Dragons of a Fallen Sun

Dragonlance: The War of Souls, Book 1

By: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

Narrated by: Marieve Herington

Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

The people of Krynn have known war in past ages. Some are still alive who remember the triumph of good at the conclusion of the War of the Lance. Still more remember the devastation of the Chaos War, which ended the Fourth Age of the world.

But now a new war is about to begin, more terrible than any have known. This war is one for the very heart and soul of the world itself.

©2003 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

the narrator constantly mispronounced key names

found this most frustrating, Paul was a better narrator, and did better voice play, and acting.

Worst narrator I've heard. Read this one instead.

Would you listen to Dragons of a Fallen Sun again? Why?

No the narration is painful and ruins the book

What did you like best about this story?

Great to see a new story with old favorites.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Marieve Herington?

Anyone anyone at all. She makes me sorry I bought this.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Old friends with new life

Any additional comments?

I can get past the common word mispronouncing, and even the character names which are frequent. It is the character voices that make it simply unbearably awful. The high pitched child like tone of the elven characters make it sound as though military orders or tense conversations are coming from santa's Christmas elf...that has been castrated. It's the first audiobook I wish I hadn't bought...

The story is great, the narration is awful.

The frequent mispronunciation of character names is forgivable, but mispronouncing multiple common words is horrible. I find I am shouting the words at the stereo every time she says them incorrectly. Also, doing Elf voices like Kender voices is terrible. A fierce warrior Elf should not sound like the little people. I find myself wondering whether or not anyone tests these out before releasing them. It would not have taken very long to discover the many errors.

Great story (so far). Narrator? Not so much...

Would you try another book from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and/or Marieve Herington?

Love the story - hate the narration on this one.

Would you be willing to try another one of Marieve Herington’s performances?

No. Her voice is beautiful but she should have listened to at least a little bit of the previous narrations. I think her pronunciation of "Majere" as "Majerry" is going to make me crazy before I finish this book!

Was Dragons of a Fallen Sun worth the listening time?

Haven't finished it yet. The story is intriguing - I just hope I can survive the narrator's mispronounciations.

Great story horrible narrator.

I found the narrators voice so irritating I can't listen to this. Amazing story, if you can deal with her it's worth it.

Marvelous continuation of an immense world.

Fantastic book continuing with old favorite characters and introducing new, powerful, and sincere characters. The authors produced another great story with intriguing style and imagination. My only complaint is the performance of the narrator. While she may be capable of reading for other works, this was not one. Her MASSACRE of the pronunciation of many characters is truly distracting. As was her artistic take on many common English words.

love the narriators voice, it's angelic.

Where does Dragons of a Fallen Sun rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The story is all one expects from Weiss and Hickman. However the narrator though gifted with an angelic voice lacks the knowledge to pronounce words like Thorbardin. It will make some cringe as I have witnessed. Also she lacks the vocal range needed to keep characters straight in one's mind. Just be ready.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dragons of a Fallen Sun?

When the source of the loss of magic begins to reveal itself.

How could the performance have been better?

The narriation should have been performed by both a man and a woman or at least by somone with more vocal range.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but narration stopped me at times.

Any additional comments?

It's worth hearing. Worth the money especially if you are already a Dragon Lance fan.

My love for Dragonlance was almost overshadowed

I love Dragonlance. Its my favorite, and I've gone through the series up until this point.
The narrator of this book almost killed it for me. Their pronunciation has been mentioned before, so I won't go too deep into that. But it just feels like there is a distinct lack of passion for their performance.
The real bummer for me was [Spoiler Warning ⚠️]
The second yo last chapter. One of the main characters is literally fighting a dragon, but the scene was narrated with the pace and tone of an NPR show or a sleep podcast. I'm committed to the trilogy by this point, but the narrator has turned something I was excited about into a chore; Something I've got to get through so I can get to the next trilogy.

Good story marred by odd non-standard pronuncation

What made the experience of listening to Dragons of a Fallen Sun the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the story - as I have all of Weis and Hickman's previous Dragonlance stories.

What did you like best about this story?

The storytelling, the chance to visit old, well loved, characters

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Learn how to pronounce "glower" (it rhymes with "flower.")

There are a few other fairly common English words that she has cringeworthy non-standard pronunciations, but "glower" is the most common.

Well written, well read

What did you love best about Dragons of a Fallen Sun?

There's something different in this new trilogy from the "classical" ones, the Chronicles and the Legends. The authors evidently decided that something different must be done to revitalize the brand. Herington's performance is very good, even though her portrayal of some of the elves is slightly comical (Samar for instance).

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favourite character is, and always will be, Laurana. Since the first trilogy, she stands apart because she grows as a person in a "believable" way. From elfmaiden to general and first class politician,

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long. But the performer's reading was just about right, It is a pleasure to listen to.

Any additional comments?

I'll certainly buy the other two titles in the series. Eagerly anticipating Ax Norman's new versions of the Chrinicles. I'm sure he's done an excellent job.

Disappointing

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

I was disappointed in the narrative. I like Margaret Weiss and have read and listened to several of her other titles, but this story has too much historical background woven into the story. It detracts and makes it confusing.

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

This book was one of the very few I have not been able to finish. I would return it to get my credit back if I could.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Marieve Herington has the wrong voice for reading this kind of narrative. A children's book perhaps but not this.
Also there is absolutely no flow to her reading. It is a monotonous stacato drone that is so irritating that I cannot listen for more than 15 minutes at a time without irritation. This takes away all possibility of involvement and enjoyment of the story.

Any additional comments?

I will be removing the other titles in this series from my wish list.

Not the worst nor the best Dragonlance novel

The story is pleasant and well written, if anything, with few to none surprises. However It looks majestic by comparison after the awful Jean Rabe’s saga. As a book it does not stand on its own feet and relies too much on the following installments of the trilogy.

The reading is barely acceptable: I fully understand the point of a female voice having a woman as the main character, but I could not stand elven adult male characters performed with shrill childish voices. That utterly kicked me out of the voluntary suspension of disbelief.

My opinion

Struggled to finish this book , why do we have to write a certain amount of words for a review?

OMG

Worst voice ever! A Great story ruin!... love DragonLance but this is really to bad.

Most irritating narrater ever

Oh my god. Please make it stop.

This narrater has the most unsuitable voice for audiobooks. You cannot listen to her for more than 15 mins at a time. She pronounces most of the hero's names wrong. Not to mention some of the cities. It's Majere, pronounced Maj-ear, not Mej-erie.
It grinds on my ears every time she pronounces it wrong.

Avoid this, if you grew up with the books or you listened to the other books, narrated by Paul Boehmer. I'd even take Ax Norman over MH.

it didn't get going till half way ! but once it OK

I just this book immensely boring the story wandered continually without much direction . resulting in a disjointed story . I which I quickly list intrest .

underated but dark and deep. worth a listen.

performance much better than original trilogies. a different take on familiar characters
Mina is a very interesting antagonist

Really bad

I buy these audiobooks for my mother who is blind, She has listened to the first three Dragonlance Chronicles books and the Legends Triology and she enjoyed them immensely. She was looking forward to the next series. Unfortunately she was unable to supply an accurate rating for the story since she was only able to listen to the first section of this book before giving up due to the dreary, unending drone of the narrators voice which was unbearably irritating. I will certainly not be downloading any more books narrated by Marieve Herington.