EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged) (Unabridged)
-
-
3.2 • 22 Ratings
-
-
- £13.99
-
- £13.99
Publisher Description
Julius Caesar has taken his legions north into mighty battles with the Gallic tribes. But as his successes mount, overwhelming ambition and new alliances begin to threaten his friendship with Marcus Brutus, brother-in-arms and fellow warrior. Although the conquest of Gaul has made Caesar a hero all over again, his victories on the battlefield cause still more rivalries at home. And ultimately Caesar and Brutus will have to choose whether to cross the Rubicon - together or singly - and to take the fight to Rome itself.
Customer Reviews
Brilliant book, terrible narration
This is such an amazing series, but such a shame they chose Paul Blake to narrate it. Nothing personal to Blake, but he reads it like a children's book!
His voice is like the Mad Hatter reading Alice in Wonderland, both camp and patronising.
The different pronunciations drove me round the bend.
I gave it two stars because the story is so good that I just had to grit my teeth and try to ignore the voice as much as possible.
Emperor: The Field of Swords
Conn Iggulden writes a decent enough historical novel and his other audiobooks are narrated well. Why then, did the the publishers decide to use Paul Blake, the Hyacinth Bucket of audiobook narration, to vocalise this fine work of faction? In my view, Blake mis-characterises Caeser (and all the other main characters in the book), depriving him (and them) of any of the gravitas or soldierly bearing they would have had in reality. Blake also irritatingly mispronounces / drawls certain terms; for instance, a Gladius (sword) is pronounced 'glardeeoos' and in doing so, he affects a plummy, haughty and foppish tone that even for my developed middle class sensibilities is hugley grating.
In turn, Blake (who clearly has not listened to the recordings of the earlier books) pronounces the names of the other central characters differently from Glenister, the previous narrator. Not only does this make the series flow badly but it changes the impressive and appropriate tone of Glenister's narration.
Alas, the book suffers from Blakes involvement turning it from historical barnstormer to little more than some one dimensional romp through history read by what sounds like a rather arrogant public schoolboy. I write this being a well spoken, ex-public schoolboy myself so how will anyone else not be irritated by it? A very sad choice for narration, compromising this fine novel.
The books class, why change narrator.
Like others have said, they changed narrator for this book. 1st two in the series I really enjoyed but this wasn’t for me. Best skip this and just read the book if you can.