A great story spoiled by the narration

Would you try another book written by Conn Iggulden or narrated by Paul Blake?

I'd love to try all of the books by Iggulden. He writes extremely well and if you are a fan on CS Forester, Bernard Cornwell etc you'll love his style.

Paul Blake, the narrator, absolutely not! He has changed the pronunciation of every name in the book, almost ruining it for me. If it wasn't such a good story (and £19 of my money) I wouldn't have bothered listening.

What other book might you compare EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged) to, and why?

Any of the other series by Conn Iggulden, such as the Genghis series. Or books by Bernard Cornwell, such as the Viking Series of the Sharpe books.

Would you be willing to try another one of Paul Blake’s performances?

NO! If you take over narration half way through a series then at least have the sense to pronounce the characters names in the same way. Thoroughly un-impressed.

Do you think EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged) needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, books 4 and 5 of the series. But narrater by Robert Glenister again please.

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4 people found this helpful

A drop in quality for the series

As many other reviews have mentioned the change of narrator in book 3 really lowered the quality of the audiobook series. Although the narrator did give a good effort, when Servilia becomes Serwilia and Octavian turns into Octawian this truly does sound like a Michael Palin parody. Perhapse this story was not suited to the narrator. I adjusted towards the end of the book however the first few hours were pretty off-putting.

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2 people found this helpful

Great yarn spoiled

Some of the character names like Octavian sre pronounced completely differently from the first two books which really grated

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1 person found this helpful

The new narrator is awful!!!

What made the experience of listening to EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged) the most enjoyable?

The story continues to be great, not as good as the last book but better than the first for me.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

His stupid accents and pronunciations were horrendous!! Characters whole personalities changed from the last book to this. Carberra went from the mysterious healer to a bit of a Del Boy dodgy dealer. And the way he pronounced peoples names was ridiculous. Servillia and Octavian particularly but also many of the Gaulish leaders too. I tried to ignore it and continue to listen to the great story but unfortunately Servillia was a prominent character in this book and by mid point it was grating

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I could only tolerate the narrator in small doses.

Any additional comments?

Great book let down by the narrator

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1 person found this helpful

Poor Narration

The first two books in the series were excellent with great narration. Paul Blake is hard to listen to and has changed much of the pronunciation from the first two books.

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1 person found this helpful

Fantastic listening

I would have rathered stick with the original narrator and pronounciations this was still fantastic.

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Narrator

A good story which I was looking forward to after the first two. Unfortunately I found Paul Blake’s narrative extremely irritating, his pronunciation of names (Sevillia, Octavia to name a couple) very strange and.offputting. Sadly for the first time I skipped chapters and went to the end. I had already read this series so it was very disappointing after the excellent Robert Glenister.

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Oh dear.

Narrator ruins a great story. painfull to get through the ordeal. such a great story but what a dull a forgettable narration. such a pity.

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Change of narrator

The change of narrator was initially annoying but by the end of the book was of no issue.

Historical note included in this one which is of use!

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Quite a let down.

Where is Robert Glenister when you need him. This narrator is far inferior. For me he’s awkward to listen to with no continuity of pronunciation from the previous two books.
I’m on chapter 3 and seriously considering returning this title

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