Excellence in Writing

I adored The Zephyr in print—it’s one of my favourites from a favourite author—but, unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the audiobook as much. Annabelle Hyde’s voice is nice to listen to, but I didn’t feel she quite captured the tone of Grace Gibson’s unique humour or prose which is the very magic of her writing. The banter, which I loved in the book, just didn’t come through in the same way for the audio version.

Darcy’s voice, up until ODC become engaged, made him sound particularly morose. Maybe it was meant to be dry or reserved, but for me, it didn’t quite work. Elizabeth, too, was hit and miss. At times her voice felt just right, but then she would sound out of character and blend into the narrative portions. Other characters I thought were done quite well with a semblance of flair, making them distinct from the narration. Pacing felt too fast—insufficient pauses where they were needed made the narration feel rushed or as though it all ran together. And the cadence had a slight lift at the end of many sentences, which was distracting and pulled me out of the story waiting for the next instance of it.

In short, while the story is still very strong, and an excellent Pride and Prejudice variation, the narration didn’t quite do justice to the tone and rhythm of the original text. I believe this narrator has a lot of potential—she’s very good, and she definitely had a lot to live up to for this writer’s particular style, so I still give her a well-deserved four stars, and hope the review is taken constructively. It is kindly meant.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona