Prince of Fire

great book, horrible audio

The book is great, but the audio quality and narration is really substandard. Sounds like telephone quality audio, the first time I've seen this after some 20 downloads. Worse, the narrator mispronounces almost every Arabic and Hebrew word, both personal and geographic. My favorite stumble was when he called MI-5 M-fifteen. Aside from the audio reproduction and mispronounciations, he did a good job.

46 people found this helpful

Narrator ruins it -Better read this one :-(

As a big fan of Daniel Silva and the Gabriel Allon series, I was excited about purchasing this audible title. I was busy, knew I didn't have a lot of time to read, so despite the negative reviews on the narrator I purchased and downloaded Prince of Fire. I should have skipped this title until I had time to read it. Normally I've been able to "get used to " poor narrators and still get engaged in the story. This Silva book had such long passages of history and political background information that it was hard to stay focused. The information was vital to understanding the motives, actions and reactions of countries and ethnic groups involved, but the narrator made it feel at times like I was listening to a second rate college lecture. Normally I love this type of back ground information, and this would have been enjoyable in book form, or with a decent narrator, but Guerin Barry is a very difficult narrator to listen to. He is actually PAINFUL to listen to. His female voices are HORRIBLE, and NONE of the accents he gives his characters, male OR female fit the personality of the character. If this is the first Gabriel Allon book for you, you will end up disliking the characters because the voice and attitude the narrator gives each character overshadows what the author was trying to portray. There are times the narrator doesn't give enough change between characters for you to know who is speaking.
So, save your credit, save your money, this title has been ruined by the narrator!

15 people found this helpful

slow start

I found the audio quality excellent and the quality of the narration excellent. I am not qualified to notice poorly pronounced Arabic or Hebrew. I did catch the "m fifteen" instead of "MI-5" though. The narrator does an excellent job of rendering different voices for each character.

The action is much slower in this book than in some of the other Allon novels. Lots and lots and lots of Palestinian history. Lots of background information, more than usual.

Still, expertly written.

7 people found this helpful

Bad audio quality and bad narrator

How could the performance have been better?

This sounds like it was recorded from a speaker phone and the reader is not "professional quality"

Any additional comments?

Don't skimp on quality or settle for a sub par reader

6 people found this helpful

Not my favorite Allon book - but OK

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

Yes - if you like Silva and want to read the entire Gabriel Allon Series. No - if this is his only book you plan to read by him.

Would you be willing to try another book from Daniel Silva? Why or why not?

Absolutely

How did the narrator detract from the book?

This guy is TERRIBLE. But, I've been listening to some great readers lately (I'll listen to anything read by George Guidall - who incidently, read Daniel Silva's most recent book). The audio quality is terrible and the reader sounds like a robot. He isn't the worst reader I've ever heard, but he's pretty close. I would expect the author to force the publisher to have this book re-read / re-published.

Did Prince of Fire inspire you to do anything?

Learn more about Israeli history / Palestine

5 people found this helpful

Narrator detracts

If you could sum up Prince of Fire in three words, what would they be?

Gripping, as usual.

Did Guerin Barry do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narration was the weakest part of the audiobook. The main character, Gabriel, was voiced slightly hoarse and almost monotonal. It seemed such a bad characterization that getting immersed in the book was very difficult. The characters were switched in some dialogue and the pronunciation of Hebrew names was amazingly bad.

10 people found this helpful

Poor sound quality

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I am a huge fan of Daniel Silva's books. So, I would definitely recommend the book.
I might suggest reading this one instead of listening. The sound quality and performance were a hindrance.

How could the performance have been better?

First better sound equipment! Second have John Lee perform the reading.

Could you see Prince of Fire being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes and definitely NOT Tom Cruise! Matt Damion, Hugh Jackman,

8 people found this helpful

Enjoyed it

I enjoyed this book. It started a little slow for me, but picked up speed quickly. I've read a few history books on the Israel/Palestine struggle, and it was nicely blended into the story. My only criticism is that I didn't appreciate the use of the F word multiple times. I wish authors would at least keep it pg-13!

7 people found this helpful

Sub-par Vs. First Four in Series; Poor Narrator

Other reviews have been hard on the narrator, and I fully agree. After John Lee's masterful job with the first four books in this series, Guerin Berry was a huge disappointment. I never thought a Daniel Silva audio book could be tedious, but Berry's plodding delivery, poor accents and mispronunciations made this a tough one for me to get through. The story itself was OK but didn't hold my attention like the first four in the series; as another reviewer pointed out, there is a great deal of Middle East history, not all of which adds to the narrative. Daniel Silva earned my loyalty with the first four Gabriel Allon books so I'll forge ahead with number six in due course....unless Guerin Berry is the narrator on that one as well.

2 people found this helpful

T

This book dragged out more than the previous books in the series. But the narrator made it worse. Some of his accents for The Office employees sound like an American making fun Of a Mexican accent. His British accent was laughable.

If Mr Barry was narrating a book where he didn't have to do any accents and spoke normally, then I would still purchased audiobook though because his voice has a lovely timbre.

1 person found this helpful