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AI Can't Narrate!

Revisado: 03-17-25

I enjoyed the original text version of The Carthaginian Crisis very much. This Virtual Voice version is just terrible. The AI trying to read the book doesn't know how to pronounce the names of people from two thousand years ago, and it can't even settle on a one way to do so. The way a name is pronounced will change from one instance to the next, and they're all usually wrong. This is the second Virtual Voice book I've listened to. The first one wasn't very good either, but most of the names in it were fairly common. It also doesn't understand the difference between 1632 and one thousand, six hundred and forty-two. Maybe in a few years, this technology will be useful for making audio books of novels that might not otherwise get one, but that day hasn't arrived yet.

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An adequate way to pass 13 hrs

Revisado: 05-16-24

It was mostly fine, but nowhere near as good as the original Millennium Trilogy. The one thing that was very distracting was that the narrator apparently forgot how to pronounce Erika Berger's name, and instead referred to her as Erika Beria through the entire novel. This is the same narrator for the first three books, so I don't understand why he's suddenly decided to change her name. At first, I thought he was referring to an all-new character.

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It's good, but has a lot of problems

Revisado: 04-03-24

The overall story is an excellent follow-up to the previous two novels. Book III suffers from an absurd amount of jumping back and forth in time to the point where even the author seems to lose track of what point in time he's telling the story from occasionally. The narrator is definitely a step down from the previous two books. The opening of the book, which is told from the perspective of a 13 year-old boy is read in the sing/song cadence of a parent reading a bedtime story to a small child. This is toned down in later chapters, but never entirely goes away. I'll no doubt choose to revisit this book again some day, but when I do, I'll be reading the novel rather than listening. If I'd used a credit rather than just buying Book III, I'd request a refund. If Book IV is read by the same narrator, I won't be getting it.

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Looking forward to the next book in the series!

Revisado: 12-30-23

The Chef Saga is an excellent combination of alternate history, gaming theory, cooking and the history of the Orient. I'll be reading the entire series, eagerly awaiting the next installment. My only complaint is that the author has a bit of difficulty keeping track of his own details at times. Ryo states that he's in the year 1270 AD, more than a thousand years before he was born, but is also supposed to be from the year 2099 AD. At other times, Ryo mentions that he is thousands of years in the past. Ryo also can't seem to decide if he thinks of his former girlfriend (Sonya Mallory) as Sonya, or Mallory. These are minor details that have no real effect on the story, but they are distracting at times. The publisher's editor really should have caught these discrepancies before publication.

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Avoid At All Costs!

Revisado: 01-30-15

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If you are looking for some poorly written fan fiction set in the Ring of Fire Universe, then this is the book for you. If you want a well written story from author Eric Flint, you will not find it in The Ram Rebellion. To say this book is poorly edited is too mild. It's a quasi-anthology of mind numbingly dull stories told in mostly (but not entirely) chronological order about the events which lead up to a rebellion and how that fight unfolds. If this had been written by one person with a clear goal in mind, it could have been a compelling story. Instead, it's just a mess that is not worth anyone's time.

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Great story, problematic audiobook

Revisado: 07-04-13

Where does Shadow of the Hegemon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Of the many audiobooks I've enjoyed from Audible, Shadow of the Hegemon ranks dead last.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narration of this book is mostly great, with just enough scattered bits of terrible to completely pull the listener out of the story. There are numerous edits which are so poorly done that it's painfully obvious where they occur. What's worse is that sometimes these inserted words or sentences aren't even done by the same narrator! The designated voice for Peter Wiggin, a teenager, sounds as though he is in his sixties.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

My reaction to this audiobook is disappointment. Not in the story, but in the shoddy production.

Any additional comments?

None of the previous audiobooks in the Ender Series I've listened to had music worth noting, which is fine. This book has lots of music, and it's all beyond terrible. These are the sorts of tunes I used to hear with the story records I listened to as a child in the 70's. Better no music at all than this distracting trash.

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