Devil cover art

Devil

The Leopards of Normandy, Book 1

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Devil

By: David Churchill
Narrated by: Russell Bentley
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About this listen

 The Devil and his Bastard son ...

Robert of Normandy is handsome, brave and impetuous - and has just seized Normandy's mightiest castle. But his older brother, Richard, the Duke of Normandy, wants it back ... and will take it by force if need be.

Herleva of Falaise is the mere daughter of a tanner but she's more beautiful than any princess and when she and Robert meet, together they will change the course of history.

Their illegitimate son, William, is born into a world of murder and intrigue, where families are torn apart by bitter rivalries, renegade warlords stop at nothing in their lust for power and wealth, and professional assassins are never short of work.

His enemies will mock him as William the Bastard. But we have another name for him: Conqueror.

(P)2015 Headline Digital©2015 David Churchill (P)2015 Headline Digital Historical Fiction Fiction Middle ages Royalty Tudor

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I was excited to hear this as I’m related to Rollo and William the conqueror and hoped to get a picture of them, the pronunciations of some of the places are horrific and some of the language is a bit much, also it’s confusing to keep up with all the different people but it wasn’t bad overall!

Not bad

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I really liked the story and the way it was narrated... however, I do not understand why such historical tale has to be so "sexed up" in such detail nor why the bad language has to be so profuse and relentless! I'm not a prude, but some things are much better left to one's imagination and the cursing is definetely not necessary... Now I'm left in a quandary. I don't know if to buy the next installment in the series or not.

Language

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a good listen. interesting historical background. graphic descriptions. Well read though pronunciation occasionally suspect. good characterisation.

gggggggggg

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David Churchill recreates history (no doubt mixed with fiction) skilfully so that the reader feels drawn into the story and lives the experience of the time. This wonderful historical novel sets the background to a William the B*** (or conqueror) in a way that many readers might be unaware of. Not being a historian I can’t say how accurate the story is, but there are many aspects which I do believe to be historically accurate, including Williams parentage and in general terms the struggles of the various protagonists for power both in England, and Normandy. This is a ripping good yarn, buy it now!

Russell Bentley narrates at a good pace, not slow and not fast. I found his voice pleasant and easy to listen to and liked the voice he gave to each character.

I’m downloading David Churchill’s next book “Duke” right away.

A compulsive read

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The first book I have read by this author and it will not be the last. The narration and story made this a book that describes this period in history with a high degree of accuracy. It brings it alive and is almost maciavellan in its plots and twists

Enjoyable listen

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Where does The Leopards of Normandy: Devil rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This audio book ranks in the middle of all the audio books that I've listened to so far because of the performance. This is largely due to the pronunciation by the narrator of many of the French words, which really wound me up!

What did you like best about this story?

The story itself, which is fascinating. Would have preferred the written word on this one.

What three words best describe Russell Bentley’s performance?

Irritating.

Interesting but racier than I expected

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I think this is a good book and might even be a decent series.
I shall get the second book on kindle to find out because the narration is so bad it is baffling.
Russell Bentley puts inflection in the wrong places and often stops. And starts. In entirely the wrong places. In short his narration has all the hallmarks of someone reading a language that is foreign to him whilst bored witless.
I found it impossible to listen to.

Good book ruined by the narrator

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After a promising start with the prologue I was hopeful of a really good read but I was to be disappointed. The dialogue is rubbish, the characters one dimensional, the storyline plodding & uninteresting. Most of the conversations between characters are often stilted & sound more like a single person talking to themselves. The villain's in general are bullying cretins & even the main protagonists are cardboard cutouts that are completely devoid of human complexity. I could only get halfway through this audiobook before I gave up. I would not recommend it.

Russell Bentleys Narration was fine considering the awful material he was working with. I really can't fault him as no amount of effort could save this.

I'm amazed at how many good reviews this book gets. I've always enjoyed historical fiction in particular the Bernard Cornwell Saxon Stories Series. I won't pretend that these are anything else but good fun but The Leopards of Normandy isn't even in the same league. If this is an example of David Churchill's work I won't be reading anything else he's written. Of course this is only my opinion those who liked it are also entitled to theirs.

Not recommended

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