Florenzer

De: Phil Melanson

Narrado por: Krysten Peck

Leonardo da Vinci, twelve years old and a bastard, leaves the Tuscan countryside to join his father in Florence with dreams of becoming a painter. Francesco Salviati, also a bastard and scorned for his too-dark skin, dedicates himself to the Catholic Church with grand hopes of salvation. Towering above them both is Lorenzo de' Medici, barely a man, yet soon to be the patriarch of the world's wealthiest and most influential bank. Each of these young men harbors profound ambition, anxious to prove their potential to their superiors—and to themselves. Each is, in his own way, a son of Florence. Each will, when their paths cross, shed blood on Florence's streets.

Fifteenth-century Florence flourishes as a haven of breathtaking artistic, cultural, and technological innovation, but discord churns below the surface: the Medici's bank exacerbates the city's staggering wealth inequality, and rumors swirl of a rift between Lorenzo and the new pope. Meanwhile, the city has become Europe's preeminent destination for gay men—or "florenzers," as they come to be crudely called. For Leonardo, an astonishingly gifted painter's apprentice, being a florenzer might feel like personal liberation—but risk lingers around every corner.

©2025 Phil Melanson (P)2025 Highbridge Audio

Terrible soporific narrator

Awful audio. Narrator monotone and droning. Inaudible . Painful to try to stay awake. Sad treatment of fascinating biography

What a shame!

It’s a shame when a good story is ruined by a bad narrator, as is the case here. I think a good percentage of audiobooks are listened to while driving, but it was impossible to hear this lackluster, unemotional, inaudible performance. I gave up on the audiobook and downloaded the Kindle.

HORRIBLE NARRATOR

This was really difficult to listen to. The narration was so SLOW, I finally listened to it at 1.2. Extreme monotone with no emotion. Ruined the story! Not sure if I liked the story or if the narration ruined it. With each new chapter I had to think about who it was about because the identifying information wasn’t forthcoming.

Bad narration

Compared to other book narrators, this one was horrific. Perhaps this was her first attempt at reading a book out loud? I found it ruined the story.