The Binding Stone

By: Don Bassingthwaite

Narrated by: Adam Epstein

Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first book in a series of dark tales and high adventure in the Eberron™ campaign setting. The Binding Stone features the brand-new races that were created specifically for the Eberron campaign setting. It's also the first Eberron novel to take its listeners on an exploration of many uncharted territories in the setting.

©2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Shatner

the other comment is right I feel like I'm listening to an old episode of star trek

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not that... Good.

Played on 1.3 speed and the narration wasn't horrible. He took a page. Out of the. William shatner school. Of talking.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Eberron Gold

I've read this book and at first it was odd to hear how the narrator envisioned the voices of the characters he read aloud. In fact Geth and the characters here were some of my favourite, so to hear the book read aloud and the voices used to portray the voices of the characters were not how I envisioned but it soon settled. The story is fantastic. It takes you to realms and regions of Khorvaire that other Eberron novels do not. It's a shame they stop producing novels. This world is fantastic and I'm not even a gamer. I just thoroughly enjoy the setting, the nations, the creatures. and the world of DnD is so thought out. I hope with 5e Eberron coming out we'll see a continuation of Eberron novels. Viva Eberron!

struggled to stay with it

I wish the reader would just use his regular voice. Struggled to stay with it.

Whiny

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

I'd recommend the physical book but not the audio version. The narrator's portrayal of the characters came across as "whiny". I like the story but not the reading.

Decent Story; Poor Narration

Would you try another book from Don Bassingthwaite and/or Adam Epstein?

The author (Bassingthwaite) actually pleasantly surprised me. I did not expect much from this book because, let's face it, the Dungeons & Dragons franchise isn't exactly known for cranking out fine literature. Occasionally I find myself compelled (in vain) to attempt to recapture my youth by buying a book like this, but am always prepared for it to be awful and for me to feel a bit ridiculous for hoping otherwise.

Although no masterpiece, this book is competently written with at least a nod or two toward character development. There are no real surprises plot-wise and the characters are closer to two-dimensional than to three, but the story is engaging and entertaining enough that I would probably read (guiltily) another book by this author.The narrator, however, is a different story. I found the narrator annoying to the point of distraction. Fortunately, I purchased the audio book to supplement the Kindle version I already owned. At a point less than halfway through, I decided to stop listening and just read the rest.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I don't want to be overly harsh because I respect that different readers might have a different reaction, but I felt this narrator made the book un-listenable (if that's a word). For one, his timing and cadence were awkward. He would, at times, pause inexplicably in the middle of a sentence. At other times he would pause for 3 to 5 seconds between ending a line of dialogue in beginning in the next sentence. He didn't seem to be familiar at all with the words he was reading. I am sure that he was reading each sentence for the first time as he read it aloud. And it showed.

His voices for the different characters were cartoonish. And when I say that, I mean I actually thought, "This guy thinks he is doing voiceover work for the Thunder Cats or something." The voices were so bad that I actively hoped that certain characters would die just so I wouldn't have to hear the voices anymore.

And although this is petty, how do you think you would pronounce the name of a mage who specialized in fire if that mage's name was spelled Singe? Would you pronounce it like it looks or would you pronounce it Singh?

Any additional comments?

It's an okay book that I feel compelled to review because of how much I disliked the narrator. I will still give the narrator two stars even though I disliked him intensely because he did try to breathe a little life into his narration. He wasn't a flat, monotone reader (although I might of liked him better if he were).

You know what you are getting if you buy a Dungeons & Dragons mass paperback, and I think this is probably on the better end of the scale in terms of the writer's talent. I can recommend the print version in the sense that you are getting a pretty good version of what you are probably expecting. I cannot, however, recommend the audio version. I have experienced books that I thought the audio made better (the Harry Dresden series, for example), but this is the first time I've experienced a book that the audio version made significantly worse.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful