Slither

By: Joseph Delaney

Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch, Angela Goethals

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

"My name is Slither, and before my tale is finished you'll find out why."

The dark is full of terrifying creatures. And Tom Ward - the seventh son of a seventh son, and the Spook's last apprentice - hasn't seen all of them. Far from the county, one named Slither has lived for hundreds of years, hunting blood.

But a dying father binds the monster to a bargain. If Slither will take his two youngest daughters safely to their family in the south, then the eldest daughter, Nessa, is his.

For Nessa the nightmare is just beginning. And when Slither and Nessa cross paths with the feared witch assassin Grimalkin, they will become unwitting players in the quest to stop the Fiend once and for all.

The blood-curdling 11th volume of the Last Apprentice series.

©2013 Joseph Delaney (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

Good story, but.....

I love this series, and I enjoyed this book , but it barely tied into this series. It didn't have Thomas Ward or Alice in it at all. But, (again) I enjoyed this story, it could have easily been a stand alone book or in a series about Grimalkin. Another enjoyable character. So, my final opinion is that it is a really good story and I enjoyed it. I'm just looking forward to the next story furthering the situations with Alice and Tom. If you enjoy this series you'll know what I am talking about and if you haven't read the series, it is an interesting series, it's worth a try. I really like it.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Im a fan, but this one is the one I'll return.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I am a loyal Delaney fan, and these series are my latest addiction, but this book ruined it for me. I couldn't even get half way. And it wasn't because of the story or Christopher Evan Welch. I absolutely love Christopher Evan Welch. Great narrator. Love even his female performances.But I can't listen to Angela Goethals' performance. No offense and nothing personal. She just ruined it for me. Her performance is completely exaggerated, over dramatic and plain inappropriate for the character and theme. Is like she is reading some dramatic poetry, she tries waaaay too hard. Is just so unsettling and very hard to listen to. Her character is a young girl, and there's no way a young girl in the situation that she is, that anyone would talk like that. PLEASE, for future books, keep Christopher as the sole narrator. He does a great job and is hard to get used to a new (overdramatic and unsettling) new narrator when we are just used to him already. Everything was perfect up until they added Angela.I am returning this audiobook just because I can't take her narration. I just can't. Is ruined.

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

Can't say much about the story. It was alright so far. Is the performance that ruined it, and I guess I'll never know unless I read it on paper.

What aspect of Christopher Evan Welch and Angela Goethals ’s performance would you have changed?

Just take off Angela Goethals altogether. Christopher Evan Welch does a superb job alone and we are used to him.

Do you think Slither needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I don't know. Couldn't finish it. Huge turn off by female narrator.

Any additional comments?

Please keep Christopher Evan Welch alone.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

What they said

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The story itself was almost outside the Last Apprentice universe. I have a feeling that Slither and Nessa will tie in to the later books, but while listening I couldn't help but think "How does this relate to Tom Ward?" You could almost read this book as a stand alone in the series. The latter half of the book, after Grimalkin enters to story, is faster paced and more exciting than the first half.

If you’ve listened to books by Joseph Delaney before, how does this one compare?

I agree with everyone else. Welch's characters are better and I am used to hearing him characterize their voices. Alternating between Welsh and Goethals disconnected me from the story. I didn't enjoy this story as much as the others.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Christopher Evan Welch and Angela Goethals ?

Him, yes. Her, no.

Any additional comments?

Pro Tip: Set Angela to 1.25 or 1.5 speed in your Audible app. It speeds her up to normal.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

The girl narrator OMG

The girl narrator is super frustrating to listen to after original guy did so great with all other books. Just...bad

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good Story, Narration Distracting at Times

I liked the book overall, but it seemed like the lady narrating--in the first half of the book--is over animated when it's really not required. It also feels like she reads faster than the pacing should go. Feels like you can't stop to catch a breath, and not in a rush of excitement, good way. It settles down in the latter half of the book, but the first half was rather distracting for me on her parts. Still overall a rather interesting book, initially a bit jarring with the perspective change, but I had the same deal with the grimalkin book too. Once I'd adjusted to this being more like a side story, I enjoyed learning about all the stuff.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

As always well done

What did you love best about Slither?

You just get sucked in and can't wait to get the next thing or the new element. The fight scenes are pretty good.

What other book might you compare Slither to and why?

It's all it's own but if you like a good fantasy you will love this

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

RIP Christopher Evan Welsh.

This book is actually incredibly scary with some pretty hard themes. It is book eleven, by then a faithful reader would’ve been older. I wouldn’t suggest you let a little kid listen to this, that being said...wow. Slither is, in humble opinion, the best instalment in the series. That’s saying something too, because this one of my all time favourite series.

Story is great. performance was interesting.

I will try to keep spoilers as vague as possible.

An interesting side tale from the main story, the author did a great job in introducing, constructing, and explaining the society of the Kobolos. I'm sure this will play some part in the following books. I was excited to see that a female voice would join the performance. Although Welch has been doing a wonderful job throughout the series, his female voices have been a bit hard on the ears, understandably comical. You do your best Welch, I appreciate that! However, I was a bit disappointed that they only split the performance between the narrative of the mage and of the female. I understand why it was done, but it would have been nicer if it was more integrated, where Goethals voiced female voices and Welch voiced male voices. This is only of those things where I know I don't fully understand the process of performing for an audio book, but it still would've been nice.

Great story, vary different, but great!

I love this story! It may be different, but I really enjoy seeing the world from the eyes of a potential enemy of grimalkin and Thomas. I get that the girls voice isn't amazing, but it doesn't ruin a good story.

Entertaining

I would like to get back to Tom and the main story instead of stories from other people's perspective, or new characters. Just my opinion. Was an entertaining read though. Another good Delaney book.