BAD PENGUIN.

I'm really bummed that, after just re-listening to the first 10 Mercy Thompson books, and LOVING them, I find myself listening to this painful, POS production.

P. Briggs wrote this one with alternating POV chapters -- so, I guess that's why they added George Newbern, (a reader who does mainly nonfiction how-to books).

Yeah, that worked out about as well as you'd expect.

It's pretty obvious that George doesn't understand this series, this genre, or the characters and their relationships -- or even how to read well. The hesitations, pauses and flailing attempts at finding the right emotional tone, make his weirdly dissonant performance jarring, and completely ruins the flow of this book.

And this is especially painful when followed by the chapters read by Lorelei King, the narrator who has depicted these characters for over 86 fabulous hours of audio, to the delight of P. Briggs' fans.

By comparison, any guy would have had a tough act to follow, but George Newburn sounds completely out of his depth.


BAD Penguin.

124 people found this helpful

Completely agree with the "Why Ruin a Good Thing"

I cannot tell you how difficult it is for me to wait on the next Mercy Thompson book. I basically listen to other books just to bide time in waiting for the next release. Lorelei King has done a FABULOUS job in the past with these books, and the voices. I agree with all of the prior reviewers. Why would you ruin a good thing. The new narration ruined the book for me. I will admit, I am hooked on the world of Mercy, her life , and the characters. I will anxiously await the next book--I hope the next release will go back to the single reader with Lorelei King.

102 people found this helpful

Why ruin a good thing

Would you listen to Silence Fallen again? Why?

I would not listen to Silence Fallen again as they added a male narrator with no personality. It just ruined the whole book. After 10 books Lorelei King had the characters down with accents and individuality.

98 people found this helpful

Loved the story!

WHY... a male narrator for Adam's view point? He's so stiff and can't do an accent. I missed Lorelei King's voices for those characters. Adam, Ben, Stephen, ex... Please don't do that with the next book.

96 people found this helpful

Seriously, why?

Would you listen to Silence Fallen again? Why?

Probably, but it is not the same.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I am just echoing what others have stated. Why did they add the male narrator? Lorelei's got this. Her male voices were perfect. The male narrator is okay, I think I would enjoy his reading of something I am unfamiliar with, but....I miss my guys. They sound all wrong now.

Any additional comments?

Mercy is as great as always, but the change up was very distracting.

72 people found this helpful

Male narrator is terrible!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Maybe.. Take this review with a grain of salt. I am a huuuuge fan of this series and of the world Patricia Briggs has built. Lorelei King has been a integral part of bringing this world to life. Unfortunately, she is not the only narrator for the story in this book. The male narrator takes over in chapter 2 with a voice that is stiff and robotic. I want to hear Lorelei King's voice narrating Adam, Darrel and Ben!! Why break something that was working so well?!

69 people found this helpful

Distracted - Unhappy - Disappointed

I am fully in love with this series, and have been since the first chapter of book one. However this book threw a very unexpected and unwelcome twist when someone other than Lorelei was narrating. Not that he is terrible at it, but he does not speak with the same fluidity that she does, or in the same manner. His pauses are off and it's just wrong. We, the listeners, have developed a relationship with these characters and the narrator, Lorelei, to the point where we associate her vocal inflections to mean certain things. Her pauses are deliberate and her speech for each character has already been accepted and engrained in our minds.

At least for hose of us who have listened to every single book that comes before this one. Lorelei is a wonderful narrator and by adding in this guy, to her already wonderful narration is just plain wrong. The way he reads is infuriating, and he pauses in the wrong spots. He reads like he is in high school, a very distracting speech pattern which in turn distracts from the enjoyment of this book. I am very disappointed in the decision to have a second narrator when the first, Lorelei, is utterly perfect for the entirety of the series. Shame on you.

62 people found this helpful

Male narrator is horrible.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

YES...stay with Lorelei King ONLY. It doesn't even tell you there is more than one narrator . This has ruined a series I really love. When you are dealing with audio books...the narrator can make or break it.
I found this a difficult book as it jumps around. I stopped listening to it as I hate the narrator (male)

What aspect of Lorelei King’s performance would you have changed?

Nothing. Lorelei King is perfect. She has read all the other books. Her part in this book was fine. Adding a male narrator ruined it

50 people found this helpful

I LIKED it! Didn't Love it.

I enjoyed this book, but only the bits narrated by Lorelei King. Nothing is wrong with George Newbern, but when you listen to Lorelei King narrating 9 books of this series, it is really really annoying when they bring someone else to narrate half of the book in a different way than to what we are used to. I would like to ask Audible and Patricia Briggs to re do this book and just let Lorelei King do what she does best. Bringing Mercy and her pack to life.

Story was good, but different, I didn't hate it , but didn't love it either. It is a good addition to the series but not my favourite one.

46 people found this helpful

Very unhappy with male narrator

I enjoy this series and I am always impatient for the next book. That hasn't changed; however, I hope that if another book in this series has dual narrators consideration is given to choose a different male narrator. The male narrator's performance had such a negative impact on my enjoyment of this book, it is the focus of this review.

As always Lorelei King narrates wonderfully. Unfortunately, George Newburn's narration made it very hard for me to listen to this book. The voices he chose did not fit... the inflections and tones failed to sync with the characters or, in some instances, even with the story line. At many times, the characters' voices "ran together" and distinguishing one character from another became a chore.

Holter Graham who narrates the Alpha Omega series would have provided a much more satisfying performance... James Marsters or Oliver Wyman might also have provided a better performance than the chosen narrator.

43 people found this helpful