Great story, not so great male narrator

I loved the character progression and plot development in this book after A Kiss of Iron. It was great to see Kat really come to know, accept and embrace who she is - and to see Bastian start down that path for himself too.

As in A Kiss of Iron, the female narrator was fantastic. However, the male narrator really took me out of the story. The fact that almost every sentence/phrase ended on an upward inflection was really distracting. It actually made me think his voice could be AI generated.

In this book and in A Kiss of Iron, the female narrator’s range, tone, pacing, breath control and consistency all enhanced my understanding of Bastian’s character. Her delivery matched the words and character on the page.

On the other hand, the male narrator’s delivery (flat and at times whiny) seemed completely at odds with Bastian’s character.

Personally, I’d love to see the female narrator deliver all the lines again for the next book.

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Loved the series

Both book one and two have been great, male narrator doesn’t quite live up to the gruffness I’d like but he reads well. The story is fantastic and I can’t wait to hear book 3.

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Male narrator ruins it for me

The male narrator is terrible. He seems to be gasping for breath in every sentence, always ending the sentence in a question sound. Like a high note. He makes Bastian sound like a whiny, annoying little man with no confidence. It's honestly grating to listen to. I downloaded the epub so I could skip the chapters of Bastian and read them myself.

It really is a pity because the female narrator is one of the best I've ever heard. Her intonation, and emotion in the text she reads is just amazing. Honestly she saved the story for me. But just.

I had read other reviewers discontent with the male narrator and didn't think it could be that bad. But I swear, it's that bad. It's like he's almost an ai voice? Very monotone, but ending the sentences in an upward sound. It's awful.

Story is awesome though. I really hope the author will let the female narrator do the Bastian chapters as well. I'd probably listen to it again then ♥️

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Put off by the male narrator

Absolutely loved this story, I was totally engaged throughout. This was a great follow up to a kiss of iron. Totally fell in love with the new characters, and had really good character development for those we're already familiar with.
The only downside unfortunately is the male narrator. I really wish they'd got someone who sounded remotely similar to the voice out on by the female narrator since she did a great job in the first book and with all her sections in this. His cadence and inflections were quite distracting 😟

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Great but…

I have mixed feelings about this series. Beautifully written and interesting story but it dragged on at times. Narration is great but some of the female narrator’s pronunciation was jarring and I am British so it did stick out when she mangled the vowels.

I probably will read the third book but I’m not counting down the minutes to its release. Not sure I recommend it exactly but it wasn’t the worst books I’ve ever purchased.

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A Touch of Poison

I enjoyed the first book, this one not so much but only due to the male narrator. His emphasis on some words was jarring and took me away from the story. Enough to put me off buying the last book if the narrator has not changed

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Amazing story shame about male narrator

Really love this story, I'm a big fan of ACOTAR and FBAA and this really gave me those vibes. Loved the first book, even more so because the female narrator is so good. However, this second audio book was slightly let down by the male narrator. His voice and the way the book was read made Bastian sounds so uncertain, inexperienced and not at all like the Night Queen's shadow. He even sounded a bit whiny at times and it is so drastically different to when the female narrator reads as him. I ended up having to download the ebook and listen to Kat's chapter on audible but then read Bastian's chapters :(

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Good story

It took me a while to get used to the male narrator, but otherwise narration was ok.
I have enjoyed listening to Kat get her stuff together and building her relationship with Bastian. I was disappointed with the ending especially as the next book isn't on audible and I am going to have read it!
I did enjoy the book and hope we get a happy ending in the next one!

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Brilliant book, poor narration

This book was an excellent follow up to Kiss of Iron but the male narration was so poor that it just ruined this listen and I’m annoyed I paid for it. I ended up buying the kindle edition of the book and I would listen to the female chapters and then switch to kindle for the male chapters, as it was the only way I could get through it.

I won’t buy the third book if it’s the same narrator, I’ll have to read on kindle instead. I should add, the female narrator was excellent and did all the characters brilliantly.

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Terrible male narrator

The story wasn’t as gripping as the first but I was so put off by the male narrator, it ruined the book for me. They should have just had the female narrator do both parts. Won’t be reading the third book if there is one.

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1 person found this helpful