Silence Fallen

A Mercy Thompson Novel, Book 10

By: Patricia Briggs

Narrated by: Lorelei King, George Newbern

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the New York Times best-selling Mercy Thompson novels, the coyote shapeshifter has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy's bond with the pack - and her mate - is broken, she'll learn what it truly means to be alone....

Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form Mercy escapes - only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe.

Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise....

©2017 Patricia Briggs (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Patricia Briggs is an incredible writer and Silence Fallen is simply fantastic. I love hanging out with the amazing characters in this series!" (Nalini Singh, New York Times best-selling author of the Psy-Changeling series)

 “Patricia Briggs never fails to deliver an exciting, magic and fable filled suspense story. Silence Fallen is one of her best.” (Erin Watt, number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Royals series“I love these books.” (Charlaine Harris, number-one New York Times best-selling author)

"The best new urban fantasy series I’ve read in years.” (Kelley Armstrong, number-one New York Times best-selling author)

BAD PENGUIN.

I'm really bummed that, after just re-listening to the first 10 Mercy Thompson books, and LOVING them, I find myself listening to this painful, POS production.

P. Briggs wrote this one with alternating POV chapters -- so, I guess that's why they added George Newbern, (a reader who does mainly nonfiction how-to books).

Yeah, that worked out about as well as you'd expect.

It's pretty obvious that George doesn't understand this series, this genre, or the characters and their relationships -- or even how to read well. The hesitations, pauses and flailing attempts at finding the right emotional tone, make his weirdly dissonant performance jarring, and completely ruins the flow of this book.

And this is especially painful when followed by the chapters read by Lorelei King, the narrator who has depicted these characters for over 86 fabulous hours of audio, to the delight of P. Briggs' fans.

By comparison, any guy would have had a tough act to follow, but George Newburn sounds completely out of his depth.


BAD Penguin.

Distracted - Unhappy - Disappointed

I am fully in love with this series, and have been since the first chapter of book one. However this book threw a very unexpected and unwelcome twist when someone other than Lorelei was narrating. Not that he is terrible at it, but he does not speak with the same fluidity that she does, or in the same manner. His pauses are off and it's just wrong. We, the listeners, have developed a relationship with these characters and the narrator, Lorelei, to the point where we associate her vocal inflections to mean certain things. Her pauses are deliberate and her speech for each character has already been accepted and engrained in our minds.

At least for hose of us who have listened to every single book that comes before this one. Lorelei is a wonderful narrator and by adding in this guy, to her already wonderful narration is just plain wrong. The way he reads is infuriating, and he pauses in the wrong spots. He reads like he is in high school, a very distracting speech pattern which in turn distracts from the enjoyment of this book. I am very disappointed in the decision to have a second narrator when the first, Lorelei, is utterly perfect for the entirety of the series. Shame on you.

I LIKED it! Didn't Love it.

I enjoyed this book, but only the bits narrated by Lorelei King. Nothing is wrong with George Newbern, but when you listen to Lorelei King narrating 9 books of this series, it is really really annoying when they bring someone else to narrate half of the book in a different way than to what we are used to. I would like to ask Audible and Patricia Briggs to re do this book and just let Lorelei King do what she does best. Bringing Mercy and her pack to life.

Story was good, but different, I didn't hate it , but didn't love it either. It is a good addition to the series but not my favourite one.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

What didn’t you like about Lorelei King’s performance?

Lorelei's performance was perfect as always. The male narrator was terrible. I had trouble keeping my attention on the book because he was so bad and that has never happened. He obviously didn't listen to the previous books to get a feel for the characters and to keep with their normal tones. Daryl who is always so controlled sounded like a panicked loon. Warren didn't have his slow southern drawl and don't get me started on Adam's voice. Please, please, please don't do that again. Lorelei could gave done both parts and she would have rocked it.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I listen to this series over and over. I would pay for it again if the book was redone with JUST Lorelei narrating. I think the story could have been great, but unfortunately I kept getting distracted and had to keep rewinding because of the make narrator.

Seriously, why?

Would you listen to Silence Fallen again? Why?

Probably, but it is not the same.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I am just echoing what others have stated. Why did they add the male narrator? Lorelei's got this. Her male voices were perfect. The male narrator is okay, I think I would enjoy his reading of something I am unfamiliar with, but....I miss my guys. They sound all wrong now.

Any additional comments?

Mercy is as great as always, but the change up was very distracting.

Bad male narrator

George Newbern did not bring any of his characters to life. Very disappointing. Hard to listen to him. And the back and forth mixed up way Patricia Briggs’ imaginary friends made her write the timeline is very annoying. I’ve started this book over 4 times and I still haven’t finished it. Lorelei King and Mercy Thompson was awesome as per usual!

I've listened to the entire series.

Would you try another book from Patricia Briggs and/or Lorelei King?

I enjoyed nearly all of this series. I am intending to read more by this author. I love that the stories all sync together seamlessly. Some things are exciting and some things are endearing, occasionally, it can be a little cheesy. Overall the stories are very well written and the naration by Ms. King is good. I did NOT like the addition of a male narrator on the last book (#10) in the series. His attempts at the voices of several of the main characters did not match that of Ms. Kings in previous books. Also the last book is written in a "skip around the timeline" fashion. All things considered it's an entirely different feel then the previous 9 books.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Ms. Briggs does a good job of keeping my interest in the story line and of giving enough description to help paint a picture in my mind. I love that it is based in the Tri Cities area of Washington State. I don't believe I know of another fantasy/fiction series based in this area and it is a refreshing change.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Lorelei King?

I enjoy her narration and couldn't imagine anyone else.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Silence Fallen?

If I were editor I would have done away with the "male voice" added to the narration in this last book as well as the whole "skip around the timeline" thing. It did nothing but made me wonder if the author really wanted to write this last book or if it were even written and narrated by the same people as previous books in the series.

Any additional comments?

As previously stated, the first nine books were fun and interesting but this last one, not so much.

Too, Too

This isn't my favorite Mercy book. I'm to used to Lorelei King doing all the voices that the introduction of a male voice thru me. It wasn't close enough to the Adam that I'm used to. All the jumping around was a bit annoying n seriously how many times can one character be kidnapped.

Completely agree with the "Why Ruin a Good Thing"

I cannot tell you how difficult it is for me to wait on the next Mercy Thompson book. I basically listen to other books just to bide time in waiting for the next release. Lorelei King has done a FABULOUS job in the past with these books, and the voices. I agree with all of the prior reviewers. Why would you ruin a good thing. The new narration ruined the book for me. I will admit, I am hooked on the world of Mercy, her life , and the characters. I will anxiously await the next book--I hope the next release will go back to the single reader with Lorelei King.

Not my favorite in this beloved series

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Lorelei King and George Newbern ?

In this book, the narration was split between Lorelei King (the original narrator for the series) and a new male narrator who read the sections centering on Adam. Lorelei King is absolutely awesome with both male and female voices, so why mess with perfection? A great narrator adds personality and depth to a character beyond the written word. A great narrator is also a great story teller. What was lost by changing narrators was Adam's wolfiness, Ben's British snark, Marcellia's creepy 'wrongness', Warren's Texas twang, Stefan's strong, loyal character, etc. Ms Briggs, please don't change the narrator who brought all of your wonderful characters to life for so many of us!

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the Mercy half of the story. Our wily coyote is as resourceful and entertaining as always, making new friends and allies when she finds herself alone in a strange country. The Adam half of the book was mainly political posturing with some interesting insight into the 'lord of the night'. It showed increasing cooperation between species but was a somewhat choppy read. It may just be the change in narrator but it almost felt like the Adam sections were written by a different author. Some characters were oddly bland or behaved differently than in previous books. I found myself constantly wanting to get back to the Mercy parts where the action was!The change in narration aside, this book was still a good listen and I hope the series continues as it is one of my favorites.

Read brilliantly and a Epic story

Another fabulous Mercy story from hers and Adam's point of view.. unexpected surprises in this twisty tale.. throughly recommended.