Daughter of the Drow

Forgotten Realms: Starlight & Shadows, Book 1

By: Elaine Cunningham

Narrated by: Dara Rosenberg

Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Beautiful as she is deadly, Liriel Baenre flits throught the shadows of Menzoberranzan, city of the dark elves. Amid treachery and murder that are the drow's daily fare, she feels something calling to her...something beyond this dusky world far removed from the sun. Yet as she ventures toward the surface and the lands of light, enemies pursue her unceasingly.

And one enemy may offer her the only hope of salvation.

©2003 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Don't Waste Your Time or Money

Would you try another book from Elaine Cunningham and/or Dara Rosenberg?

I would try another book by Elaine Cunningham. In fact, I purchased this audio book having already read the series. I had hoped to enjoy the story again.

How could the performance have been better?

The performance could have been 1000 times better by having someone else perform it. Dara, bless her soul, needs to find a new line of work. She is an absolutely awful performer. She must fidget like a leaf on the wind when recording. Her voice is always seemingly moving towards and away from the mic. Moreover, her English leaves much to be desired. Whether it is the rather odd way she pronounces some words, e.g., "SKIM-a-tar" instead of "scimitar," or the way she misreads words so that instead of "accessing" a room the character ends up "assessing" the room, her ability to read the text is truly cringeworthy.

Was Daughter of the Drow worth the listening time?

No. It was absolutely not worth the time.

Any additional comments?

The story is good. It is worth listening to. However, the performance is so bad that I am going to try to get my money back. The time I wasted while I listened and hoped that Dara would find her stride, I can never get back. I only hope that I can help prevent other people from suffering as I did. The story is good. I hope that they will rerecord it with a competent and skillful performer. That will make all the difference.

Awful narration ruins a promising book.

I removed it from my device 30 minutes in. Couldn't get past the mangling of basic english words, the tinny recording and misplaced pauses.
I'll just get this book into my mind the old fashioned way as it sounds quite promising. Hopefully Audible re-records it.

why why why

I have to ask why they have done this to such a good book. I bought this book because I have read and reread this trilogy. listening to the book was a struggle. it sounded like it was recorded in a bathroom stall and inconsistent enough that you can tell where they had to go back and fix parts and splice them in. the reader is just that a poor reader. her inability to keep a cadence makes it obvious she has reached the end of a line on the page but not the end of a sentence. i could go on but i don't see the point.

Story is good, but the narrator is terrible.

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

Maybe in the same series, but overall I think the narrator makes too many major mistakes. There are many pauses for no reason, and fantastically bad pronunciation of common words. And she consistently changes pronunciation of the main character's name in the first few chapters of the book.

Oy this reader...

What would have made Daughter of the Drow better?

It's an interesting story, but the reader is just terrible...she gets better later but at the beginning she is just no good.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

meh

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

as I said, she is a terrible reader...fire her!

A different look at the Drow

If you've only read RA Salvator's work with the drow than you owe it to yourself to check out Daughter of the Drow. Lyriel the main characters is a witty, devious and enjoyable character whom actually revel's in he culture even as she slowly learns to reject its evil. These delightful contradictions and intrigue make this story extremely enjoyable. The story is extremely fun, well paced with an great supporting cast of allies and enemies for Lyriel and over all a real delight.

The story is set in the heyday of 2nd edition D&D's Forgotten Realms but it works well as a stand alone and any fan of fantasy should be able to get into and enjoy this series with no prior knowledge of the setting or D&D in general, however if you do read the other Drow centric book it acts as nice little companion piece.

However as good as the story is the current recording is of very low quality. The reader doesn't have very good audio quality, the editing is a pit choppy and the actors choice of inflection is rather unusual which might prove distracting to some listeners. If they can fix the audio issues I'd say this is a must buy for any fan of the Drow and the Forgotten Realms.

Learn the names

i love the story!! The reader needed to learn the names of things, then say them correctly.

Great Story, not so great narrator.

My biggest complaints are twofold, the audio quality and the narrator's frequent inability to pronounce words correctly. Other than that, I rather enjoyed the story and look forward to the next volume.

Average book read really badly

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Nobody that enjoys Forgotten Realms and more specifically the Drow. The way this was narrated is an insult to the Drow people. The narrator should should be lashed with a snake-headed whip at least 10 times.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Nails being run down a blackboard.

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

Are you serious? LOL, um no.

What character would you cut from Daughter of the Drow?

None

Any additional comments?

The narration ruined this series. Dara's inflection was flat and horrid at best. Do yourself a favor and buy the kindle version. Audible needs a zero star rating for narrators like this.

Dara Rosenberg needs to learn English

What made the experience of listening to Daughter of the Drow the most enjoyable?

It's a great story. I read the book years ago and was glad to see it come to audible.

How could the performance have been better?

Dara Rosenberg pronounces words oddly, and has awkward pauses in the middle of sentences and even multi-syllable words. For instance she pronounced the word worship as war ship, and Menzobaranzan as Menzo baran zan, as if it were three separate words and not a proper noun. The sound quality was also just a bit tinny.

Did anyone ever consider pronunciation?

What made the experience of listening to Daughter of the Drow the most enjoyable?

The fact that there is an off button.

What other book might you compare Daughter of the Drow to, and why?

None

How could the performance have been better?

Have someone who can pronounce Menzoberranzan, and speaks English on a regular basis. This performance could have been much better done by a parrot, do the performers actually listen to what they've recorded, this is dreadful! I will not be completing the download and wish to cancel the order!

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Played the game, read the books, will not listen to them on Audible.

Any additional comments?

Never again! I will not buy anything narrated by this person, stilted narration, mis-pronunciation, all in all a terrible experience. A wonderful series of books yet they have been ruined by the pathetic attempts to tell the tale.

great story poorly read.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes have it read by someone else.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Dara Rosenberg?

Victor bevine.

Dara rosenberg what can I say. This is the first audio book with her narrating and I will not buy another. She has a very strange halting reading style with emphasis in all the wrong places resulting in a painful listen. Maybe she is uncomfortable with the fantasy genre. I had to stop listening an hour in.

I get the impression she is reading a line then thinking about it then trying to say it with weird pronunciation.

Wish I could get my money back on this.