claudemiller

Great Story Marred by Comically Torturous Narrator

Revisado: 07-15-18

As a dedicated fan of David Weber's work, especially his Honor Harrington stuff, I find his writing thoroughly entertaining; and "Storm from the Shadows" lives up to my highest expectations. I've read all the HH books and listened to all the audible editions, and it's been a pleasure to find Allyson Johnson's narration the equal of Weber's story telling. Johnson's ability to tailor the accents and voices to suit each of the characters is masterful; and one of her best performances is found in the voice she gives Michelle Henke throughout the main HH series --which is what makes Jay Snyder's narration of this book so torturously difficult to bare. Snyder doesn't do women well. As several other reviews of this book have noted, it's as though he's doing his Monty Python impression of men doing women's voices, only it's not funny, it's excruciating.

The events in "Storm from the Shadows" play an important role in the overall HH series, so you really need to read this book to fully appreciate the genius of these stories. But, man is it ever a chore to listen to Snyder's narration! And it's not just the female voices either; he often puts an entirely inappropriate inflection on a line that's made instantly apparent by the immediate context (e.g., putting a forceful inflection on a line followed by the words, "she said doubtfully," or a doubtful inflection on a line followed by "she said dryly," etc.). You'd think the producer would have stopped him a few times, and said, "Now wait a minute there Jay, you got that all wrong, let's try it again, and this time make it sound like you're asking a question..."

If you've ever listened to a Scott Brick narration--and Brick is pretty good, but you have to admit he can be a little overly dramatic at times--it's as though Snyder is doing his Scott Brick imitation between Monty Python imitations--and he's not close to pulling off either. But if you're like me, you'll suffer through this narration anyway, because the story is entertaining and important. All else considered, it's a must read for Honor Harrington fans who need to fully appreciate the self-righteous arrogance of the Solarian League Navy--first established in this book--and how the Mesan Alignment is so easily able to manipulate them against Manticore.

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Would make a fine comic book.

Revisado: 03-19-17

One great thing about Audible is that you can return books if you don't care for them.

This one looked like it had potential, and if what you're looking for is a clever (although derivative) story where everything is spelled out for you--that is, the characters tell you all you need to know, even if they wouldn't normally tell each other such things given the circumstances within the story--you might like this book. It's one dimensional and cartoonish, but that's what comic books are. Unfortunately, it's not a comic book, and there's no artwork. Still, for readers who don't demand a logical, coherently realized world, there may be some escapist value here. I'm not sure, I was only able to tolerate 30 minutes or so.

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