The Judging Eye

The Aspect-Emperor, Book 1

By: R. Scott Bakker

Narrated by: Kevin Orton

Length: 19 hrs

Publisher's summary

A luminary in the fantasy genre firmament, R. Scott Bakker returns fans to his acclaimed Prince of Nothing universe with The Judging Eye. Aspect-Emperor Kellhus is waging a terrifying war, subjugating all nations in his path. There are those willing to stand together against him, but these rebellious souls must act quickly and decisively to thwart his mad schemes of power and domination.

©2010 R. Scott Bakker (P)2013 Recorded Books

judgeing ear

had a hard time in many instances comprehending the narrartor. Hard to explain really but i will try. its as if he has chronic running nose and a sore throat. the first time i ordered this audiobook, i had to return it i just couldnt deal with the narrator's voice and style. i just sucked it up and purchased a second time after i relistened to the king of nothing series again...wanted more bad enough to grit my teeth and soldier on. Although somewhere around the point in which cleric surprises everyone i think i had managed to numb myself enough to really not notice enough to distract me from enjoying the story, so there is that. yes, great story, yes im buying the next one, no , good or bad, i wont be hatin on the poor mucus challenged narrarator.

Switching Narrator Was Awful Decision

I don’t know if I’m going to continue the series with the new narrator reading the rest of this sub-series.

If I do finish the Aspect-Emperor it may be with the physical book. Even though it would take way longer - since I don’t have as many opportunities to sit down and read - I can’t see listening to 3 more books with this guy.

To make it even worse, the first narrator was so good it makes you realize just how bad the new one is such a horrible change that could ruin the series for many.

Amazing story marred by poorly edited narration

Where does The Judging Eye rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've probably listened to 150-250 audiobooks, and this is somewhere in the lower 50% of that. The writing is great, though.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hmm, I guess Drusas Achamiam. His pain is more relatable than anyone else's.

What three words best describe Kevin Orton’s voice?

Resonant, unchanging, adequate. His real problem is mispronunciation. He mispronounces /misreads words constantly, which shouldn't have been hard to catch because he reads so slowly! I mean, he changes the meaning of passages constantly, and makes hilarious errors that are extremely jarring (my favorite is in The Great Ordeal when he changes "She glimpsed a small girl wailing over a woman prostrate on the hard cobble" to "...a woman prostate on...").

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

It would probably end up being something dumb like "... sees all."

Any additional comments?

I really wish David DeVries had read this sequel series. Not only is the change in narrator jarring, but I don't think Kevin Orton ever learned phonics. I don't know who produced the audio book, but there's no excuse for the number of errors Mr. Orton makes that are in the final product.

not optional

love all of the books in this series, masterful writing and interesting plot. the setting is rich with history and culture resembling ancient north Africa and Macedonia.

The start of the real war.

Loved it, the world of Earwa continues to expand, and then the world trembled in fear and anticipation.

New narrator really killed it

The end got really cool, but the narrator and the tone of the book both just sounded far too pedantic for me to enjoy this one. Wish they hadn't changed it up, doubt I'll be getting any more if they have the same reader. The story of the book was a bit slow through most of it, but it was obviously setting up a good series.

The spectacular level of detail the author creates.

The narration is unparalleled. It truly feels as if you’re in the story with the characters. Top marks, my friends!

Go ahead and continue

Any additional comments?

If you liked the Prince of Nothing series, you may as well keep going. It was a little hard in the beginning, getting used to the new narrator and starting a new set of characters, but it was worth it.

Narrator's not as good as the last trilogy but the story itself is just as good. May as well keep going if you've come this far.

Story is great - have to agree about the narrator

These are complex books that center around a story begun three books before this one. The first three volumes were narrated very ably by David DeVries. I would think that a new narrator would listen to at lease some of the preceding books in order to get a sense of how the action flows, who the people are, etc. I am not sure that happened with this narrator.

This narrator does things that call attention to the narration rather than the narrative. His delivery is overly dramatic. Additionally, what really bugs me is his mispronunciation of ordinary words. For example the word "learned" can be a verb about having gained some knowledge in the past. Or it can be an adjective. These two words are pronounced differently. Also the word "wolf" is not to be confused with the word "wuff", whatever that is. And then there is his pronunciation of "circumfix".

However, I do enjoy listening to the audiobooks because I have read the books and it is good to go back and revisit the action at an 'audible' pace. So - recommended with complaints.

Solid continuation of a dark and Rich journey

Orton is an incredible narrator; my one criticism is that (and this may be a weird one) his mouth sounds overly saturated/salivary: words are emphasized to the point where it's a little distracting.
as for the story, it's comparable to TDtCB in that it builds rather slowly and gradually, preparing the reader for the slog ahead. in typical Bakker style, philosophy and psychology are delightfully interwoven, and the vocabulary utilized to illustrate the scenes sometimes requires a dictionary.