(Audio) Book Report

I bought the audiobooks of BoA and BoT.

BoA: Very well-done. Young Atrus, young Catherine, and old Anna all did a great job. This Gehn was a little more fiery-tempered and can't compare with John Keston's portrayal, but he holds his own well. It was abridged, so they didn't keep the line about Atrus seeing the rain in the Cleft/foreshadowing of the Star Fissure, but I was happy they kept my favorite line from Gehn, "So my grandsons can be lords of a million worlds!" It made me pleased that after all this time, I still found myself waiting with anticipation for the audio to reach certain points in the book.

BoT: A disappointment. While BoA was abridged, this one was super-abridged, to the point that the epic feel of the novel (and D'ni itself) was lost. Also, the acting in this one was quite poor. Young Anna sounded weird (she suffered from what I call the Catherine Curse--not being able to maintain a consistent accent), young Aitrus sounded too young, and Veovis was trying waaay too hard to come across as a villain. You can't buy that anyone would be charmed by this mover-and-shaker with his portrayal. The best actor was A'gaeris--he came across as the most natural, and was appropriately vicious and desperate at the end. It's a shame he didn't have more to say!