Dzung Bui

A great story ruined by awful narrator

Revisado: 03-01-23

I love reading this trilogy as a child, and I remembered how much I loved the second one. After listening to the first book, I was excited to hear this one and relive my childhood. Sady, they switched narrator and, I'm sorry, but Brendan Fraser wasn't really the best choice. Did they really have to go with the actor who played Mo in the film adaptation? Fraser wasn't a terrible narrator when he's doing his normal voice, it's the voice effects for younger and older characters that I couldn't stand. He made Elinor sound annoying, and some of the children characters' squeaky and high-pitch voices are like nails on chalkboard. And at times, he suddenly screams out the lines out of nowhere, startling me with vexation. All these characters that I love reading as a kid, even the villains, sounded terrible and made me wish I could punch them all in the throat just to shut them up! I wished they had kept the first narrator, she did a fantastic job with the narration and voicing all the characters. It was a chore listening through this. In the end, I recommend just reading the actual book and skip the audible version. You'll be sorry if you didn't.

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Fun, hilarious, charming, and a delight!

Revisado: 12-16-22

I haven't read many stories where the protagonists are in their mid-40s, so I went into this not expecting much. To my delight, it was a fun ride. Grace is a 45-year-old witch who just got dumped by her terrible cheating husband. Freshly divorced, she's hoping to get a job at a rival real estate agency, but she must prove herself by selling three houses that are haunted. What do you expect when you're a witch living in a town known for its supernatural? On top of that, Grace has to deal with getting back into the romance game with a younger man and helping her lesbian niece, who is going through a tough patch with her mother.

I'm not really into romance, but I am loving the characters and all these problems that keep popping up during Grace's journey. The characters are a delight, and I just want to find out how and if things will be resolved. The magic and supernatural of ghosts, curses, and witches aren't as intense as they were in Chase's Cresent City trilogy. Rather, they're more of something tame that's naturally a part of the story and the theme. The magic is there, but the focus and thrill is more on me wanting to know how she'll sell those houses and navigate through life. All the spells and hexes are extra fun, but not the main heart and soul.

Gabra Zackman does it again with the narration. I love listening to her narrating some of my other favorite books. She distinguishes the characters well, whether they're male or female or even by age, and she always makes the story sound more fluid and easy to listen to.

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Already better than the first book!

Revisado: 01-27-21

Young Wizards is a very underrated series that needed to be recognized and loved. I'll admit that the first book was good, but it didn't really wow me as much as I hoped. Thankfully, I pressed on and loved the following books afterward. Rather than going to a dark and alternative New York dimension where everything is trying to kill you, we follow our heroes into the ocean where whales are wizards and there is a giant, ancient shark, while neither is kind nor evil, is very terrifying with his pitiless wisdom (and he has the teeth to back it all up). While intended for children, Diane Duane doesn't shy away from dark things such as the fear of death and honoring your promise, love, and sacrifice.

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The Harry Potter before the Harry Potter

Revisado: 01-27-21

I remember reading this book in middle school around the same time as Harry Potter in the early 2000s. While waiting for J.K. Rowling to release her 5th book, I went browsing around the bookstore, searching for something similar and stumbled upon this. While not my most favorite in the entire Young Wizards series, I was immediately hooked! I love how it doesn't really fall into the usual fantasy tropes of having our young heroes going to a magical school, rather, they take the oath, become wizards, and just practically learn things on the go. The adult wizards are very off-hand, and the kids are forced to understand that being wizards isn't all just glamour and games, but a real responsibility and a privileged to hold off Entropy, the eventual death and destruction of the universe. There is a mixture of fantasy with sci-fi, as well as religious concept, the latter being referred to forces such as the Power That Be and the Lone Power. I also love that this book already dealt with things such as death and sacrifice.

As an adult, revisiting these books via audio-book is a real treat and a great trip down memory lane. Christina Moore narrates the book beautifully and I'm glad she always come back to voice the rest of the books. I just wished this series had gotten more recognition. It is seriously underrated and deserved as much love as the Harry Potter or the Percy Jackson series.

