Venom in Her Veins

A Forgotten Realms Novel

By: Tim Pratt

Narrated by: T. David Rutherford

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

Child of prophecy? Harbinger of Doom?

Zaltys is a girl like any other to grow up ranging the jungles of the Southern Lluirwood. She’s a crack shot with a bow and no stranger to the dangers that lurk beneath the deep forest canopy.

On expedition with her family to harvest the forbidden terazul flower, a powerful drug that has gathered many a dreamer into its narcotic embrace, Zaltys is about to unearth a truth long buried by the feculent loam of deception. As the veil is lifted on the world Zaltys thought she knew, a pathway to the Underdark promises the answers her family never gave. Venturing forth in search of truth, Zaltys finds betrayal to be a much easier quarry. But it will take more than a lode of lies to quell the venom in her veins.

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

Good Stroy

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

The story is good, but the performance, well... Since it is about a girl, I would have enjoyed the performance better if a woman read this story. I felt the reader rushed through the book so I found it hard to relax and listen. If I was listening to this while I was running instead of to relax after work maybe I would have liked the performance better..

Great story. Bad Narrator

The narrator appeared to be rushing the book. reading it as fast as possible. it was unpleasant hearing him speed read.

I still like the story, but the narrator...

I enjoyed the story the first time I read it. I’ve enjoyed it again overall, but the narrator isn’t my favorite. I think him serviceable at best, as I prefer female narrators for female protagonists. Yet, he was fine generally.

Worth the buy overall, though I’d still prefer a different narrator.

get the book

it was good book,but bad narration. narrator rushed through like reading a encyclopedia. I had to stop a few times to take a break from the narrator.

Voice acting is terrible...

Would you try another book from Tim Pratt and/or T. David Rutherford?

T. David Rutherford voice is WAY TOO fast...it's awful without much variation. Better to read the book. The story is good, inventive.

Breathless

I found the story the be enjoyable. There was, I felt, some strain to get action in the story to move it along. The narration felt very rushed, to the point that I found myself irritated at sentences being crammed together and listening to the narrator sounding winded and sucking in breath several times a sentence.

Audio took some getting used to, but good story!

I almost didn't get this because of all the complaints about the narration, but while the reader is fast paced he is clear and understandable. You get used to it after awhile. Soon I didn't even notice it. Story was good. I really enjoyed these characters. I enjoyed the setting as well. This is not a complicated story. It is fairly straight forward and the characters are really endearing.

I really enjoyed the world building and how House Serrat tries to keep their secrets, secret.

The ending felt a little rushed, but that was okay. I did want to see more of these characters so I was disappointed when I got to the end and there were no further books of their adventures.

Simple and straight forward.

'Venom in Her Veins' is pretty much a classic D&D adventure; it is a short journey into danger for reasons simple and noble. People won't get anything special from this book other than a minour look into the life of a region rarely visited in the Forgotten Realms, but that is also enough. The book's main draw is its charismatic and unique characters and how they deal with issues. Overall, this book isn't a masterpiece, but neither is there anything wrong with it. It is simply offering simple fun and adventure. Absolutely worth a listen if you simple want something light and easy to listen to for some hours of enjoyment.

Lacking

The book had great potential. It has unique characters, a great structure for the family it's centered around, and a little comic relief. But as a whole this book seemed more like an introduction to a bigger story. But as I understand it, it's a stand alone novel.

Great Story

I had a great time with this story. The only drawback was the narration. At times he rushed through the whole story. He didn't really have any inflection while narrating the story which I think took a lot away from the great scenes dispersed through out the book. He had no emotion in his narrative at all, it was very brisk and business-like. Almost like he just narrated for the cash, not so much for the performance. Just download the book. It's a better experience. I would like to see a series made out of the heroine's travels. Is there more to this story?

Potentially a great novel, let down by narrator.

I was excited to listen to this book as many folk in the Forgotten Realms community spoke highly of it, often claiming the book deserved to be a trilogy.

Unfortunately the narration made it impossible to care about any of the characters, because none of them seemed to care about what was happening in the story. And so what potentially could have been a great story was somewhat ruined.

The narrator seemed to be trying to get through the book as quickly as possible, often not taking a breathe between sentences, even when two different characters were speaking. It made it difficult to follow what has happening at times, and as every character now has the same Texan accent, it was hard to know who was speaking sometimes too. You do eventually get used to the voice, but overall, not great.

None of the characters were portrayed with any emotion other than aloofness, which I don’t think was the author’s intent. I found myself often repeating sentences in my head with how I thought the character would be talking.

The story itself was quite interesting, and has given me some great ideas for my own D&D campaign. If you’re looking for something a little out of the box for your typical Forgotten Realms novel, this is a good option. It features many under-utilised races and a whole host of cool and exciting magical items - it actually feels somewhat like a D&D campaign, whereas other FR novels often feel like they could be any generic fantasy novel.

Overall I’d say the book is worth your time, but I’d look for the actual book/e-book if you have the time to read it.