The Elvenbane

Halfblood Chronicles, Book 1

By: Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Aasne Vigesaa

Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Two masters of epic fantasy have combined in this brilliant collaboration to create a rousing tale. This is the story of Shana, a half-breed born of the forbidden union of an Elvenlord father with a human mother. Her exiled mother dead, Shana was rescued and raised by dragons, a proud, ancient race who existed unbeknownst to elven or human kind. From birth, Shana was the embodiment of the Prophecy that the all-powerful Elvenlords feared. Her destiny is the enthralling adventure of a lifetime.

©1991 Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A splendid blend of the talents of two excellent storytellers” (Anne McCaffrey)

"One of the season’s liveliest and most appealing fantasy epics.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“A brisk, glittering yarn that packs as much action, suspense, and twisting of conventions into one novel as many writers invest in whole trilogies.” ( Amazing Stories)

Good Story, So-So Narration

I read this book a long time ago, but this is the first time I've listened to the Audible version. I enjoyed it.

That said, the narrator bothered me at times. 99% of the time she speaks with a crisp standard American accent, but then all of a sudden she has a tendency to mispronounce common words like "lived" example: "I lived in Norway," She'll pronounce it "LIE-v'd." It's the kind of mistake I'd expect a text to speech engine to make, not a person.. I just can't give a narrator more than 3 stars if they can't stop themselves from butchering everyday words. It drove me bonkers.

loved it- consistently kept my attention.

I have to admit I kept expecting more treachery from the characters .F ortunately the storyline was so intriguing it wasn't needed . The pacing of the story was exceptional. I would definitely recommend this book.

Fun read

I liked this book when I read it some years ago. Enjoyed listening to it. Not my favorite narrator, but ok.

FUN and enjoyable

What did you love best about The Elvenbane?

The images and imagination it invoked.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Shawna and her adoptive mother.

What does Aasne Vigesaa bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brought the characters to life for me.

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

No. I enjoyed thinking about it in-between listening.

Any additional comments?

I am waiting to buy the sequel.

great!

the only thing I didn't like was that the ending seemed rather abrupt. everything else about this audiobook was great!

Great Performance, good story

What made the experience of listening to The Elvenbane the most enjoyable?

The performance of the story really brought it to life, I will be listening to the next book and probably reading the last of the series. Really good characters and world, my only complaint is that it seems like the authors spent more time building the world than in telling the adventure. I would have thought the war with Darien would have been long and involved and more telling...instead of an explosion, no answers and it's over. We'll see.....maybe it's in the next book

Not my favorite narrator.

I like the book - nice fantasy storyline and characters. I can’t get past the narrator though. The southern accent for the humans threw me so much I couldn’t get past it - just terrible. The voices for Keman and Shana are almost toddler aged and didn’t fit the dialogue, internal or spoken. A few words were mispronounced which didn’t bug me that much but was enough to take away from the story at times. The narrators voice itself is nice maybe whomever “directed” (is that a thing in audio books?) the accents and cadence didn’t do a good job. Probably returning this one.

love it!!!

I love this book. While I may prefer reading it on my own, it is wonderful to have the ability to listen to it when there isn't the time for reading.

My favorite story

I dislike the fact I cannot find the third book of this series here on audible

Love it, but there is no conclusion to series.

I just wanted to warn anyone who can't handle a series which is unfinished, and may never be finished. The book is great, and the Audible version excellent as well. Sadly the death of Andre Norton put the end of this series somewhere (hopefully) in the future. Mercedes Lackey is a wonderful fantasy author, and I've read and thoroughly everything she's put her hand to (that I could get my hands on). This is a great story for fantasy book lovers. It has all you want, magic, creatures, love, iintrigue, imagination galore, etc. I just hope we find out what actually happens to the characters in this story who are left without any resolution. My imagination isn't good enough - I need the professionals! If Audible has any power encouraging authors, please do so. The entire Valdemar series should be in a quality Audible format. The Colegium Chronicles isn't the best way to start listening to her Valdemar books. (and Arrows of the Queen is 1/3 of a story).