My literary "comfort food"

First, I want to say that, reading others' reviews, it becomes clear how very subjective preferences in narration style and voice can be. Some people love Mr Beierle's interpretation; some really don't.

Myself, I'm in the former category. These audiobooks (for I've listened to the whole series, now) do a remarkable job, for me, of bringing the stories to life in a new way, having read and reread them over the years. While it's true that his accents shift around a bit, and not all of his interpretations match what I had in my head, by and large I find his reading excellent, for one key reason: it sounds very much like these are stories Mr Beierle truly enjoys, and understands, and wants to share; and not just like something he's reading as a job.

The stories themselves are layered. On one level, they are quite simple, but there's some complex ideas floating around at deeper layers. What I've always liked best about them is that they aren't black-and-white. The "good guys" all have flaws and occasionally do some unpleasant or unflattering things; the "bad guys" all have reasons for what they do that make perfect sense to them.

These are not, perhaps, "classic" literature, but they're good reads, and as audiobooks, well read. The characters and their interactions are memorable and entertaining and occasionally insightful. Definitely worth your time!

95 people found this helpful

Entrancing Story, Weak Reader

I read this book on paper when I was a kid. It is the book that made me a reader. I inhaled Eddings as a kid and a teenager. This book holds magic for me and is difficult for me to evaluate objectively since it was a formative event for me when I was young. I only have this one word: Spellbinding.

Beierle has the potential to be an ok reader. He makes bold choices in voice characterizations which I normally appreciate, and if he makes some choices that are different from how I imagine characters, that is not his fault. But hang it all if he isn't overdoing all the in-book names. There is hardly a world-concept that he doesn't over-pronounce into inscrutability. He manages to over-enunciate and slur his speech all at the same time to make these words, which read pretty easily on paper, into incomprehensible verbal globules. Stop trying so damn hard!

20 people found this helpful

Loved This!

Just got finished listening to the first book. I read the entire series twice when I was younger. After reading the reviews, I was worried that the narration was terrible... It wasn't. Do the accents get scrambled a few times? Yes. Does the narrator change pronunciations a time or two? Yes. Does this ruin the audiobook experience? Absolutely NOT. I enjoyed the reading and although it wasn't perfect, it was read by someone who cares about the content being read. I loved this and am continuing on with the audio series. Highly recommended for fantasy fans.

42 people found this helpful

Well Read

I picked this particular book as my first Audible download as it is a story I have read and re-read several times when I was younger, and I was looking forward to having it "read to me" And I was not let down.

I read the customer reviews several times before actually making the purchase and some left me very apprehensive and worried that I was making the wrong decision. Several people complained about the narrator and his delivery of the story. Of strange pauses or enunciation of words. Or the delivery of the characters voices.

I am happy to report that I have enjoyed this book enormously, and am able to recommend this to other listeners. I do admit that from time to time pauses occur at strange times, or when switching characters there is some "bleed-through" of voices. We might want to keep in mind before making critics of Mr. Cameron Beierle that he is reading aloud a very long book. Pauses and a certain amount of leeway should be granted. I mean he is sitting in a room for x amount of hours a day reading and re-reading sections/chapters. I'm sure a few of the pauses can be pinned on the audio splice together too. However, this is an extremely good story teller, who I enjoyed listening too.

I've gone ahead and purchased the rest of this series and plan to purchase the rest of Mr Edding's books that are here on Audible. And I have no worries or concerns about listening to Cameron Beierle, who I've found to enjoy his reading style and voice. Keep up the good work.

34 people found this helpful

Great story bad narration

I have always loved this series, but I cannot stand the narration. The narrator just seems to be trying way to hard. It doesn't seem to feel natural. He tries to put accent on everything.

10 people found this helpful

Rip-roaring fantasy adventure

I'm honestly baffled by all the hostility toward the narration of this series. The narrator uses accents to represent the different nations, and that's a bold choice, one that can be jarring at first --but after a while, I came to really appreciate it. The nations of the West are sort of like European countries in size and diversity, and on reflection it made a lot of sense that they would have varying accents: Sendarians sound vaguely British, Arends vaguely French, and so on. It's true that the accents do drift around a bit, he doesn't hit them spot-on every time, but I didn't find this at all a problem.

The story itself is a classic, and sure to be enjoyed by young (and young-at-heart) adults, with strong, memorable characters and a story of grand adventure to carry them along.

I'd recommend it strongly (and the other four books in the series)! Don't be scared off by the negative reviews of the narration without at least checking out the sample and seeing for yourself.

31 people found this helpful

Outstanding Book--reader could have done better

outstanding story with believable characters for a world of magic of Sorcerers and Magicians. If the reader was better at pouncing the names of the characters I would have enjoyed listening to the reading. I had already read the book and felt that Edgings made the story come alive starting right from the prologue by establishing the problems that even Gods have.

As the story unfolds you learn the names of the main characters and the beginnings of the challenges they will only begin to understand. Having read several of the books that continue the story beyond this first book I was always glad that I was able to have such dynamic characters grow until they were ready to fill the rolls they would be required to fulfilled. It was easy to believe how each of the characters grew to fulfill the roles fate and prophesy had required.

I will be getting more of the audio books to enjoy the continuing story that has just so beautifully began with this book.

7 people found this helpful

performance

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I think it was worth the time, but I had to not cringle because the reader was so bad

What did you like best about this story?

Everything

Would you be willing to try another one of Cameron Beierle’s performances?

I am because of the story

Was Pawn of Prophecy worth the listening time?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Get a new performer

7 people found this helpful

Worth listening too even if a little old-fashioned

I really enjoyed this book, and just completed the second title in the series as well. I very much recommend the series, but it is not for action junkies. At least not through the second book...

For newcomers to Eddings work like me, compared to new fantasy titles, you'll notice that the violence is very much toned down. This isn't a bad thing, and actually made the battle scenes (when they occur) that much more tense and rivoting.

I think of the series as a "good old read" for someone raised on the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance books. I also consider this a good series for young readers as well, as they look for ways to transition from Potter, to the wider, weirder, more adult versions of modern epic fantasy.

Narration is also top notch, and I enjoy listening to how Cameron successfully keeps the multiple parties separate in his mind and on tape.

17 people found this helpful

Harsh Reviews

I hesitated to download this title because of several fairly harsh reviews of the narrator (Cameron Beierle). I was concerned about not being able to lose myself in the telling of the story. Personally, I feel that people find it all too easy to be critical of things (overly critical in fact)... especially on the internet where they can be safe to say anything they want in their anonymity.

Having said that, I am happy that I decided to go ahead and download this title in spite of the reviews here. I have always been a fan of this series and I am now a fan of its reading. The narrator does a nice job of lending unique voices to each character. Yes, there is some bleed-through when he switches between them on occasion, but never to the point that it interferes with the flow of the story. In particular I find his voice for the main character (the boy Garion) to be well done (sounding both young and innocent compared to the gruff and heavy accents of other characters). He even does a fair job of representing the main female (Polgara).

Setting the narration aside I can definitely say that the story itself is one of the most enjoyable fantasy series I've read. Filled with characters you will hold in fond memory and a story filled with adventure that is told from the eyes of an innocent youth. Not so much the orcs, dragons and epic wars of many fantasy series, but somewhat more akin to the epic travels of the Wheel of Time series.

34 people found this helpful