Midst Toil and Tribulation

Safehold Series, Book 6

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 28 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

David Weber's New York Times bestselling Safehold series of military Science Fiction adventure, which began with Off Armageddon Reef, continues with Midst Toil and Tribulation

WAR AND FAMINE

Once the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold. Then, after centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of Mother Church—egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athrawes, who enjoys the Charisian royal family's absolute trust.

What vanishingly few people know is that Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which aliens destroyed Earth...and that since awakening, his task has been to restart the history of the long-hidden human race.

Now, reeling from the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the Republic of Siddermark slides into chaos. The Church has engineered a rebellion, and Siddermark's all-important harvest is at risk. King Cayleb and Queen Sharleyan struggle to stabilize their ally, which will mean sending troops—but, even more importantly, preventing famine. For mass starvation in Safehold's breadbasket is a threat even more ominous than civil war...

©2012 David Weber (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Narrator sucks

Holy crap, did the narrator even listen to the previous narrator? His pronunciation of the names totally sucks and is completely different. It completely takes you out of the story and makes you focus on the way he’s butchering the pronunciation than the story.

Stop Changing Readers in the middle of a series

Would you listen to Midst Toil and Tribulation again? Why?

Doubtful, the reader seems like he is on the edge of succumbing to the vapors at any minute

Would you be willing to try another one of Kevin T. Collins’s performances?

Not if I can avoid it

Any additional comments?

If it is necessary to change readers in the middle of a series at least make the effort to make sure the new guy pronounces the names of the characters the same as in the previous volumes. This guy sounds like some kind of failed Shakespearian wannabe.

solid story

if I had to give a negative, it's the occasional, extended self-reproach interludes in which Merlin has begun indulging.

If you love this series then...

What made the experience of listening to Midst Toil and Tribulation the most enjoyable?

The story is the only enjoyable part of what Audible and McMillian have offered up. Buy the book and sit down for a good read but since Audible and McMillian have refused to listen to their readers/listeners I suggest that you avoid this offering as it will give you little joy. The "so called" publishers have used a fourth narrator on this series and have yet to offer a reason why. They started with an incredibly tallented reader in Mr. Oliver Wyman and after two books switched to Jason Culp. Mr Culp was a shock because his reading felt wrong. Then after Mr. Culp we got Mr. Keating. Let's just say that my enjoyment went from south of good to what the heck are these morons doing to David Weber's story?

What didn’t you like about Kevin T. Collins’s performance?

I hated the fact that he pronounced things wrong and was the fourth performer in six books. This would never have stood for any other series of books, why is it standing for this series?

Any additional comments?

Switch publishers Mr. Weber If they won't listen to you when you make comments then DROP them and site attempted destruction of your work product, and credibility.

mispronounciation ruins good.story

new narrator's mispronounciation of names distracts from story. Very frustrating listening. please redo this book.

how narrator going to change the names of all the

love this series but this one is hard to finish they changed all the names or mispronounce all the names

Narrator was aweful

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No,the narrator was so bad that he took an average story and made it very hard to even complete listening. It's a new narrator and he didn't pronounce names correctly making me figure out who he was reading about. You'd think a new narrator would have enough sense to listen to the previous narrator of a series so at least he pronounces the names the same. Also his "voices" pretty much all sounded the same giving very little "life" to the charachters.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Midst Toil and Tribulation?

The ending because it was finally over. Although I did like the coming back to life of one person.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

see my comments above. Please bring back the "old" narrator. This narrator was really really bad. Only my love of the series kept me listening with the hope that the next book won't have this narrator.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Moments that could have been very moving weren't because of the crappy voices and acting of the narrator.

Another good Safehold story, lousy voice actor!

What did you like best about Midst Toil and Tribulation? What did you like least?

Another great story by Weber; progressing the Safehold saga and building the cast and characters.

I usually don't post reviews, but I was so disappointed with the voice acting that I had to say something. Jason Collins is new to the series; Mr Collins' only redeeming feature is that he is clearly spoken. His forced breathless delivery is painful to listen to. He does settle down a bit in the later chapters, but the first 8 hours is positively painful. He has not taken the time to prepare for the reading, having obviously not listened to the previous novels. Almost all of the pronunciation of character and place names has shifted, in some cases to the point where the names are not recognisable. Changing the main character Merlin Athrawes’ name from “A-thra-wes” to “ath-RAWs”, Nimue from “NI-mu” to “Nimu-Ey” and the main protagonist state Charis from “CAr(e)-iss” to “CHar-is” , Chisholm from the very correct "Chi-som(e)" to "Chis-HOME". He is also unable to shift his voice sufficiently to differentiate between characters and the chosen accents and voices are not consistent through the work. I wonder if the producer has also changed (or possibly dropped the ball) on this rendition?

Please bring back Charles Keating or Jason Culp!

A necessary step towards the ultimate conclusion

Would you try another book from David Weber and/or Kevin T. Collins?

Absolutely!

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Omit redundant details.

What about Kevin T. Collins’s performance did you like?

Well, he pronounced the character names a little too accurately for my taste. Weber purposely misspells all the names on Safehold so that they sound similar to common english names, but I always read them like common names, it was a little offputting to hear the narrator rigidly adhere to the "proper" annunciation, no matter how torturous :-)

Do you think Midst Toil and Tribulation needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, this book is just a chapter in the entire story. It is an exceedingly LONG, boring, redundantly depicted and narrated chapter, but nonetheless, its required reading if you are to finish the Safehold series.

Any additional comments?

Generally, this book moves slowly, and has lots of unnecessary and redundant detail. David Weber seems to forget that his audience that has worked it's way through half a dozen of these massive books is probably smart enough not to have to have a flintlock rifle or steam ship described in excruciating detail every 5 pages. We get it!

Pronunciation!!

This is the editor's fault. Please make sure pronunciation is consistent. It takes away from the reading/listening experience to have to translate from book to book.