The Barrows

The Gryphonpike Chronicles Omnibus

By: Annie Bellet

Narrated by: Christine Padovan

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The mute elven archer known only as Killer; Azyrin, a half Winter-orc shaman and his human swordswoman bride, Makha; Drake, the charming, swashbuckling rogue; The fireball-slinging pixie-goblin, Rahiel, and her mini-unicorn, Bill.

These are the Gryphonpike Companions.

This omnibus collects the first four novellas in the Gryphonpike Chronicles: "Witch Hunt:" Arriving in Strongwater Barrow, the Companions find the town riddled with plague and death. Ending the curse and saving the survivors means going into the swamps where monsters lurk and witches wait. Sounds like exactly their kind of day.

"Twice Drowned Dragon:" On route to the town of Coldragon, the Companions find a peaceful monastery threatened by necromantic evil and get a chance to answer an important question: How many times can you kill a dragon?

"A Stone's Throw:" A magical scabbard and a hundred year old story send the companions down into the caverns beneath the Barrowlands. Surviving the caverns and finding the legendary rapier will test Killer's friendship with the roguish Drake. Far more than half-truths and forgotten stories lurk in the dark beneath their feet.

"Dead of Knight:" As the Companions travel across the Barrows to join up with the High Road again, a terrible and unnatural earthquake unleashes an ancient evil on the quiet town of Fallbarrow. An undead army gathers and hellspawn await to destroy Killer and all she now holds dear. Can the cleverness, magics, battle-fury, and determination of the Gryphonpike Companions hope to stand against the Saliidruin and the powerful Death Knight leading them?

©2011 AnneMarie Buhl (P)2013 AnneMarie Buhl

YA story - Very light fluff

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator

What didn’t you like about Christine Padovan’s performance?

Mispronunciations, tone, lack of excitement in her voice...

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

might

Any additional comments?

Narrator REALLY ruined this book. She's probably better suited to reading non-fiction or self-help books.

Fun stories - could be longer

These are fun shorts by Annie Bellet. The use of words for old world weapons was cool. I found only one or two mishaps by the narrator. Otherwise, fun character voices and storyline.

It would be great if the author lengthened the stories a bit, though it doesn't look like the author has any recent additions to this series beyond these 4 stories. Bummer.

A Real Wonderful 1-3 book Story!

First Narrator was very good and each character was easily recognized by their voice! This was a very well written Audible books and I personally will continue the story to see what mischief the Adventures get into next!

Good story bad naration.

the story is amazing. The narrator was robotic, it was rough. I hope there are different narrators in the future chronicals.

Story captivating, narrator not my cup of tea

The story was captivating and exceptionally well done. Truly the only reason I finished. The narrator... well I most definitely could not do better but the cadence of her voice was uncomfortable too me and almost depressing. It would start at a mid to high note and about 90% of every pause, every end of sentence, every stop, all need on a low note. To me it gave no depth to the joy the character felt or spice to their back and forth sarcasm and knit picking. One could almost call it melodramatic but the drama was depressed. I would highly recommend this story and if the narrator in this reading is pleasing to you give it a shot. I’ve listened to some of her other readings and they were similar but many were done with more emotion. Will probably read the rest of the series

Disappointed

I bought these books in Kindle first and I really enjoyed the lighthearted adventurers.

With that said...the narrator absolutely ruined these stories. Her tone and pausing at wrong times killed the story for me. Seems she was trying to hard to sound fantastical. The result was truly saddening.

I will recommend these books to anyone interested in the Kindle version, but warn them away from this horrible audio version.

It has potential but needs more

Would you try another book from Annie Bellet and/or Christine Padovan?

I felt the story and plot were good, so I would be interested in more by Annie Bellet. On the other hand, the reader was a total turn off for me and totally aggravating.

Would you be willing to try another one of Christine Padovan’s performances?

I felt that her mispronunciation, and off pauses - sometime even sing-song tone took away from the book itself.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I really did like the characters and the action.