Untamed

Medieval Trilogy, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Lowell

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

RITA Award Winner, Best Historical Single Title, 1994

A hero of the crusades, Dominic le Sabre has returned in glory and in triumph to claim his reward: the beautiful Saxon bride awarded to him by the conqueror king. But Lady Margaret of the Blackthorne cannot yield to the bold Norman invader.

The beloved daughter of a sacred tribe of the Celtic mystics, she fears an ancient curse that could bring further turmoil to her battle-scarred land...and sorrow to her marriage bed.

With a word, the lady could turn her wedding into war. But there awaits in the noble knight's embrace a promise of passion unbound - and a love that neither violence nor treachery can tear asunder, a love both invincible and...untamed.

©2008 Elizabeth Lowell (P)2008 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Wonderous....Riveting....Powerful and Sensual....sure to thrill and captivate her many fans." ( Romantic Times)

Great Story. Narrator was ok

Narrator wasn’t fantastic, especially talking like a man. She didn’t make the male lead very attractive sounding.

Great story. Poor reading.

I really loved the story but I had a really hard time with the reading of the story.

Great men’s voices…

The men’s voices were the best a female reader ever did, but the affectations of the women would sometimes break the spell, they weren’t bad, but just shrill at times. This story I have known for 20 years, it was lovely to revisit it in audio book. I will listen on as this is one of three, and the characters in this series are referenced in a series by Elizabeth Lowell in starting with Moving Target set in modern times story. If you like crossovers this is a juicy one! Eat your heart out Marvel and the multiverse! Lowell only needed one perfect world and a career devoted to entertaining her readers to kill the crossover!!!

The narrator spoiled the book

I read this book when it was first published and despite a tendency towards purple prose, it was an enjoyable read. The audio version destroyed the charm of the book. The narrator's male character voices were awful and the lead female character, supposedly 19, sounded like a 40 year old from the east end of London at times. I would rank the text of the book a 3, the narration a 1.

Did not even finish it, waste of money!!!

I honestly cannot understand how this book has almost 4 stars??? Are we listening to the same book? The hero is the ultimate male chauvinist pig. He has been awarded an estate that comes with its teenage virgin bride to boot. Despite the many times his bride saves his skin, he keeps suspecting her of consorting with his enemy. He locks her up and wants to tame her like a falcon, forcing her to feed from his hand and see only him. Give me a bloody break!!! And of course, we are expected to believe she would fall in love with her jailor. 3.5 hrs before the story came to an end, I've decided that I've had enough of this literary garbage. I have not read any of Lowell's other books, but if I had to judge her work by this one, I will save my credits for another author.

Romance Novel

What disappointed you about Untamed?

Don't be fooled by the publisher's summary, it's a romance novel. Perhaps it's a good romance novel but I'm not qualified to make that call.

What was most disappointing about Elizabeth Lowell’s story?

I could only make it halfway through the book so I suppose the second half could have been a completely different book. The first half was all about the new husband trying to seduce his new wife, who he treats like a falcon.

Any additional comments?

Buy it if you like romance but save your money if you don't.

Story is good. Narrator is HORRIBLE!

Would you consider the audio edition of Untamed to be better than the print version?

This narrator makes dialog of young women sound like old men, young men sound like over dramatic thespians and the bad guys rasp and hiss like Gollum! Over-acted! I guess this one is just above this narrator's skill set. I wanted to give up after the first 2 hours!'

Would you be willing to try another one of Anne Flosnik’s performances?

NOOOO!

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

No.

Terrible narration, so-so story

I really wish I'd paid much better attention to the previous reviews. The narrator is absolutely TERRIBLE! She not only struggles horribly with the male voices, making them sound like grunting, rasping, evil villains, she struggled with the female voices as well. I actually found it hard to keep up with the very simple story line at times because the voices could be so different for the same character from one sentence to the next . It is awful! Really, really awful!! I highly recommend listening to the sample before downloading this. The story itself really wasn't that great, but the bad narration makes it close to painful to listen to.

meh

Would you try another book from Elizabeth Lowell and/or Anne Flosnik?

Probably not another book by written by Elizabeth Lowell, possibly another narrated by Anne Flosnik.

Would you ever listen to anything by Elizabeth Lowell again?

I highly doubt it

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

boredom.

Awful

What could Elizabeth Lowell have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This book drove me nuts because it was all about mistrust, jealous, and male dominance - that's it no other plot. I was along for the ride with an arranged marriage and a medieval knight, but after they got married the book became a constant battle over her virginity and jealousy over her brother/former fiance. There was a skeleton plot with lots of irritating drivel in between.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Anne Flosnik?

No one - Flosnik was great.

What character would you cut from Untamed?

The hero

Any additional comments?

Don't waste your time or money.