Awful narration continues...

Would you consider the audio edition of Queen of Sorcery to be better than the print version?

The Audio version is not better than the print version but any stretch of the imagination.

How could the performance have been better?

I think when the narrator starts calling a main character a temporary building structure we have to wonder. Polgara becomes Pergola. PERGOLA?!! Dear me. And is Mandorallan Scottish or French? Is Barack Russian or Austrian? Is Durnik French?

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

Yes - often annoyance at the Narrator!

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Monty Python's Belgariad

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The Narrator

What didn’t you like about Cameron Beierle’s performance?

Honestly, I thought he couldn't get any worse than in Book 1, but he manages it. I wish he'd go and listen to audiobooks narrated by people like Stephen Fry and Stephen Briggs, who show how it can be done (Stephen Fry especially brilliantly voicing a huge cast of characters in Harry Potter). They choose voices appropriate for the characters and use them consistently, keeping the narration lively. Or there are other narrators out there who can't do quite as much, but just use enough of a different 'voice' (higher pitch, lower pitch, hard, soft etc) to distinguish the various characters and leave it at that. While that might not add much, it at least does not get in the way.

I don't know why Mr Beierle felt that it was necessary to use a variety of European accents, particularly given that he can't do any of them. Durnik veers from a sort of cockney to West Country to Australian(!) to Eastern European. Mandorallen's accent is straight out of Monty Python, with Lelldorin also coming close to those comic heights, and others are very little better. Belgarath is the only one that is relatively successful.

The worst thing though (aside from his lack of education again showing in mispronunciation of certain words - 'quay' in book one was hilarious) is the lack of consistency. The narrator simply can't decide what pronunciations to use for places and people, so changes all the time, often within the course of a sentence. If a name is written as Ch, half the time he'll pronounce it with a hard 'K'. If it's written with a hard c or k, he'll pronounce it with the guttural "ch" sound. Or mix and match arbitrarily.

Where did they get this guy? I've managed to listen to half way through the 4th volume now, as I wanted to listen to the whole series (which is really one 'book') but have given up. I can't stand it any longer - don't even know how I managed to get this far. By this point, everyone seems to have come from Eastern Europe or a Monty Python skit.

Could you see Queen of Sorcery being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Yes, it would make an excellent film (were it not for the fact that Lord of the Rings, superior in every way, has already been done).

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The strange voice takes getting used to

The book is a 5 star the audio book only a 3 star and that is only because its a good story. I downloaded the first part to see if I could bare the strangness of the very intrestingly voiced narrator. Its not too bad after a while - its like your ears become 'normed' to strange americanised vowel elongations. I think having read this though I will be moving straight to polgara which all the reviews say is much much better and also has an advantage of being a synopsis of the entire series.

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awful voice

the awful narration is really spoiling one of my favourite books. sounds like a robot and can't hold the same accent for each character. durnick particularly and silk sound either Scottish, Swedish or Dick van Dyke school of London accents. shocking bad. don't want to bother with the rest of the books

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book 2

The only irritating thing in this audio book is some of the pronunciation. Quay is pronounced key not c - way.

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Mandatory headline

One of the better read/edited books of this series, but still Mr Beierle needs to learn the purpose of punctuation and its importance when reading aloud.

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Queen Of Sorcery by David Eddings

After the breathtaking events of \"Pawn Of Prophecy\", the reader is dying to know what happens next. Here, Eddings continues to show us his genius, plunging Garion in to a world in to which he is not prepared to go. Full of wit and wisdom, this continuation of the epic adventure sees Garion being kidnapped, comming to terms with the fact that sorcery is in his family, and meeting more people on the quest, about which, he still knows little, but upon which he has embarked ... a must read for all Eddings fans.

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Great book. much improved narration

I enjoyed these books years ago, and I'm revisiting them through audible.

Great fantasy fare. the narration was good, and the narrator is more comfortable with his character voices. There are still a few moments where they get mixed up a little but nothing off putting.

I am now listening to book 3, and again, the character voices consistency have improved greatly. I will post a review once I'm finished book 3.

Still loving it

Still lovin it after all these years of reading and listening, but someone needs to learn accents an voices, and not get them mixed up 🤣

Good but drags in places

Good story enjoyed it. but started feeling like there was too much politics about people I didn't care about. also Garion's hint at power started to become a little repetitive. Performance was excellent. Will listen to the next one though.