over-pronunciation of this smug reader kills my brain.

What did you like best about this story?

Don't know, it's unfollowable.

Would you be willing to try another one of Dara Rosenberg’s performances?

Never, never ever ever. Oh god how I wish I had never bought this.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Darkwalker on Moonshae?

I've no idea.