A SLOW BURN

Any additional comments?

As with many of Andrew Taylor's books, the story unwinds fairly slowly at first, then gathers momentum. This plot starts with the French revolution, but moves quickly to Great Britain and turns into a great 18th C thriller.
The reader was pathetic. His contintinual mispronounciations were extremely irritating (gabble for gable!). Doesn't anyone carry out a quality check before publication? It lets down the author, and undermines the quality of the writing.

5 people found this helpful

Super story, poor narrator

What did you like most about The Silent Boy?

The tale is atmospheric and rattles along

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Silent Boy?

The discovery of the corpse in the boathouse.

How could the performance have been better?

Too many mispronunciations:
gable pronounced gabble, gavel pronounced gavelle, primly pronounced prime-ly all occur within one hour!
Failure to read ahead leads frequently to dmeaning being misrepresented.

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

no

Any additional comments?

Look out for more written by Andrew Taylor, but only if there is a different narrator.

4 people found this helpful

Disappointed

I really wanted to like this book, as I'd enjoyed Ashes of London. But the story was dead boring half the time, with very little to keep my interest. I only stuck it out to the end through sheer stubbornness and a vague hope it would improve.
I guessed the main villain early on, which I normally never do.
And as for the narrator- sorry but he was not up to the job. Very thin unexceptional voice, with no talent for accents. All the people sounded similar or ridiculous.

1 person found this helpful

Great Narration.

Great twists and turns. I found it a very good listen and would recommend it to anyone.

1 person found this helpful

The Silent Boy- excellent but not perfect

This is a fantastic Andrew Taylor story that drags you in and keeps you imprisoned until the last, final shocking twists.
The narration is better than some I've heard but I was annoyed at the repeated mis-pronunciation of "gable" as "gabble", "purlin" as "purelin" and "gavel" as "gavelle", to name but a few. Not enough effort was made to use different voices for different characters and the character with the most distinct voice, Rampton, mysteriously lost it towards the end of the book. I've heard other Audible books where the editing has been a bit slap-dash so I don't blame the narrators. I hope others will be able to look past these faults and see the story unravel in all its Eighteenth Century glory.

1 person found this helpful

Narrator spoils enjoyment

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator spoils my enjoyment of this novel. His mispronunciations show his lack of knowledge of the english language; he fails to read ahead, so certain sentences lack sense, the stresses being in the wrong places; and there is no, or little, differentiation in the various voices, so it's hard to tell who is talking. His voice is hard, and lacks timbre and tone.

1 person found this helpful

Disappointing narration

The mispronunciation of some relatively common words was irritating,eg gable pronounced as gabble. I’m surprised that there isn’t a proof listening.

Another great story from Andre Taylor

The whole thing was let down by a poor reading.
The narrator tended to use a normal voice with intervals of whispering which were inaudible unless the volume was uncomfortably high, irritating. Also the narration contained regular mispronunciations, shame.

as good as Dickens.

excellent. both the story and the narration. I have never heard of this author before but I am pleasantly surprised at his ability to bring history alive as he does. The descriptions of old London are as good as dickens. It is also a good mystery with horrible villains and the an incite into the way a little boy would look at a world full of pain and sadness. I will "read" more by this author.

Delightful A must to hear

This is a delightful book a modern classic of Dickens Tale of Two Cities Great characters the central figures a delight Charles's story told as if in his mind a great idea, Savill a plausible hero. A brilliant twist at the end. Well done to the author Mr Taylor..I highly recommend you lend your ears to hear this tale. Let us not forget the narrator Leon Williams for his brilliant performance