The Reluctant Swordsman

De: Dave Duncan

Narrado por: Donald Corren

Wallie Smith can feel the pain. He goes to the hospital, remembers the doctors and the commotion, but when he wakes up it all seems like a dream. However, if that was a dream how do you explain waking up in another body and in another world? Little Wallie finds himself in the physique of a barbarian swordsman, accompanied by both an eccentric priest babbling about the Goddess and a voluptuous slave girl. Is this a rude awakening or a dream come true?

What in the world will Wallie do now that he's found himself stranded in a strange realm? Well it just so happens that the Goddess is in need of a swordsman. It won't be easy but if he succeeds he will have everything he wants. If he doesn't, things could get ugly.

Wallie is reluctant but sees his chance. If only he had the faintest clue as to the adventure he is about to unleash! If only he could imagine the forces that will be out to vanquish him!

©1988 D.J. Duncan (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Surprisingly good. I had no predilictions

Where does The Reluctant Swordsman rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a very good book. I was surprised simply because I purchased it on sale as a 'first in the series' book only. I thought both the writing and the narration was very well done. So much so, that I purchased the next three books.

Will Leave You Wanting

I read the reviews on this book and I got a good feeling for the series. I am always reluctant to speak against some of the reviewers I follow. After all I follow them because they seem to like the same book choices I do. I have to say though this time the reviews were wrong.

Dave Duncan did not build the characters or the world at all. The opening goes like this, in todays time a man named Smith dies. Three chapters later you find out that the dead guy was sharing the body of a Swordsman. There is very little character building for Mr. Smith/Swordsman. The swordsman had also died so that Mr. Smith could take over his body. A small god then gave Mr. Smith all the knowledge he needed to be a master swordsman. Poof there you go. I am a big believer in knowledge about the characters. Part of my enjoyment is deciding if a character would make a certian decision or not. If the author fails to develop the characters personality, I do not know enough to make that call. I love the story line itself but I did not like where the author went with the story.

Thoroughly enjoyable!

I really enjoyed the world building. The author has created a complex socioeconomic system that is quite interesting and unique. I also found the many moral dilemmas placed upon the protagonist to be interesting as well, and never fails to make you wonder what decisions you would make in his stead.

Great story.

If you could sum up The Reluctant Swordsman in three words, what would they be?

Great story. When I finished this book I immediately ordered and began to listen to the next book in the series

What about Donald Corren’s performance did you like?

Great Narrator. Really got into the story

Awesome narrator - good story.

What did you love best about The Reluctant Swordsman?

The narrator is terrific! The story itself is pretty good, but the narrator truly brings the story and its characters to life in a compelling way.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the character portrayals best - each voice was totally different and full of life.

Which character – as performed by Donald Corren – was your favorite?

So many! Wally Smith/Shonsu's voice is simply captivating.

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

Mostly - the story started off a little slowly, but I kept coming back because the narration was so good. After the story picked up, I wanted to listen as often as possible.

Any additional comments?

This was a great narration match for this book - Donald Corren does a commendable job. I will keep a look out for other books with this narrator!