Heir of Sea and Fire

Riddle-Master Trilogy, Book 2

By: Patricia A. McKillip

Narrated by: Fiona Walsh

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

By the vow of her father and her own desire, Raederle was pledged to Morgon, Riddle-Master of Hed. But a year had passed since Morgon disappeared on his search for the High One at Erlenstar Mountain, and rumors claimed he was dead.

Raederle set out to learn the truth for herself, though her small gift of magic seemed too slight for the perils she must face. The quest led through strange lands and dangerous adventures. Only her growing powers enabled her at last to reach Erlenstar Mountain. And there she discovered what she could not bear to accept. Accompanied by Deth, the High One's Harper, she fled. And behind them came a pursuer whose name was Morgon, bent on executing a grim destiny upon Raederle and Deth. Her only hope lay in summoning the Hosts of the Dead, led by the King whose skull she bore.

©1977 Patricia A. McKillip (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Listen to the first book

If you are narrating the 2nd book in a trilogy PLEASE LISTEN TO THE FIRST BOOK!! It’s jarring to hear the names of people and places mispronounced!!!

Book 2 is the lady's crusade

Heir of Sea and Fire is Patricia A McKillip's 2nd installment in the Riddle-Master trilogy. Book 2 begins with Morgon's fiancé (Raederle) taking off to Erlenstar Mountain in search of Morgon who has now been missing for a year and presumed dead. She is accompanied by the Morgul's heir and Morgon's sister. They spend most of their adventure being advised to return home, while Raederle gradually beings to understand her heritage is a bit embarrassing as her 'clan' appears to be Morgon's enemy. The shapechangers and the entity with an incredibly long name serves to further confuse the situation. And then the deal with Deth gets more complicated.

McKillip continues the vague interrelationship among the various player in this mythical world. Exactly what the 'riddle-masters' actually do is never fully explained, Wizards are sorta around and war seem always to be imminent or breaking out for no apparent reason. And the High One is nowhere in sight setting up either non-existence or some bigger issue that justifies letting everything else fall apart.

The narration is acceptable, although character distinction could have been better. Pacing is brisk.

Old favorite

Loved this series as a child and still do. McKillip was a wonderful author and I was sad to see she had passed away earlier this year. RIP Pat.

Here's a hint

Here's a hint to the folks who make audiobooks: If you are recording a fantasy series with fictional character and place names, settle on a consistent pronunciation for them over the entire series, and give the narrators a glossary! This narrator has chosen entirely different pronunciations from those in the previous book in this series (narrated by Simon Prebble). She also has difficulty creating distinctive voices for the individual characters, which makes some conversations hard to follow.

That said, the book is excellent, and the full series is excellent. Once you have adjusted to the strange pronunciations, the story is well worth it. I am delighted that this series is available on audio at last!

Magical book, failed performance

I've loved this book, and the whole series, for 30 years. I needed every bit of that love to get through an entire audio recording about MorGOAN prince of HEED. "Heed"? Are you kidding me?! In what language anywhere is "Hed" pronounced with a long E? It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. (And it's not like she pronounces Deth or Hel with long E's, so it's clearly just some weird affectation.)

I'm glad that Audible (or someone) sponsored the creation of this audio series: it's an excellent trilogy and deserves more publicity than it gets. I think it was a nifty idea to have this middle book recorded by a female reader, and I don't even mind if a few of the names are differently pronounced (is the Morgul's daughter LYE-ra or LEER-a?) by the separate readers, though that seems such an easy thing for the series editor to have coached.

But to get the hero's name so befuddled is inexcusable. For the narrator not to remember from one scene to the next whether Raederle has a high girly voice or a lower one is guaranteed to frustrate readers, especially since Walsh has such a meager range of voice types (besides a mild working-class accent) to draw on. Great books deserve better voicing, and better quality control by the editors.

Here's a hint

Here's a hint to the folks who make audiobooks: If you are recording a fantasy series with fictional character and place names, settle on a consistent pronunciation for them over the entire series, and give the narrators a glossary! This narrator has chosen entirely different pronunciations from those in the previous book in this series (narrated by Simon Prebble). She also has difficulty creating distinctive voices for the individual characters, which makes some conversations hard to follow.

That said, the book is excellent, and the full series is excellent. Once you have adjusted to the strange pronunciations, the story is well worth it. I am delighted that this series is available on audio at last!

I'll keep trying

I know this is supposed to be a classic trilogy. And I am aware that middle books are often tedious. And I have read summaries. And I have listened twice. And still I am puzzled by what is going on. Sometimes it takes the third book to give meaning to the second.

different everything

I simply can't believe the reader of this decided to pronounce every name differently. Very unprofessional. It was very difficult to connect with the characters, it was like the characters were total strangers to themselves because they were all using different pronunciations for each other than the first book in the trilogy.

Weaker middle book; occasionally careless reader

Plot:
This book was less satisfying to me than the first one in the series. Some characters I grew attached to in the first book appear but do little here. And at least two important events happen through astronomically-unlikely random chance.

Reader:
Fiona Walsh has a pleasant voice and changes it just enough to distinguish characters without being showy about it. This is exactly how I like books read! She pronounces some key names very differently than Prebble did for the first book, but for all I know Walsh's pronunciations could be the correct ones.

The big problem is that sometimes Walsh just reads a sentence wrong! A simple example: someone was told not to provoke the armed warriors around him. His response: "Tell that to THEM." But Walsh says "Tell THAT to them." There were about a half a dozen of these clunkers! And other times when the prose didn't flow well I strongly suspect Walsh made a subtler mistake somewhere.

Ah well. The world of the riddle-masters is still an interesting one, and I still want to know what happens next.

Heir

I've loved this book and this series a long time. I loved the first and it was so nostalgic to listen to this one too. The only thing is that since the narrator changed and they didn't keep the same pronunciations, it was always jarring to hear 'Hed' pronounced as 'heed.'