Post by Steeven on Apr 25, 2023 8:33:03 GMT -6
From Amazon:
Bruenor the dwarf, Wulfgar the barbarian, Regis the halfling, and Drizzt the dark elf fight monsters and magic on their way to Mithril Hall, centuries-old birthplace of Bruenor and his dwarven ancestors.
Faced with racism, Drizzt contemplates returning to the lightless underworld city and murderous lifestyle he abandoned. Wulfgar begins to overcome his tribe's aversion for magic. And Regis runs from a deadly assassin, who, allied with evil wizards, is bent on the companions' destruction. All of Bruenor's dreams, and the survival of his party, hinge upon the actions of one brave young woman.
Faced with racism, Drizzt contemplates returning to the lightless underworld city and murderous lifestyle he abandoned. Wulfgar begins to overcome his tribe's aversion for magic. And Regis runs from a deadly assassin, who, allied with evil wizards, is bent on the companions' destruction. All of Bruenor's dreams, and the survival of his party, hinge upon the actions of one brave young woman.
This was originally published back in 1989, it is the second book of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, and I read it for the first time back then. Well, 1989 or 1990. Somewhere around there.
This time, however, I listened to the audio book, performed by Victor Bevine (more on him in a bit), and despite having read it before, the story was not at all familiar to me. Nothing in this book brought back any memories or feelings of nostalgia or any of that.
In fact, if I didn't know better, I would have thought that I'd never read it before.
Now, I don't recall what I though of the book back then, back when I would have been 17 or 18, but I feel like I enjoyed it because I know I moved on to the third book in the Trilogy, as well as the three prequel books that came after.
This time through was a bit blah for me. But, if I'm being honest, I don't know how much of that has to do with the narrator.
This guy has a fine voice when it comes to reading, but he has very little range when it comes to the voices of any of the characters.
Drizzt was fine. His voice was basically the narrator's voice.
Regis was fine. His voice was basically a high pitched version of his narrator's voice.
Bruenor's voice was, well, I got really sick of it by the end of this book.
And Wulfgar sounded like he was a bit of an idiot.
In fact, most of the male characters that weren't Drizzt or Regis, had this inflection that made them all sound like brainless morons, despite who the character was. Dwarf, human soldier, evil wizard, whatever, they all sounded much the same and they all came off as brainless.
So yeah, I'm not sure what the deal was there, and it was the same in The Crystal Shard, the first book of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, but I either didn't notice it much there, or having gone through it for this second book was just too much.
That being said, the story was fairly basic and yet rather fun at times. Bruenor, Drizzt, Wulfgar, and Regis all set out on a quest to find Bruenor's ancestral home, Mithril Hall, which has been lost to the ages. The Halfling, Regis, has come along to avoid an assassin that is after him for stealing the magical pendent he wears.
The assassin, Artemis Entreri, follows them, and kidnaps Bruenor's adopted human daughter, Catti-brie, and brings her along.
There's also a wizard, Dendybar the Mottled, who thinks that Drizzt might still have the Crystal Shard from the previous book, or that he might know where it is, and so he teams up with the assassin to find the companions.
On their journey the companions face trolls and barbarian tribes and various monsters and such.
Do they find Mithril Hall?
Well, I won't spoil it.
All in all, it was okay. But I can't help wondering if I would have been more into it were it not for the narrator.
Don't get me wrong, the guy was okay, he just seems more suited to reading a more down to earth type of book with few characters.
If you are going to get someone to read a fantasy novel with monsters and elves and dwarves and orcs and such, you need someone with a lot of range.
This guy just wasn't that.
Yet, looking through the reviews on Audible, most folks seemed to like the guy, so maybe it's just me.
Regardless, now I'm faced with going into the third book, The Halfling's Gem, with the same narrator, and I'm not all that pumped to do it.
But, I own it, so I really should get in there and get that one done.
Who knows, maybe I'll like it much more than this one.