The Sword and the Dragon, Revised

The Wardstone Trilogy, Book 1

By: M. R. Mathias

Narrated by: Chris Dorman

When the Royal Wizard of Westland poisons the king so that his puppet prince can take the throne and start a continental war, a young squire is forced to run for his life carrying the powerful sword that his dying monarch burdened him with from the death bed.

Two brothers find a magic ring and start on paths to becoming the most powerful sort of enemies, while an evil young sorceress unwillingly falls in love with one of them when he agrees to help her steal a dragon's egg for her father. Her father just happens to be the Royal Wizard, and despite his daughter's feelings, he would love nothing more than to sacrifice the boy!

All of these characters, along with the Wolf King of Wildermont, the Lion Lord of Westland, and a magical hawk named Talon, are on a collision course toward Willa the Witch Queen's palace in the distant kingdom of Highwander. There the very bedrock is formed of the powerful magical substance called Wardstone.

Who are the heroes? And will they get there before the Royal Wizard and his evil hordes do?

Whatever happens, the journey will be spectacular, and the confrontation will be cataclysmic.

©2010 Michael R. Mathias Jr (P)2012 Michael Robb Mathias Jr

Narration needs work

Would you try another book from M. R. Mathias and/or Chris Dorman?

Maybe

Has The Sword and the Dragon, Revised turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

What didn’t you like about Chris Dorman’s performance?

Here's the deal, his narration for voice characters isn't terrible, just the narration between characters. He sounds almost like a computer narration.

I think this book would be better if you read yourself instead of had to listen to it.

This was a pleasant surprise!

What a pleasant surprise! Not exactly your typical dragon story. Started off a bit slow, but not terrible. And, it wasn't what I expected, but it was surprisingly well done. Good enough to keep my mind engaged to see what would happen next. Narrator was a bit on the nasal side, but it didn't bother me too too much. I felt the plot was very well thought out. I do wonder if another part of this trilogy will be written in my lifetime. Since this was off to a good start, I'd give the second book a listen.

Halfway decent story line; Horrible Performance

Would you try another book from M. R. Mathias and/or Chris Dorman?

The story line has halfway good and at least kept me interested enough to plow through the bad performance. I might actually reading a another book by M. R. Mathias, but I won't listen to another one performed by Chris Dorman.

How could the performance have been better?

The performance could have been better in just about every way possible. Chris Dorman performed in a deadpan monotone that made the book extremely hard to listen to. I almost quit listening and returned the book on several occassions. He extends the last sound of words in an irritating manner. He rarely changes the pace of the reading and puts nearly no emotion in it. I have no plans to ever listen to another book performed by Chris Dorman. He pretty much can ruin a story.

Really REALLY Bad Narration

My biggest complaint is the bad narration in the audible book. He speaks quickly in the middle of the sentence with a sort of flat tome and then draws out and slows down the last words in the sentence. It literally is so distracting that I can't focus on the story.
I can't even remember if there was swearing or sex because all I could hear was the weird way he spoke.

Really poor naration

I think this story might be good but the narration is so bad that I can’t listen to it anymore. Why does he have to raise the tone of his voice and elongate the last syllable of every sentence?

The narration is intolerable.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator elongates the end of nearly every sentence. It is maddening. So much so that I was convinced he was being deliberately outrageous for some reason. No, it continues for more than half of the book. That's how long I managed to last before loading up Audible to write my very first review. I wish I had stopped listening sooner because I'm not sure I can decouple my feelings about the actual story from my aversion to the narration.

couldn't get past ch. 6

The performance for the characters is fine, but describing what happens when its not a character speaking, is awful.

Why can you not give a rating of zero?

What made the experience of listening to The Sword and the Dragon, Revised the most enjoyable?

The book narration was so bad, after 30 minutes of listening, I had to pull my ear buds out or go mad!!! I liken it to having a nail stuck in the tread of a tire as you drive on a hard surface road. I had written a lot more, but on reflection decide to be nice. On the other hand, when you order steak and are brought a hot dog, you may offer an opinion.

How could the performance have been better?

The answer is explained above.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

are you kidding?

I seriously thought about deafening myself.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator. I honestly want a feature so I can flag this narrator so I get a big flashing warning in case I accidentally try and buy a book he narrates.

If you’ve listened to books by M. R. Mathias before, how does this one compare?

I have no experience with M.R. Mathias but the Kindle book had great reviews and from what I heard of the beginning the story and characters sounded interesting but I was literally climbing the wall because of the narrator. I plan on reading the Kindle version directly.

Would you be willing to try another one of Chris Dorman’s performances?

No. Never. It's like he's just reading each sentence without knowing what the sentence means. Every sentence ends with the last word being drawn out and spoken with a strange inflection. EVERY....SINGLE... SENTENCE!

Did The Sword and the Dragon, Revised inspire you to do anything?

?

Any additional comments?

no

Good story, AWFULL narration

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I can't think of anyone that would want to listen for hours to a monotone speaker that drags out the last word of every sentence or phrase.

What did you like best about this story?

I think the story was pretty good. Not sure because my mind kept drifting off.
If I saw this series in a bookstore, I might buy the books.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Monotone. Always dragged out the last word of each statement. Very, Very poor attempt at changing voices for each character.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment