I realize this is harsh criticism and so I feel it should be accompanied by something that might be useful. For me, it is bad enough that I am forgoing a series that I would love to hear. It is too bad, because the narrator has a good voice as a basis for his performance, he just over acts it to such a degree that meaning is lost. For me it amounts to feeling like someone is doing so much blustering that what they are saying gets lost. I do find punctuated pick ups and slow downs to be a useful narration tool, but this isn't that. Two: when it comes to bits that the narrator seems to think are exciting he uses a fast and forceful "mood" to the reading that sacrifices meaning, and he uses it for long lengths. One: the narrator over emphasizes words (based on the word meaning), and sacrifices sentence meaning to do so. The narration problem is on a few levels. So, I have decided to forgo the rest of the series and just listen to the ones narrated by Simon Vance. I've started and stopped listening to The Wishsong of Shannara 3-4 times but I just can't get past the 12 hours mark. I had this problem with The Sword of Shannara too (also narrated by Scott Brick), but I was able to push through it. The narration is so overly dramatized that it makes the story line hard to follow. Treat yourself and make sure you get the "unabridged" edition so you don't miss a beat. For those who venture into the Shannara realm you will be rewarded with some of the best storytelling of our time. As for the narration, Scott Brick is the MAN! Anyone who thinks otherwise has obviously never heard Charles Keating butcher these novels. I also found the pace to be much quicker in this book then the other two and much less predictable to figure out who was going to die and what was going to happen. Terry Brooks is an excellent writer and storyteller and the world he creates is dark yet full of hope. There is going to be a good and evil character in it. If someone writes a book that has a shark kill someone does that mean its a JAWS ripoff? Of course not. Contrary to an earlier reviewers comments, this is NOT a LOTR knockoff. The Wishsong is clearly the darkest of the trilogy and the best written. I read this trilogy many years ago and was thankful that there was an unabridged version on audible that allowed me to revisit the Shannara stories.
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