The Turncoat King

By: Michelle Diener

Narrated by: Stephanie Wyles, Tim Paige

Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

A thirst for revenge.

Ava is committed to vengeance against the man responsible for the death of her parents. The same man, the queen's herald, kept her prisoner for two years, until she escaped with Luc, a warlord bent on vengeance just as fierce as her own. He's forged a powerful army of people from all through the region, called the Rising Wave, to march on the Kassian royal family and smash its corrupt power under the weight of their anger. But for Luc, just as for Ava, his true motive is a lot more personal.

A hidden magic.

Luc suspects Ava has magical abilities, and suspects he's benefited greatly from them, but he's no stranger to the burdens of power. He's prepared to let her tell him in her own time; after all, she's his heart's choice, and he will give her all the time she needs. Except time is running out for both of them. As they near the Kassian stronghold, forces from within their own camp and without will use every trick they have to stop both Luc and Ava and tear them apart.

A secret laid bare.

Luc knows Ava has a secret she's keeping from him - but what he doesn't realize is that she has many. And when those secrets are exposed, everyone will have to grapple with the consequences. Ava is prepared to sacrifice her happiness and even her life to save the Rising Wave and Luc - but she would prefer to use her heart and her head to outwit her enemies instead.

Includes prequel novella The Rising Wave.

©2021 Michelle Diener (P)2021 Podium Audio

wonderful

This story was wonderful. I enjoyed the plot and characters whole heartedly and when I realized it was coming to an end I immediately started hoping for a book 2. The only negative I can state about this novel was the female narrator. I'm very sorry to say that her voice and pacing were grating and jarring. The female narrator's voice often pulled me from the book and back to reality because she paused in odd places or sounded out a word strangely but in comparison the male narrator was superb so balance of sort was restored. My final thought on this book series is I will definitely be on the look out for the next book but perhaps just the written word alone.

Decent story but bad female narration

Good story compared to the genre’s usual fare but it’s no Robert Jordan masterpiece.

Bad female narration. I’ve liked other performances by the female narrator so I’m not sure why this one felt so flat half the time. It was frequently distracting. The story is decent enough for a redo of the female narration.

I really wanted to like this one

I absolutely love Diener’s Class 5 series so I was very much looking forward to The Turncoat King.

I had such a hard time listening to this because I really didn’t enjoy the female voice. It honestly sounded like Siri was reading.

It was also very frustrating because there was no buildup of the relationship. They meet - instalove - they’re separated for months and the second they’re back together they can’t keep their hands off each other.

It also felt like too much story was given to the setup and then the climatic parts were brushed over.

It honestly just fell flat, for me, and has me wondering if it’s worth it to read Diener’s other books.

Rough Narration

The female narrator is not a fun listen. She is robotic and doesn't seem to know how inflection works. I normally listen to books at about 1.35 speed and that definitely helped. It is almost like they slowed her part down after she recorded. The story is fantastic and the male narrator is good.

Excellent writing

Excellent pacing, world-building, character development and storytelling. Unfortunately the narrators were robotic and a tad slow. I keep my speed at 1.30 but better at 1.50. Just a tad fast. The male narrator was acceptable but the female narrator's voice did not match the character. It was still worth the listen.

Liked the story

Female narrator was flat and tone was grating. Male narrator was fine. Like the story and characters. Put up with narration to finish story

Narration ruined it

I love Michelle Diener books. The Class 5 Series was so well done with excellent narration. I was very excited to listen to this series. I felt like it was AI reading the book. There was no feeling shared through the reader, and the different voices done by her were pretty bad. Sorry, but it was just really bad.

Great Story, Bad Narrator

I love this book, I'd read it twice as an ebook and was thrilled to learn it was to come out in audio. What a disappointment, though! Stephanie Wyles is abysmal. A previous review comparing her to a text to speech app are right on. I'm so sad about this, a great narrator can make a book fabulous, an average narrator at least doesn't detract. (And I'd put Tim Paige in the average category) But poor narrators can ruin a great book. Listening to this audiobook is painful.

I loved this story

This story keeps you on the edge. You always know the good guys are going to win your not quit sure. I love the sex scene they are there and you get the point, but it not to overt. I didn’t like the narrator to much her voice was always the sam flat no inflection. But all in all I liked the story. Thank you.

Great Story

I really enjoyed the story and was pleased that it included the novella of how the two MCs met. It’s a mix of action, adventure, and romance. It doesn’t include graphic sexual encounters, and focuses more on the development of the characters and there relationship.

There are brief mentions of LGBTQ + relationships but they are not the main focus.

The female performers voice sounds as if it has been altered by some type of program. It didn’t bother me but found it odd that they chose a main narrator with a voice that needed to be altered.