A Storm of Swords (Part One) - Steel and Snow: Book 3 of A Song of Ice and Fire

Whilst I have enjoyed the GRR Martins stories, there are a couple of niggling problems with the audio book, the first of which is why have Roy Dotrice chosen to make Tyrion Welsh when all of the other Lannisters are not?Was he fostered to a Welsh Lord as a child? The narrator clearly struggles to do any accents other than those of the British Isles, anyone from exotic lands seem to automatically be given an Irish accent,but on the whole it's fairly well read It's not the type of book I can listen to falling asleep, as there's so much going on in it, really have to concentrate, even when driving I find myself having to go back in places when my attention has wondered as I've missed something important.



My only other criticism is aimed at Audible, and that is the chapter divisions. Why are they so random? Some are in the middle of sentences, chapters are split into seemingly random intervals.This makes finding my place quite difficult if I am listening on my desktop or a different device. The whole series has this problem, it can take a good 5 minutes of listening time trying to find my last place if I change devices or have drifted off.

The book has it all, battle, magic, and the story nips along at a decent pace.

I wish people would stop criticising Roy Dotrice's narration. The novel has a huge cast of characters, and giving them distinctive voices is essential if you're to follow the dialogue. The choices he has made as to accents and pitch are completely in accordance with the characterisation.

BUT it is a bit weird to have an 88 year old man making sex noises in your ears; this book is just as dirty as all the others.

I've been listening to Roy Dotrice's narration of the books for some time now, having read them all previously. It did take a while to get used to - I don't think he cares for women too much as he always seems to give them a whiny, wheedling tone, even the noble characters like Brienne of Tarth, who doesn't sound a bit like I imagined her. The regional accents are inconsistent and downright odd in some cases - Davos Seaworth = Captain Pugwash anyone? Almost expected an 'aaargh, Jim lad'. Brothers and sisters of the same family all having completely different accents, like Edmure Tully (Scots) and Caitlin Tully/Stark (English-not regional). And then Tywin Lannister suddenly morphs into Winston Churchill halfway through the book - very irritating. Despite this the books are terrific, and I am (mostly) enjoying the audio version - a little more consistency from Mr Dotrice would be a boon.

I LOVE this series of books, and have read them all. I wanted to read them again when I discovered Audible and decided to buy these editions instead. The first two books were well done, I liked what Roy Dotrice was doing in giving the characters British regional accents based upon their location in the Westeros land... ie Lannisters being from the west had Welsh accents etc. But in this book Tywin Lannister suddenly morphs into Winston Churchill and it has driven me to distraction. Dotrice has always been a little inconsistent with the voices, but considering his age and the numbers of characters involved, this has been more than forgiveable. But now, I've had to go back to my e-reader, and am annoyed that I've bought up to the second part of book 4 already.

Lessons learned: Don't buy too far ahead of your listening in a saga of books; listen to the sample on the book's page to check that the narrator's voice doesn't rub you up the wrong way. I checked one on another series and will definitely avoid that, though the reviews thankfully warned of it too.

I really enjoy the story but the characters accents are terrible. To many of the characters are made to sound like country bumpkins. I also dislike the fact that each book is split into two.

I'm loving this audio book but I wander why Roy Dotrice decided to change the voice of Tiewen Lannister? He has already appeared in previous books with a stern Welsh accent, in fact he started this book with the same accent. Bizarrely, he now sounds like Winston Churchill!!??!! A minor blip in an otherwise superb narration.

Ill start off my saying that the book is amazing, one of the best books I have read and part of perhaps the best book series I have ever read. The voicing was not the greatest though. I felt that it really took away from the immersion of the book with not great accents and tones of voice.

The reader is realy very poor. Berable though and if you soilder on the story is rewording.

Nicely put together to develop the twists and leave a lot to wonder how things will turn out. And once again, SPLENDID NARRATION!!!!

This is an excellent audio book - the story is great in the first place and the narration really helps to build the atmosphere and make you keep listening. I really, really enjoyed this audio book and I couldn't turn it off!

The audio quality is also up to the usual high standard. I would recommend this!