bluecat

Decent story, mediocre narration, minor annoyances

Revisado: 07-16-23

Books like this are the reason Americans think Scotland is dreary, cold, and uninhabitable. Early on, the author actually claims that Edinburgh is cold and uninhabitable, and later that in summer, it is cold and snowy! In the summer! Maybe up in the Cairngorm Mountains, but not the city of Edinburgh. That annoyance aside, the story is compelling and well written. The narration, which the author claims is by a genuine Scot, is often annoying and slow. Early on, the main character, Ana's father, and a servant are voiced so slowly that I had to turn up the playback speed to 1.25. The voice for the hero, a Scottish highlander is so heavy with rolled Rs that it is, at times, hard to understand. Even Scots make fun of the Sean Connery exaggerated accent, so I found this a bit comical. The main female characters are done fairly well, but this young lady cannot voice men. Ana's brother sounds like a whiny little girl with a voice higher pitched than the girls. Chapters are also abruptly started, with no pause after the last sentence of the previous chapter, but that may be down to editing. There are a few other issues with sound quality changing. Otherwise, it rolls along okay and is only distracting occasionally.
Okay, maybe a bit more than distracting. I just had to stop when Hannah pulled out her bent sunglasses but that was ok because it's rarely sunny in Scotland. Come on!!! Also, not sure why it took them 7 hours to drive to Skye. Even without taking highways, it's not 7 hours. We're the roads really bad in 2005? I finally stopped it with about 6 HOURS to go when the claim was made that most modern Scots don't want independence and it was kinda written as a right wing fringe thing full of super religious people. Granted, this is supposed to be 2005, but the 2014 referendum was really close! If inaccuracy in details, and recording quality don't bother you, it's an okay story. I get that it is so hard to write a book. But at the very least, get the weather right.

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I love everything about this!

Revisado: 02-27-22

Richard Armitage does a wonderful job bringing Georgette Heyer's Venetia to life. From the first line, it is funny, sharp, and romantic. Highly recommend!

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Is she reading the news?

Revisado: 01-15-22

I have no idea if the story is good or not, I can't get past the horrible narration. If you love monotone readings of the news, you'll love this! I do not. I'm not sure the book deserves 3 stars, but Moriarty typically writes memorable, engaging, original stories, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and offering 3 stars DESPITE the terrible narration.

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An enchanting tale, beautifully performed.

Revisado: 03-30-21

I absolutely loved this. The story was charming, sensitive, heartbreaking and hopeful. The performer gave life to every character with humor and nuance. Undoubtedly one of the best stories about a young, precocious child dealing with the concept of death for the first time.

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Brilliant writing. Moving narration.

Revisado: 03-28-20

Beautifully written story of love, loss, hate, faith. Firth reads it well and with passion, though male and female voices are not terribly distinguishable.

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Wonderful performance, predictable story.

Revisado: 02-26-20

As always, Richard Armitage performs this book wonderfully. Every voice is believable and consistent. This story just felt predictable. Not the details, but the outcome, the inevitable ending.

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Wonderful story, one small, bad performance

Revisado: 01-13-19

This is a sweet, poignant story of love during war, told through correspondence. Each letter writer is voiced by a different performer and all but one were amazing. Fortunately, the one character voiced badly is minor. Just keep telling yourself he's not Scottish, really. Or that he spent time in so many other countries that his accent got muddled, morphing at times into Italian, Russian, Indian, and North African. It's such a beautiful story that the one bad performance is almost forgivable.

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Slow but engaging story

Revisado: 07-03-18

Narrated well, this story is a bit slow, but still engaging. I would recommend it to others.

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Wonderfully acted suspense

Revisado: 02-02-18

Very well performed. Hard to turn off. Gripping story with only one small plot hole. I won't say what as it would be a spoiler.

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Not very plausible but entertaining

Revisado: 01-23-18

The storyline wasn't very believable. I mean, two Harvard grads can't think of any other way to raise money except to dupe a bunch of rich ladies? The chemist, the Harvard PHD chemist doesn't consider the risks of cocaine? But, get over that and it is at least entertaining. The narrator was good at times and terrible at times. Her Latinos sounded Russian and everyone over 60 sounded 100. And the children, uggg. But her inflection was good and she brought lot to the story.

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