Terrible Narrator

I love Jennifer Donnelly's books (except for "These Shallow Graves, it was terrible don't read it) she has a great skill at writing she makes you feel for her characters. This book would have been good if it wasn't published by Disney and she could have put her own flare into it. I got the impression it was like My Little Pony but with mermaids instead, not saying anything bad about the MLP franchise I love the show but this book was very...magic-y and was obviously written for teenagers. Books written for teens are usually not very good so all in all being a teen book I would give it 4-5 stars.
The narrator though...oh my god. The absolute worst I've ever heard. I see they have a different narrator fir the other books, that was a good call. She only had like one range of voices, they all sounded Eastern European to me and the Asian character's voice the would pause. After. Every. Word. Like. This. The only realistic character's voice she did was the

3 people found this helpful

Has the author ever spent time in the water?

The story is solid, and generally fun. Nothing super original, but it is enjoyable and a clear narrative. The characterization is strong, the girls (merls) are believable individuals.

However, the story is constantly marred by descriptions that defy the basic physics of water, and not in ways that can be hand waved away by "magic." Blood seems to be the only liquid that mixes with the water around it. Otherwise, tea is poured and drunk from cups, poison drips from fangs and falls to the floor. The merpeople sit down, stride (Stride!) and kneel. Bodies fall to the floor, and somehow it's remarkable that when one girl casts a powerful spell, she's still floating after. The summon walls of water that shatter and spray droplets everywhere. Fins make remarkable and noticeable noise when moving through the water.

It is frustrating and distracting from what could otherwise be a well developed world.

3 people found this helpful

I didn't know they let 12 year olds read for audiobooks.

I couldn't even get past the first chapter. It's read by a raspy voiced 12 year old who rushes through the reading. The reading is flat. So monotoned. I hope I can get a refund.

2 people found this helpful

Didn't like Narration - Story okay...

What did you like best about Deep Blue - Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue? What did you like least?

I listened to this because my daughter is reading it for summer reading and I wanted to check in on her reading comprehension.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narration was just not good. The reading was hesitant in places - should have been read without accents - why accents? I had to go back and listen so many times to figure out who was who for conversations. Sounds like the narrator was about 12/13 - should have picked someone more 18ish, with a smoother voice.

7 people found this helpful

Good because Bea sponsored it but it's a dumb book

- it's a clash between Mythology and the Little Mermaid. I read it just because the singer narrated it. It's good for kids but I don't remember myself reading a 7-hour book as a child.

1 person found this helpful

Good story, distracting audio

I like the story. The awkward accents made it difficult to follow and understand at times. I almost gave up on the story bc of it but I'm glad I didn't.

1 person found this helpful

counldnt handle the accents

I had to switch to the kindle version of this and return my audio book. i couldn't understand hardly any of what the narrator was saying. I understand that the narrator for books 2&3 are much better.

1 person found this helpful

It was okay

It's good if you like books that are fantasy with fake words that you can't say at all!!!!😡But for me I didn't really like it

1 person found this helpful

Wonderful story, full of fantasy and details

Would you consider the audio edition of Deep Blue - Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue to be better than the print version?

Listening and reading is some times better
So for me the print version is very good
And audio is perfect

What was one of the most memorable moments of Deep Blue - Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue?

When Serafina lost her father and have to scape leaving her mother

What about Bea Miller’s performance did you like?

Wonderful!!

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

Both

Any additional comments?

My dauther and I can't wait To read the next book

2 people found this helpful

Solid fantasy story

First off the performance was fantastic. The accents were very believable. Overall this was a great book, all of the characters were amazingly likable, and you really understood where they were coming from. The story is quite fast paced as well, so if you’re not really feeling a couple chapters it moves on pretty quick and doesn’t dwell. The writing is very good, not too complex, not too simple. My few complaints are that a lot of things are a little silly and cheesy, which is a bit off tone compared to the violence and war going on…The humans (or terragoggs) being involved in the story confused me a lot. We weren’t really told much about them or what century this took place in. This will be explained more in the other books I’m sure, but it’s off tone for me personally. I think the whole under the sea world works well and is very fantastical, so adding regular humans to it I wasn’t a fan of. Also so many new names and phrases are thrown around it can be a little confusing if you have trouble with attention span like me. But I’m general the way they use underwater slang is very cool and makes sense. So overall great book, going to continue the series.