Voices

Annals of the Western Shore, Book Two

By: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrated by: Melanie Martinez

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Legendary fantasy author and Newbery Award winner Ursula K. Le Guin transports listeners to exotic, fantastic worlds.

Voices stars the people of Ansul, a town of scholars and traders conquered by the marauding Alds 17 years ago. When poet Orrec arrives in town, however, the people begin to garner the courage to rebel against their overlords.

©2006 Ursula K. Le Guin (P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"Le Guin's superior narrative voice and storytelling power make even small moments ring with truth." (School Library Journal)

Not sure why so many complaints about the performer

I didn’t find the reader the best I have heard, but she got the job done. I thought the story and characters were interesting. The two cultures were a little black and white in the beginning, but considering who is telling the story it makes sense and nuances come out over time as She matures.

Really do not get the relationship to the young Ald which eventually is just dropped.

Almost all the “action”in this story is off screen, but that makes sense considering who the story teller is.

Book 3 won the 2008 Nebula Award

I had never heard of this series and thought I'd take a chance on them because of the author. These are well written, thoughtful books that really deserve as much attention as her other works. Each audio reader does a good job. Each book could stand on its own, too. The stories are complex (I mean that in a good way - as in, not simplistic). It's just good literature. (...hence the Nebula award.) She respects the intelligence of the reader/listener and the maturity of her characters' thoughts and actions reflects that.

I really enjoyed Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy, so for those of you looking to compare them, this has a less dark theme and these are more about the people than about the magic - if that matters to you. As I listened to all three books, I found myself thinking, "These are really good books!" as I got into each. And they stayed good right to the ending of each. They really deserve just as much attention as other bestsellers in the field.

She is one of the best.. Ursula Le Quinn that is.

This is a really good follow up to the first book. That story and this have that classic whimsical feel of Ursula Le Quinn's Earthsea books. To the folks who complain that this is a YA fantasy I think they might just not like her fantasy. Sure it is not The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, or any of her other classic Science Fiction books, it is a story with likable characters who are developed within a fun and interesting plot. As far as "adult" content? Well there is reference to sex, and death, etc, if that qualifies as adult. I guess. This is not Joe Abercrombie with a lot of dismembering and torture... this is an Ursula K Le Quinn fantasy story written with her delicate fantasy hand.. and with magic. I would recommend any of the books noted above, especially Left Hand a truly fascinating examination of gender with an awesome story to boot!! As far as this book and series I would also recommend it. I was delighted to find it. It is not Earthsea but it is damn close.

Better than the first book

They say this is part of a series but it doesn't really have anything to do with book one. Yes the two main characters show up in the book a third of the way through but if you never picked up book one to read it you wouldn't miss out on anything. You don't have to read book one to enjoy book two. Aside from that the storytelling was good and again I enjoyed listening to it. I believe it is one that I will ever listen to a second time, but it has been enjoyable.

Story powerful, narration tolerable.

Another spellbinding tale in another brilliant series from Le Guin: fans of Earthsea might wish for more tales from that fantasy world, but fans of Le Guin will be delighted with this alternative fantasy, as fascinating and fully-realized, with as complex a society as in any world she ever built.

I can't take a star off overall because the story is so good, Voices is a 5-star novel classified as YA but as enjoyable for adults as the Earthsea books. I would not want to discourage anyone from listening and enjoying Voices despite the narrator's voice.

Melanie Martinez's performance gets one star, and that's being generous. From the first I was irked by her golly-gee tone of voice, but I stuck with the audiobook because it's a novel I love. I hope others will listen, and enjoy.

This narration of Voices is flat in terms of voices. You'll not be able to tell one character's lines from another's if you don't pay close attention. Despite that flatness, it's not all flat in tone, but maybe it would be better if it were more nearly so. The modulations of Martinez's voice rise and fall in random sing-song, disregarding the meaning of the words.

Nevertheless, every now and then, I would be swept up by the story in spite of the narration. And then, every now and then, a nuance of tone would jerk me back into awareness of the narration, and a very unpleasant awareness it was. For example, Martinez pronounced the word, "raped," like a narrator of Peter Rabbit saying, "cabbages."

I would have let that go, glad just to be able to re-read the story in audio format--if not the best reading, at least a reading. At least the narrator's pronunciation was clear and accurate--almost always. Then she said, "calvary," when she meant "cavalry." I thought I'd misheard and went back to check. Nope, sure enough, she'd said "calvary," but of course it could have been a mistake.

Nope. She didn't know the difference between CALVARY and CAVALRY. She said it wrong again, and again, clearly and distinctly, every time the word was used, until I wished the word had not been used, at all, and "mounted troops," or "legions on horseback," or any other term were written instead. This is not just toe-may-toe vs toe-mah-toe; cavalry and calvary are completely different.

The listener who knows the difference is pulled out of the story once again, made cringingly conscious of the reader and her entirely inappropriate voice. It's an error the producer should have caught and corrected, but it's also an error a professional narrator ought not to have made in the first place, and it calls attention once again to a voice unworthy of Voices.

Rape is not a bunny's tummy ache and violent death is not the loss of brass buttons. There are brief but dark glimpses of violence and tragedy in this story, and there are passages of transcendent joy. The whole of Voices deserves narration by a voice with intelligent emotional range and accurate pronunciation.

Much blame is to be placed on the producer, who ought to have cast a better reader and caught and corrected errors. I hope a future production of Voices will improve on this attempt. And I hope Martinez will get plenty of work reading the complete Beatrix Potter, but never another Le Guin.

egad, my ears hurt

I love Ursula k LeGuin's writing, but the voice actor was distractingly painfully annoying to me, way too saccharinely girly melodramatic voice/reading, I don't think I'd have found it non irritating if I was 5. (for the record, voices like Melanie Griffith's also grate on me). Unfortunately I'd made the mistake of clicking Buy without listening to the sample. oops. bad me. YMMV, but listen to the sample first.

Skip, if you want to. The third is the best!

The story was fun--I don't regret reading it, but it was a little disappointing after the first. Since this series is unique to me in that I did not read them in order, I can also say that it paled compared to the third. If you only have time for one book in this series, read the third one (Powers) since it can completely stand alone and is, without a doubt, the best in the series.

So glad I found this!

This is a sweet, glad story. An old fan of UKL, since, in the 1970s, I found first the Left Hand of Darkness and then the Earthsea Trilogy ( love the humor if calling that a trilogy, as Leguin herself joked about, in book 5, having titled book 4, Tehanu as ‘the last book of Earthsea’ ) — this little series was a surprise to me. I see some classic LeGuin echos—some themes from her book “the Telling”, and some from Earthsea, and other short stories, but it’s also new and a unique piece of world building. And it has more HOPE than much modern sci fi/fantasy. A lonely girl finds friends, family and knowledge. A struggle for freedom doesn’t end in horrors or something too idyllic to be credible. It was just a pleasure. And the narration was very expressive, though I made the speed a bit faster than my norm to compensate for what my ear felt was just a bit too dramatically slow. Hope everyone else enjoys this as I fid ! On to book two.

Haunting, melodic

"Voices" is a coming of age story, a young adult novel, an owner's manual for the democratic process, and a metaphysical journey. Also, an extremely entertaining listen you'll want to continue to the end, and play again and again to catch the nuances. Superbly narrated by Melanie Martinez.

Great book -- Bad Reader

If you could sum up Voices in three words, what would they be?

Read in hardcopy

What did you like best about this story?

Ursula K. Le Guin

Would you be willing to try another one of Melanie Martinez’s performances?

NO

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

Yes, but I couldn't past five minutes.

Any additional comments?

The reader sounded so....sweet. She would describe horrible events as if talking a toddler's birthday party. She would probably be great at reading children's books.