Limits of Power

Paladin's Legacy, Book 4

By: Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Elizabeth Moon is back with the fourth adventure in her best-selling fantasy epic. Moon brilliantly weaves a colorful tapestry of action, betrayal, love, and magic set in a richly imagined world that stands alongside those of such fantasy masters as George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb.

The unthinkable has occurred in the kingdom of Lyonya. The queen of the Elves - known as the Lady - is dead, murdered by former elves twisted by dark powers. Now the Lady’s half-elven grandson must heal the mistrust between elf and human before their enemies strike again. Yet as he struggles to make ready for an attack, an even greater threat looms across the Eight Kingdoms.Throughout the north, magic is reappearing after centuries of absence, emerging without warning in family after family - rich and poor alike. In some areas, the religious strictures against magery remain in place, and fanatical followers are stamping out magery by killing whoever displays the merest sign of it - even children. And as unrest spreads, one very determined traitor works to undo any effort at peace - no matter how many lives it costs. With the future hanging in the balance, it is only the dedication of a few resolute heroes who can turn the tides...if they can survive.

©2013 Elizabeth Moon (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Narrator was just bad.

The story was wonderful however the narrator was not good. She mispronounced many words i.e. privacy. The characters were hard to distinguish because the narrator was just not good.

I would recommend the book and unless you are visually impaired not invest in the audiobook. I have no choice as I do not read braille.

The story was a wonderful continuation of the previous books. Can not wait for the next one. I hope this helps. D

Why,why was this narrator picked to read any book?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

If this was the only book of this series this hypothetical friend was going to read, I would maybe advise them to give it a go, but if like me they had listened to all the others, I would say, don't bother, you will be disappointed with it. Why, simply this, the narrator is awful!

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character would be, everyone, from A to Z they are all needed in these books. From the least cook, to the biggest king, everyone makes the whole.

What didn’t you like about Angela Dawe’s performance?

Miss Dawe does not seem a bit interested in the book she is reading, if she had perhaps listened to some of the other books in this series, she could at least know how to say some of the names used. And she just sounds so bored by the whole thing, she is depressing, had I bothered to see who the narrator was, I would have left this one alone.

Was Limits of Power worth the listening time?

I'm sure the story would have been very interesting, if I had not flinched every time Miss Dawe mispronounced a name or feature of this world. As it was I could only stand about thirty or fourty minutes before turning it off, but no it was not worth me listening to it, sorry!
I should have taken notice of who was going to read it, as I have been turned off twice before with Miss Dawe narrating, she does not have the tallent needed for this job.

Any additional comments?

As I am blind, these books form a great part of my life and enjoyment of it, and so I buy a great many of them. I was a huge fan of reading when I could see, and now listening is something that keeps my mind lively. So a bad Narrator is like someone dragging their fingernails down a chalk board to me.

Excellent Story

The narrator was very good, but changed several pronunciations, which was very off-putting at the beginning.

Horrible narrator.

I have read all the books in the past, twice in fact. this is my first time going through the audio books. I was really enjoying the story as usual, that is until this narrator took over.

It has painfully ruined the story for me. I'm really disappointed.

Great book, uninformed narrator

After the narrator from the Oath of Gold trilogy, the subsequent ones haven't been as good. This one didn't listen to previous editions, and her pronunciations of many words is totally different, confusing the story.

Great saga

Read the series already. The audible version does a good job of brining the story to life. My only quibble is switching narrator's. The pronunciation of the people and place names changes with each book.

Took time to get used to...

the pronunciations are apparently according to the author, but it was a little hard getting used to after the first books having names and places being pronounced differently. and I'll still a wonderful story and did enjoy it.

Good story, mediocre narrator

I can usually adapt to the narrator, but with the one I cant. Her pronounciatons of certain names and places differ so wildly from the previous two, and she has a weird inflextion when she ends her sentences - time and time again it distracted me from what she was actually saying. Story is the same quality as the previous books, but the narrator unfortunately is not.

Power in many forms reaches its limits

All the principal characters are dealing with the limits of their powers, secular, magical, spiritual - as forces begin to gather that are shattering the mostly stable societies.

Natural mage power is reappearing among all levels of society, and some fear it as a return of the hated mage lords and others see it as possibly a gift of the Gods in preparation for defending against a threat from the South.

The elves are lost without the Elvenhome generated by the dead Elven Queen, and their half-elven King Kieri Phelan, is trying to keep his blended Kingdom safe.

The Southern Duke Immer is using mageery, likely blood magery, to compel a piece of the ancient magical regalia to enhance his power - and the crown of that regalia is continuing to pressure Dorian Duke and mage and adherent of the Good Gods, in whose blood magery tinted family it had long been confined, to assume it and do something unspecified. Its very presence is destabilizing one kingdom.

A human has become a Prince of Gnomes, a thief is becoming an agent of Gird, Dragon is obviously at work in the world, and Paksenarrion has just returned from what must have been a harrowing mission.

While I agree the reader may not be consistent with previous readings, I think she does a better job than the previous reader of distinguishing voices, and definitely found it a more pleasant listen.

Love the books can't stand this particular reader.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The previous books were far better read by Jennifer Van Dyke and Susan Erickson despite some inconsistencies in pronunciation of names and places. Don't even get me started on the ongoing snafu with the different accents for every 'foreign' character that switch around from french to eastern european to spanish to irish and back again depending on the reader. I know the narrators are performance artists with different styles and accent specialties, but some attempt at consistency from actually listening to the previous books might be of help.