Gripping; but minor audio and performance issues

I found this absolutely gripping. While a little clichéd in places, it made my drive to and from work speed by, and sets the scene for the final book of this trilogy.

Regarding the quality of the audiobook:

The main issue I had with the audio was that it was too quiet. Much of my commute is on the motorway, so I expect to have to turn the volume up a bit. However, for this book, I had to turn it up a lot; and for Ephraim in particular, even with the volume at maximum, there were still times when I couldn't hear everything he said.

Regarding the narrators: Ephraim and Darrow were as solid as ever. I preferred the accent of the previous Lyria, but the new one did a good job, and the voice she used for Victra was just right. Where the previous Lysander sounded like he was bored of the whole thing (and not in a good way), the new one did a good job in combining casual arrogance and a general feeling of superiority and destiny. Virginia I felt was the weakest of the bunch; while she was fine when voicing Virgina herself, she made no changes for other characters, which was occasionally confusing; and she made a number of mispronunciations.

Finally, the producers didn't do a great job of ensuring consistency between all the narrators. It meant that some names and places were pronounced differently by different people; and the same character could end up with a different accent depending on who was voicing them (for example, when Ephraim was quoting Lyria, he used the accent of the narrator from the previous book.)

But despite all that, this was still a good listen.

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1 person found this helpful

Beautiful pain

This book is dark gory and fantastic, the set up of the last book iron gold props the story arcs up.

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Supreme performance by the narrators

Amazing storytelling by some of the best narrators I've listen to ever. They added so much depth to the characters.

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Another chapter of an excellent sci-fi saga

These books are fantastic, the performances immense - my only slight regret is that the voice actors weren't asked to compare notes on the accents used for certain characters that appear in multiple perspectives. This feels like nitpicking though. Genuinely a must-listen.

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Still hungry

I don’t think I have ever devoured a book so quickly. Delicious! Next course please!

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love these books

the next game of thrones , I only wish they would make a series or anime from this but it would have to be perfect . Now the long wait for the next . guess I'll have to go through them all again... again..again.

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fantastic!

best book in the series! non stop action that keeps you on the edge of your seat

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Another Triumph

Since starting Red Rising a couple of months ago I have binged through all books in a row without a break. I am only sad that I have now come to the end of Dark Age as they have all been brilliant. The characters are really nicely layered and multi-dimensional and the universe they inhabit is always fascinating.

The narration particularly from TGR is some of the best out there in the audiobook world, perhaps THE best. The extension of the cast is also really good although a couple of missteps in Book 4 and some inconsistencies in Book 5 with the accents but in general I really like we now have multiple story lines told in first person.

Dark Age begins to expand the world even further and I really liked the new story lines. Can't wait for the next installment and cannot recommend the books enough to those on the fence.

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Fantastic

This is Star Wars meets Game of Thrones. Appreciate this is book 2 of the second trilogy and one you will likely be reading (hearing) regardless, but if you have followed this throughout, this is another great instalment. More harrowing in parts than previous books, and that is saying something. Enjoy.

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Good story, narrator change is a bit jarring.

right the story first of all is excellent, as to be expected with this series. it's a great continuation with a bit of a darker overall theme which was great.

they changed two narrator's, one was an improvement (Lyria) but still missed the mark in my opinion (should have kept Irish accent to fit her character.)

The other (Lysander) was a massive downgrade. His voice sounds too old to be narrating for a 22 year old. Also I feel there should be a bit more unity in the way certain words/names are pronounced (Cass-i-us Vs cash-us, idk what one is picked, it should be the same throughout.)

the other narrator's were all absolutely spot on and really fit their characters well and displayed great range. All narrator's (even the new ones) were able to clearly display when someone new is talking and you know who is talking with the context of the situation. something I don't imagine is easy for them to do.

overall, if you're reading this review you've already listened to the other books, and are going to be buying it anyway. It's an excellent continuation and has set up the next book really well. If you haven't read the others then I suggest you do if you're remotely into sci-fi/fantasy books. This and Stormlight Archive are the two best series on audible in my opinion.

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