Mobile Must Fall

A Novel from the deMelilla Chronicles

By: Stephen Estopinal

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The year is 1780 and the American Colonies are in revolt against Britain. Spain entered the conflict as an ally of the rebels in 1779 and seized Baton Rouge from the British, securing the flow of supplies to the western front. Bernardo Gálvez, the Spanish Governor-General of Louisiana has determined to send a reconnaissance force into Florida to prepare for an assault on the British fort at Mobile. Sergeant Diego deMelilla of the Spanish Fixed Regiment of Louisiana has been selected to lead that reconnaissance. Grieving over the recent loss of his beautiful wife, deMelilla is confronted with hardships, British soldiers and a mysterious woman. Through it all, one fact remains – if Spain and the American Revolution are to succeed, Mobile Must Fall. Author Stephen Estopinal grew up in the swamps and bayous of southeast Louisiana, an area heavily settled by Canary Islanders in 1778. Calling upon family oral history and extensive research, Estopinal has woven the experiences of the Canary Islanders, the Isleños, and their struggle for survival into the deMelilla Chronicles.

The robot narrator was terrible

The book is well-enough written (translated from Spanish) and the depth on knowledge and specificity of historical data are nothing short of superb. But the AI narration is really bad. The preponderance of Spanish names and terms requires a human, and one with some culture. The pronunciation of names changes constantly, sometimes within the same sentence. I hope the stockholders are happy with the money the company saved. I will never buy another audiobook that doesn’t have a narrator listed.