The Dread Wyrm

By: Miles Cameron

Narrated by: Neil Dickson

Length: 29 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Some are born to power. Some seize it. And some have the wisdom never to wield it.

The Red Knight has stood against soldiers, armies, and the might of an empire without flinching. He's fought on real and magical battlefields alike, and now he's facing one of the greatest challenges yet. A tournament.

A joyous spring event, the flower of the nobility will ride against each other for royal favor and acclaim. It's a political contest - one that the Red Knight has the skill to win. But the stakes may be higher than he thinks. The court of Alba has been infiltrated by a dangerous faction of warlike knights, led by the greatest knight in the world: Jean de Vrailly - and the prize he's fighting for isn't royal favor but the throne of Alba itself....

This is the third book in the Traitor Son Cycle, following The Red Knight and The Fell Sword.

©2015 Miles Cameron (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Another audio book ruined by the narrator

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

Yes but in text form. Neil Dickson reads like a 3rd grader. Constantly stopping and putting pauses where the don't belong. So much so that the whole meaning of the sentence or paragraph is distorted and incomprehensible. Almost all the personas changed in his hands. All the cities and names were pronounced differently from the other books. It was like he never read or listened to the other books. If he did, he obviously didn't care. Mag a 60 ordinary seamstress. Humble, caring. Not in his hands. you would've thought she was that cook lady we were all afraid of in elementary school and this was probably his closest mark. Not to mention Gavin and Bad Tom who were changed so much I thought they were new characters. Their actions mannerisms all completely changed in his hands. How can you come into the middle of a series and absolutely destroy it because you have no background on the characters. Shame on the publishers for letting this happen!! I sure Miles Cameron was not consulted about the release of this audio book and if he was, he must have owed someone a huge favor.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It was the Red Knight. Witty, smart, cunning, but Neil Dickson made him seem doltish and dimwitted. He couldn't spit out a sentence to save his life. He especially was ruined by Dickson's lack of knowledge of the characters charisma. He seemed as though he couldn't even talk.

Would you be willing to try another one of Neil Dickson’s performances?

NO, NO, NO and NEVER!!

Do you think The Dread Wyrm needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes but without Neil Dickson! There is unfinished business in the west with Ash and Mr. Smythe, Amychia has to ascend and the Red Knight has to become emperor.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the series and was looking froward to another intallment. That was utterly destroyed by this narrator. Stay with the series but if you are a listener and not a reader like i am, cringe and bear it, stay the course and hope they don't hire Dickson for the next book.

Hard to like

I disliked the narrator. The previous narrators kept you involved, this guy is simply boring, boring, boring with a terrible monotone

Love the series but..

the narration for this installment is not great. I had to stop listening after the first hour and instead bought the book to read.

five stars grate book

Five star story read by two start reader. The Original reader of the first two books did such a great Job that the new readers inconsistency of accidents and voices just cannot compare with

great

I liked the narrator from the first two books much better than this one sadly

Neil Dickson < Mathew Wolf

What would have made The Dread Wyrm better?

The story? It was great. The audiobook? Mathew Wolf.

What did you like best about this story?

The story in a nutshell. It was great.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Well he took one of my most enjoyed audiobook series and made it into something I distaste. If you wanted this audiobook to alienate people from the series and make it so they go back to reading it for themselves, well its accomplishes that goal quite well.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The book was great, among the best I've read. The audio book? Disappointment. A series I really was enjoying listening to went from something great to something terrible.

Any additional comments?

I really do enjoy the series, just not the narration change. I noticed Neil also picked up some other narrations/series that Mathew was narrating. Maybe something happened to Mathew, maybe he was too expensive or had a family emergency. I don't know but I won't be listening to another audio book in this series as long and Neil is the narrator. Let me put this very very simply, When that audio book sounds like crap it doesn't matter how good the underlying story its still a crap audiobook. To Neil? Do some homework, listen to previous narrators when you are replacing them. Try to respect what they did before you instead of crapping all over it. Drink some water and maybe practice sounding different for different characters and not dropping accents and voice tones halfway through a sentence. Thanks.

New Actor is a pirate?

What did you love best about The Dread Wyrm?

The story is as amazing as always!

Any additional comments?

The new voice actor makes everyone sound like pirates that have a cold.

Why did you change the narrator? This is painful

New narrator in book 3 made a great series hard to finish. please go back to the original narrator in future books.

A Masterpiece of Weaving

I was thoroughly excited to read this book and I awaited it with much anticipation. I can honestly say it blew my expectations away. Everything about this novel was utterly perfect. The thing that makes this book is easily the plot. I admire the way Mr. Cameron juggles many plot lines with complete dexterity. I have read many authors who try to use multiple plot lines from many different character perspectives, and simply lose track of the story. It is no mean feat. Also, along with managing the different plot lines, he makes the changes in between different character points of view almost seemless. There is no jarring changes, it all makes complete sense.

Along with the perfect plot, there are a myriad of characters to enjoy. There are literally so many, it is imposible to keep them all straight. Despite this they all seem to play their role in the story. As a fair warning though, they die thick and fast, and sometimes without any warning. His handling of them is almost callous at times, but it shows the hard brutality of war he is trying to accomplish.

The third aspect that I love about this book and the two before it is their attention to detail. Every little part of medieval life is attended to with delicate care. He doesn't miss a thing from the armor on the men, to the moving parts of a mercenary company.

I thought this book was the best of the series, but all of them have been good. If you have read the first two novels before reading this one, which you should have you would know, that these books are not for everyone. They define the term hard gritty novels, and there are really no happy endings. Therefore, if you are looking for a happy go lucky book go somewhere else. Also, these books are not light reading, you must be able to focus on the story all the way threw, or you will be confused. However, if you put in the time and the focus, this will probably be the best book you read in 2015.

The new narrator ruined it!

Please do not change narrators mid-series. Time and time again you ruined multiple series by changing the narrator halfway through. You get attached to the voice this is you get attached to the character.