I hate when you change narrator. mid series

Why change narrator on the last book in a series? I have a hard time telling characters apart.

15 people found this helpful

New voice lacks proper rage and grit

New narrator, He's ok, not as good as James for Nate, Simon makes Nate sound like a college age capable guy. James makes him sound like an tough middle aged utter badass that no one wants to fuck with. Simon just doesn't give Nate the grit/gravitas that the character needs. Simon is decent for Nate, and totally inadequate for HELLEQUIN you REALLY notice the difference in the scenes where Nate gets angry and starts talking about it and how he's going to kick Ass. James gives his voice real growl/rage to the words in those situations :-D

Other than that, the book was awesome, plenty of New fun stuff and I think I like it more than the previous book.

13 people found this helpful

Narrator change killed it for me

Would you try another book from Steve McHugh and/or Simon Mattacks?

From Steve? Sure. Another book from Steve narrated by Simon? No. I will not be making that mistake again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Promise of Wrath?

None. I couldn't stand the change in narrators, so this was a wasted purchase.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Simon Mattacks?

James Langton. The original narrator. He did the most amazing, diverse voices. Every character was uniquely voiced and instantly recognizable.

What character would you cut from Promise of Wrath?

The narrator.

Any additional comments?

This series I have only listened to the audio books, haven't read them.
The change in narrators killed it for me. I forced myself to listen to 2 hours of it to see if it got better, but it never did.

Now, I'm sure Simon is a fine narrator in his own right. He is just not the right narrator for this series.

My ratings are solely for the narration. I had to give the story a rating too, so I gave it the average rating I would have given any of the previous books in the series as I am confident that Steve did his usual excellent job at writing another awesome chapter in Nates life.
I just doubt I'll ever get to experience it.
When the next book comes out, if it's narrated by James Langton, I'll find the time to read this one, so I can get caught up listening to the next one. If it's narrated by anyone but James Langton, then Lies Ripped Open will be the last book in the series for me.

12 people found this helpful

James! What happened to you?

The story was awesome but the other realm beginning combined with the obviously not James Langton reader did a number on my mind. I put the book down for a few days to get over it. Then gritted my teeth a few chapters in.
But by the end I can accept this new guys talents, he tried hard to keep accented elements the same and I appreciate that. There were annoying quirks though that again had me gritting my teeth.
1. Occasionally a character would say something in a feminine voice, only to hear it was Nathan talking... and he would be a little whiny at times.
2. Casey was called Chloe
3. Diana was all of a sudden Diane

There were some other name mix-ups that I can't recall and the pronunciation of Nathan's Airibus was different from James, so the Are EE bus pronunciation was irksome. All that aside it was an enjoyable book.

8 people found this helpful

I hate when there's a narrator change like this!

First of all, I want to address the narrator change. Simon did an ok job on the book, so don't let my next statement lose sight of that. That being said, he's NO WHERE as good as James (the previous narrator). Simon's voice just lacks the grit that James has for Nate. Complicating that, for me anyway, the audio quality isn't as good as the first 5 books. Other than that, and it took me half the book to get used to the narrator change, it was still a great Hellequin book. The story has all the elements fans of this series have loved. The action, magic, and dynamic characters are all still there. They're just not portrayed quite as good as they once were. Sadly, I noticed book 7 is about to come out and it will have the same narrator. If not for wanting to see what happens in the next book, I'm positively on the fence on if I will continue this series without James Langton narrating it.

7 people found this helpful

Narrator change...

I generally hate narrator changes. This change wasn't as bad as others, but it still wasn't a good thing. Often the narrator made Nate sound like one of the female characters. It was I'd having a high pitch question be followed by Nate asked. Otherwise the narrator was good.

Otherwise I liked the book. I'm not where I'd place the book in comparison to the rest of the series, mainly because the narrator took some of the joy out of it. These books are always full of plot holes and yet are fun enough that we joyfully go along with it. This one is no exception. Fun, action packed, with enough emotion and wit to keep ones mind away from the flaws. I'm good with it. They don't pretend to be anything else. And, the originality is great.
Can't wait for the next book, though I hope we get the original narrator back.

6 people found this helpful

The good idea fairy strikes again!!

Why would you change narrators on the sixth book of a series!?!? Makes no sense and it’s quite honestly rude to your listeners. Could barely make it through this one because of it.

5 people found this helpful

Why Switch the Voice of Nathan Garret?

Any additional comments?

I had a hard time getting into this one. I was going back through the series and was enjoying it tremendously. Then I got to this one. So I can get over the disconnect of voices but there were times when I could tell if it was Nathan or a woman character talking. I had no problem at all with James Langton being the narrator/actor. In fact, listening to the earlier books, I was thinking how the cadence and accents were extremely well done. Then I had a hard time following in this book. Honestly, I even fell asleep during part of it and had no desire to try and slog through the sectionI missed. Normally, you couldn't stop me from doing so.

I hate to say won't buy the next one as I love the character but I feel like I missed this book entirely. I really don't think I'd miss the next one of the same voice actor is tasked. In fact, I would love to hear a new release of this done by the former voice actor, Langton.

Since I don't feel like I got a good take on the book, I have to down vote the whole book. Of your a fan like I am, this book may be as jarring to hear to you as it was too me, or maybe not, but I suggest you at least listen to the preview to decide if this is the new voice of Nathan Garrett you can enjoy. I didn't even realize it was a different person until I started listening, I also didn't read reviews as I thought knew what I was getting. Hopefully you aren't making the same mistake did.

5 people found this helpful

I hate narrator changes,

While not the worst narrator, he did a piss poor job replacing the person who has performed the rest of the books and really hope this change isn't permanent

5 people found this helpful

Wrong Voice Actor

Narrator makes Nathan Garret sound like a sniveling sissy boy. This is supposed to be the Hellequin. Make him sound the part.

4 people found this helpful