Spellfire

By: Ed Greenwood

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

The fire that burns...

It can lay low a dragon or heal a wounded warrior.

It is the most sought-after magical power in all Faern.

And it is in the reluctant hands of Shandril of Highmoon, a young, orphaned kitchen-lass.

Now she's on the run from half of the evil sorcerers in the land, not to mention their relentless minions. But with the help of a handsome young wizard, some rough-and-tumble Knights of Myth Drannor, and a certain old mage of Shadowdale, she just might manage to stay alive.

At least until tomorrow.

An all-new expanded version of Ed Greenwood's classic tale, including a new forward by the author.

One of Ed Greenwood's most popular novels, Spellfire is being rereleased in an all-new audio edition. This version has been completely reedited and contains added material that bring new excitement to the story. This edition is classified as the first title in the brand-new Forgotten Realms series Shandril's Saga.

©1988 TSR, Inc., c. 2005 Wizards off the Coast LLC. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Takes a minute to get going, but worth it.

I'm going to get the worst parts out of the way. The narrator is nothing special. Often times he drones on in a complete monotone drudge, and my personal pet peeve with some narrators, he adds no emphasis, emotion, or intonation to the characters he's reading, so often times I have to mentally go back after a vocal scene, and replay it in my head with the correct emotional portrayal between the characters.

The story however is fantastic. it starts slow, but picks up at a quickening pace. By the end of the book, I was able to forgive bad narration in favor of how the actual story played out. As for the story let's not play dumb, this is a Dungeons and Dragons book. Specifically set in The Forgotten Realms. There is going to be silliness and some slapstick banter between The cast. In that regard it mimics well the banter you may see at a gaming table. But take the book and story for what it is, and you can enjoy it well.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not Ed's Best Work

Would you try another book from Ed Greenwood and/or James Patrick Cronin?

Oddly, I enjoy reading/listen to Ed Greenwood's work. I usually find it mildly funny and charming in a high fantasy/young adult line of books. This one however, was just horrible from the start and stayed down the entire time.

James Patrick Cronin was abysmal. I have listened to JPC in other Realm's series (Brotherhood of the Griffon) and he wasn't bad. But, for some reason he destroys a few of the main characters here with a sloppy English accent. You'll never want to hear the word "Lady" (he pronounces it lay-day) again.

Has Spellfire turned you off from other books in this genre?

I'm over 50 books deep on FR on audible. I'll keep going but not with James Patrick Cronin.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of James Patrick Cronin?

Honestly, anyone would have been better. He mispronounces some of the names (people and places) and some of the characters sound horrible with his choice of voice. Of course, a narrator like Victor Bevine would have been much better.

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

At 17 hours long... the first 4 hours are a confusing mess. Ed is known for this but it's long winded just to be long winded. I found myself starting and stopping the first 8 hours countless times just so I could stop hearing James Patrick Cronin and Ed's trivial scenes.

Any additional comments?

I have enjoyed both the narrator and author before but this book was very tough to get through. Perhaps reading this novel would have been a better choice. Listen to the preview (I don't know if JPC choice for Norm and Chandrill are in there... but they're bad).

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great Listen!

The different voices were excellent and made the story memorable. Elminister's voice seemed spot on for what I would envision.

could not finish

I have this saga in paperback that I read years ago and looked forward to listening to it, like I'm doing with all my Elminster and Drizzt books.
But this narrator has one of those voices that grates on my ears like nails on a chalkboard. can't even get past chapter 2.
This one made me start sampling the books first to listen to the voice so I don't waste another credit.

a silly child's book

Struggled to finish! It was hard to follow. Very silly! It had great potential but fell short.

This was better when I read it

Maybe I'm just spoiled by the more current readers, but why not horrible, this is lacking the quality I'm used to. Maybe it didn't get the same level of effort the new books get, but the reading drew more attention to the performance than the story sometimes.

I enjoyed the book back when it was new, and is pretty good if you like dungeons and dragon stories.

Better read than listen to.

Have liked the book since I first read it years ago. Writer is average but enjoyable enough. Reader is absolutely horrible to the point where it is almost painful to listen to. Pauses in awkward places and voices that don't fit and grating.

an overall satisfying read

my lady and I quite enjoyed listening to this before bed every night. A greqt book by Greenwood, and a solid introduction to the world of the Forgotten Reqlms. My only quibble might be the narration. Some of the voices aren't consistent and some of the accents seem ridiculously out of place (Brooklyn accent? really?).
Overall, worth the download

Good memories

I first read this book back in 1988. I enjoyed it then. I still do.

Interesting Story

Would you consider the audio edition of Spellfire to be better than the print version?

I remembered reading this book when I was in High School. A friend of mine loaned it to me, though not being big in the D&D thing, I found it an ok read. I purchased the audio to re-live the fun in the story. It is an adventure novel where the main character, Shandril, gets a lesson in getting more than she bargained for.

What I didn't remember was how the story gets thick with multiple back stories involving minor characters that interact with the heroine briefly and then usually die. There are so many like sounding names that, at times, became confusing who was friend or foe.

Take it for what you will, Shandrils' story is good but keep a note pad near to keep the characters straight. And if you like whimpy male character, then you will like her male counterpart, Norm. (Let's just say that his name fits perfectly)

Which scene was your favorite?

Shandril comes into her own, learning to use her power to attack her enemies.

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

No, but it moves along well enough to keep me awake during my drive to/from work.

Any additional comments?

D&D fans will love it.

Narrators voice

Painful voice overs for the characters. Couldn’t listen through to the end. Please don’t use this narrator again. Ever