Sherlock Holmes and the Nine-Dragon Sigil

De: Tim Symonds

Narrado por: Christopher Power

It's the year 1906. Rumors abound that a deadly plot is hatching–not in the fog-ridden back-alleys of London's Limehouse district or the sinister Devon moors of the Hound of the Baskervilles, but in faraway Peking. Holmes's task is to discover whether such a plot exists, and if so, foil it. But are the assassins targeting the young and progressive Ch'ing Emperor, or his imperious aunt, the fearsome Empress Dowager Cixi? The murder of either could spark a civil war.

The fate of China and the interests of Britain's vast Empire in the Orient could be at stake. Holmes and Watson take up the mission with their customary confidence–until they find they are no longer in the familiar landscapes of Edwardian England. Instead, they tumble into the Alice in Wonderland-like world of the Forbidden City.

©2016 Tim Symonds (P)2023 MX Publishing

Lots of travel to get to the mystery

The story spent a lot of time with the travels before getting to the mystery. While it is interesting learning about historical China, my interest is always in the mystery. Once it gets to it, it is mildly interesting. The performance is ok, but hurt by the two rings before each chapter and the narrator getting overly excited with Watson at times.

Absolutely horrible narration. Many dismal, even shocking mispronunciations.

Audible really needs to find people who speak more expressively, for stories like this. Someone with an English accent is also really needed. An American narrating a Sherlock Holmes story, and doing his voice, is jarring. The narrator also needs to be able to do a reasonable range of vocal changes - otherwise, you can’t tell if it’s Holmes, Watson, or someone else speaking.

Most of all, narrators must be able to say common words without grievous mispronunciations! Some words were so badly pronounced, that only context could actually tell me what the word was supposed to be. There wasn’t one or two of them, but rather they occurred every couple of minutes, and sometimes more frequently than that. They just went on and on…

Doesn’t anyone at Audible listen to stories before they are signed off anymore? Errors like this, repeats, editing mistakes, and the reader stumbling over themselves, and restarting a sentence or paragraph, are now very common in many of the stories I listen to. Shoving a half baked production out the door seems to be the focus these days.