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A wonderful rendition of some of my favorite myths

Revisado: 02-29-20

This is a wonderful and imaginative rendition of Greek myths. I've heard and read most Greek myths before, but Stephen Fry puts a spin on it with some alteration of his own and his amazing voice. He makes the whining and complaining of Pyche's jealous sisters funny, the conversation between Thanatos and Sisyphus dripping with gold, and the berating of Zeus when he accidentally stepped on Prometheus's clay creation oozing with delight. Another added bonus, asides from notes on how some of these myths survive into our modern day vocabularies, is hearing Greek myths that I've never heard of before, such as the story of the Arion and the dolphin and how Zeus curse and gifted the bees with their stingers.

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Fantastic ending to an exciting series!

Revisado: 01-05-20

I was so glad to see that Audible released the last book of this series. I wished they had gotten the previous narrator who did book 2 and 3, but I supposed it's better than never finish recording the last book at all.

A great ending to an exciting series. I was on the edge of my seat whenever things got really tensed. Things have come full circle except for that one major cliffhanger. I hope the author will come back to this series one day in the future. At least one more book to tighten up that loose end.

Overall, great story with very likable characters, exciting story, and colorful underwater world. One of my favorite mermaid-related series!

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A much better narrator than the first book's.

Revisado: 12-17-19

The narrator does sound a bit too exaggerated with all the different accents, but I preferred this narrator over the one who did the first book. Listening to the narrator from the first book was like getting your ears cleaned with sandpaper and wired brushes. After that unpleasant ordeal, the forced and exaggerated accents of this narrator feels like a huge relief. If I could, I would have hired Audible Tara Sands or someone else to re-record the narration of the first book.

The story of Rogue Wave was amazing. A great improvement from the first book, which acted more like a slow introduction. This story of this book is more exciting and intense. The dangerous hunt for the talismans reminds me of the hunt for the Horcruxes in the Harry Potter series. And nothing is as it seemed. The twist villain(s) at the end was well done and I look forward to reading the rest just to see what happens.

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Great story, but terrible narrator

Revisado: 12-11-19

As a mermaid fan, I love this series when I first read it. I wanted to read it again by listening to the audio-book version. Sadly, it didn't live up to my expectation. The story is still interesting, albeit having some flaws. I didn't mind that the writing is a little heavy on the middle-grade level with a hint of teenage mer slangs, but the dark concept of war, seige, death, and supernatural outweighs the negative for me.

My main issue is the narrator. Bea Miller is, undoubtedly, a very good singer. I enjoyed her "Open Your Eyes" song written for this book series very much. How many book series out there has their own song and music video? I can understand that they wanted to promote the singer by having her as narrator for this book, but sadly her voice was simply earsplitting painful. Bea Miller's speaking voice was too raspy and annoying for my ears to bear. She didn't bother to distinguish the different characters, may they be of different genders or ethnicity. Listening to her was a chore. Thank goodness, they hired someone else to narrate the rest of this series.

Overall, if you love this series, I would suggest that you skip listening to the audibook version and just read the book yourself. If you have to listen to this, you'll want to put in on fast forward.

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Love it! Wished they would record the last 2 books

Revisado: 06-14-19

I really enjoyed this, perhaps a little more than the first book. But I wished they would make the last 2 books, "Mystic" and "Horizon", available as audio books, too! They recorded all six books of the author's Immortal series, why not the "Soul Seekers" series? I wouldn't mind if they have to hire a different narrator in order to finish the rest. While reading the actual book was nice, it really helps to listen to the audio book version, too, especially for those who have busy lives and must multitasks as well as for the blind who rely on audiobooks.

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Love the story, hate the narrator's robotic tone

Revisado: 05-03-18

I love the story and had fun reading it. Sadly, the narrator they chose is absolutely horrid! What was supposed to be a fun read felt dragged and dull when listening to the narrator. It feels like I'm listening to a monotone robot reading from a script, you can't tell when the story is being narrated or when a character is speaking. There is no effort on the narrator's part to distinguish it. Kinda makes you feel as though the narrator just wants to get this whole recording over with so she can get paid. Luckily, the story was a lot of fun and it far outshines the narrator's dismal performance. While it's not perfect, I still enjoyed the characters, the settings, the pacing, and the writing. After finishing this book, I could not wait to get to the next one.

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