Great story again

David Weber does it again kept me enthralled all the way to the end. Looking forward to the next book.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great book if you like the Honour Harrington serie

strongly recommend reading this in chronological order (check on wikipedia where it sits). the performance is good and the story is interesting.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Jay is a great narrator

Anyone who complains about his performance hasn't gone through one of the books narrated by Peter. Exceptional story as always from David Weber I really like this Honorverse.. I think I will keep it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Where has Alyson gone?

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

OK well i love David Weber books and stories so never likely to get less than 5 stars from me. This is no different.
However Having read them all several times before my sight failed i was wary of trying to listen to them. Alyson Johnson's superb voice acting and consistent voicing over several books though converted me. I bought them all.
Then i listened to this one. WHERE IS ALYSON? Jay is a fine reader and good at characterization.. but his voice is too deep to convincingly voice girls The falsetto's grate. Weber's books have far too many girls vital to the plots for such a deep voiced man to voice... and its a problem after hearing Alyson's brilliant convincing different accents for Honor .. Elizabeth...Michelle and then suddenly hear them all sounding like Danny LaRue or Dame Edna
I have other books read by Jay with mainly male characters.. and he is very very good. For Webers books he is a mistake.

Did Jay Snyder do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

see above voice too deep for the females

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

IVARS TERACOFF AND CREW

Absolutely outstanding, multiple story lines , all converging to a ultimate climax, but with story lines that branch off into HONOR HARRINGTON

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Inclined to agree

Great story, but much inclined to agree with the criticisms of the narrator's attempts at female voices - many of them sounded more like children than women.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

why Jay Snyder?

I got 10 min into the story and out of 3 female characters, two of them strong women in positions of power, one of them the legendary Honor Harrington, and all 3 were read as prissy weaklings. it was painful to hear and it's evident Snyder hadn't done any research into what he was reading. That this recording is still available and not reread by a competent narrator is ridiculous.
it is possible for male narrators to do excellent and convincing female voices, see Stephen Fry and RC Bray, so there is no excuse for such lazy narration styles.
I just cannot continue with this book. Hopefully they will have it reread by a professional narrator. I'll rebuy the book then, meanwhile, I'm returning this version.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Grating naration. Gave up by chapter 2.

Unsuitable naration. He just can't do women's voices. love the series but gave up in chapter 2

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Narrator ruined this for me

I found the Honorverse really recently and raced through he main books. Finding the Saganami series I was pleased and immediately started 'listening'. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the excellent voice acting in the main series but I have listened to many books and many narrators/voice actors. I'm not sure whether this narrator is just not up to the job of doing women's voices or if it is a particularly bad match between narrator and the requirements of the book. I am so disappointed I won't be able to listen to the other Saganami series especially the one about Mike. I do wish authors would listen more closely to their narrators when they choose them... honestly its like I'm listening to a dame at a panto.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

Terrible narration, adequate story

Would you try another book written by David Weber or narrated by Jay Snyder?

I love David Weber's Honorverse, having discovered it whilst an expat in the USA back in 1999. I love the series and was trying to read/ listen to them all in sequence. I was a little thrown by The Shadow of Saganami, as I wasn't sure where it fit into the sequence of novels.

What other book might you compare The Shadow of Saganami to, and why?

It's a spin off, that if you're an absolute completest should be listened to between 'War of Honor' and 'At all Costs', but you can safely ignore it. In many ways I would suggest that you do. The story is manageable but the narration is abysmal.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jay Snyder’s performances?

No. He is awful. His basic narrators voice is bearable, but he adopts such a hideous variety of bad comedy accents for every minor character that I though for a while that this was a spoof version. In particular his helium voiced female characters that come straight from Monty Python (where they are never intended to be taken seriously). What was wrong with Alyson Johnson? In a series with a strong female lead, many principle female characters and heavily stressed gender equality she did very well. Why replace her with this dopey caricaturist with gruff corsair male captains and squeaky breathless female caricatures?

Did The Shadow of Saganami inspire you to do anything?

Yes, it inspired me to see what other books Alyson Johnson might have read and to stop buying the extended works of David Weber

Any additional comments?

Please never hire Jay Snyder to narrate any more of my beloved book series.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful