Ascendancy of the Last

Forgotten Realms: The Lady Penitent, Book 3

By: Lisa Smedman

Narrated by: Dara Rosenberg

Is it the end for the Lady Penitent? Is it the end for Lolth?

Lolth has come out of hibernation with a plan that may seem too ambitious even for her, and to pull it off she'll need the help of a drow who's betrayed her at least once already--a drow she's transformed into the demonic Lady Penitent. The shocking conclusion to a trilogy that will change the Forgotten Realms world forever.

©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

So much potential....

This is literally my favorite story in the Forgotten Realms series, as Eilistraee's faith has always been so unique, and I had high hopes going into the series. I listened to each book of the Lady Penitent, always eager to move forward to the next book to relive the adventure, but wincing with each uttered word of the series' namesake: Hallistra Malarn, the 'Lady Penitent'. While Dara Rosenburg stumbles her way through the Realms, the most tragic part (other than some spoilers that truly rend the heart) is that she is unable to properly pronounce the word 'penitent'. Every time this character is mentioned, which is a lot, Dara Rosenburg pronounces the name as 'the Lady Pen-t-itent'. Pentitent is not a word. Penitent is. I had to get the physical copies of my books out just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

I urge anyone considering this story, or any of Lisa Smedman's other stories, please treat yourself to these amazing adventures in the Realms!! Lose yourself in the tragedy and heroics that dance through these pages! But please, but the physical copy! Turn those pages to find out what happens to Cavatina, Hallistra, Qulue, and all of Eilistraee's followers. And then, once you've experienced the journey, download the audiobook. As a grad student and full time worker, my time is limited (especially any time I consider reading for pleasure), so Audible is a fantastic way to indulge my need to escape to the Realms; however this narrator can never give this story justice, leaving it as a shoddy way of reliving the tales I love.

What a bad narrator.

The story was jarring in the end, and quite senseless. The narrator leaves much to be desired - I’m surprised that she’s able to pronounce anything after this book.

Narrator meh, Story :)

Narrator mispronounced a lot of words and gave a poor performance in general. great story though. worth it

More poor narration

More strange pronunciation and jarring edits. I enjoyed the story, but the narration was poor as was the editing and direction

Narrator sucks

I’m surprised that Dara Rosenberg can pronounce her own name correctly. Better off reading the book myself.

good story bad narration

good story bad narrator, bad pronunciation, poor enunciation and hesitant reading. unfortunate since the story is well thought out and well written.

I liked the story but..

Good heavens the narrator! She keeps mispronouncing words and using odd inflections and uneven cadence. For instance, the series is called “the lady penitent” every single instance she says lady PEN-tinent . It drove me nuts.

narration

Good story narrator not as bad as some say but still makes it hard to get through

The incessant mispronunciation….

This series is a clear example of the sunk cost fallacy. Listening to the narrator was frequently maddening as she has such a poor, grasp on the English language, The story itself was average. Like many dungeons and dragons based stories, it dwelt too much on combat scenarios. 20 minutes of combat description becomes tedious. However, some of us must know how the story ends. This narrator needs to find a new line of work.