Fantastic Narration, Beautiful Story

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

Resoundingly, yes. This is a story that is better to listen to than to read (and I typically don't even enjoy audiobooks). While recovering from a concussion, I downloaded a few of my favorite books (under doctor's orders not to read). I couldn't get into others, but this narration was fantastic and I found myself totally captivated for most of the story.

At the same time, there are just a few parts that drag. Hang on through them, because the story is worth it!

What about Rosalyn Landor’s performance did you like?

I loved this narrator. She's fantastic -- I was sometimes amazed at her ability to do different voices and had to check to see whether she was the sole narrator. She was the voice of Liadan.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Oh, quite a few, but I don't want to spoil it.

7 people found this helpful

Great book!

Where does Son of the Shadows rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best! Absolutely great to listen to.

Any additional comments?

Rosalyn Landor did an amazing job. She told the story beautifully, I could hardly stop listening.

5 people found this helpful

Another great installment in series

About 15 years have passed since the end of Daughter of the Forest Sorcha and Red have 3 children twins Sean & Liadan, and Niamh, Sean is being groomed to take over Sevenwaters, Liadan is a healer much like her mother and Niamh seems to be the spoiled pretty girl who will marry to further the families allies, but she has other ideas when a druid named Ciaran comes to Sevenwaters he and Niamh start a secret affair, but this will not go well and if you paid attention to ending of Daughter of the Forest you will know why this relationship cannot go on. When the family finds out about this she is sent off to marry a chieftain who may not be as good a man as the family thinks he is!

Liadan is kidnapped by the mysterious and dangerous Painted Man to heal one of his brethren as she spends more time with this band of men she sees a different side of this man than she previously thought, since he won’t tell her his name she decides to call him Bran and she falls in love with him they have one night of passion and then he finds out who her father is and sends her home. As you can guess the night of passion has resulted in a child. So now you have the gist of what this installment is about.

There were times I really like Liadan I liked her strength at becoming a single mother when that kind of thing was not done however I questioned her thinking when she took her baby into enemy territory to rescue Bran and his man Gull, I mean really who would do that when you have a whole house full of family and servants, so why in the world would you strap your baby on your back for a dangerous rescue mission.


There are parts of this book that are very sad for lovers of the first Sevenwaters book Daughter of the Forest , including the reveals comes of just who Bran actually is and why he has such a grudge against Liadan’s father Hugh of Harrowfield, I thought this one did a great job of bringing us up to date on the characters from the first book but also moving on from them to the next generation.


Rosalyn Landor narrated this one and if you follow my reviews you know she is a favorite of mine and this was no exception. As always, she does a great job with nice accents and variations between characters.

This was a re-read I read this book years ago and re-read on audio and maybe didn’t like Liadan as much as I remembered.

4 Stars

10 people found this helpful

Rosalyn Landor's male characters...

ugh... I couldn't stand her male characters deep intonations and gutteral noises. I really prefer Terry Donelley's voice. But Landor does a good job when she's not portraying a male character. However her speech is much slower than Donnelley's....

Overall, there were some instances where i was rolling my eyes. The fact that both girls committed the same error and were treated so sorely differently was just plain frustrating. The rest of this story wasn't quite as intense as the first book, but since we have come to know the Sevenwaters family, the story is still loveable. I can't wait to listen to the next in the series. If I read this series, I feel I might become bored. so I'm sticking with the audiobooks!

3 people found this helpful

I dislike this narrator compared to the first book

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The story is no doubt a great one, but after listening the first book and loving the narration of it, this narrator is not as good.

Would you ever listen to anything by Juliet Marillier again?

I most definitely will!

How could the performance have been better?

Better narrator. She wasn't very good at making the voices of each character different.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Suspense

3 people found this helpful

Mediocre

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

Well, I always listen to audiobooks when I'm doing something else, so it was good enough for that. I wouldn't suggest this book for devoting all your time to.

Would you be willing to try another book from Juliet Marillier? Why or why not?

I would because I like the first book a lot. This book was much more mediocre, so it makes me less enthusiastic.

What does Rosalyn Landor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her accent makes it feel more authentic, like you are hearing this book around a camp fire.

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

No. Just, no.

Any additional comments?

This book starts out well enough and I enjoyed it. Yet the longer it dragged on, the more boring it became. I feel like this book is longer than the story can truly sustain.

6 people found this helpful

Top 10

This book is one of my favorites ever. I love the whole series, and have read them countless times, but this one is by far my favorite. It's quite different hearing it narrated. I do enjoy experiencing them this way because it feels more authentic!

2 people found this helpful

Son of Shadows

Great read all based on a snippet of fairy stories. Really clever. At first I did not like this narrator but she grew on me! Well done!

2 people found this helpful

Unable to listen to narrator

I just finished The Daughter of the Forest and looked forward to continuing the wonderful story, however I’ve only listened to the first 35 minutes of this story and I’m unable to tolerate the narrator voice any longer.

1 person found this helpful

narrator needs help

it drives me crazy when the narrator keeps mispronouncing the gaelic names and words, but otherwise lovey.

1 person found this helpful