The Oddling Prince

By: Nancy Springer

Narrated by: Samuel Roukin

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

In the ancient moors of Scotland, the king of Calidon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. When a mysterious fey stranger appears to save the king, he also carries a secret that could tear the royal family apart.

The kingdom's only hope will lie with two young men raised worlds apart. Aric is the beloved heir to the throne of Calidon; Albaric is clearly of noble origin yet strangely out of place.

The Oddling Prince is a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other is such that it defies impending warfare, sundering seas, fated hatred, and the very course of time itself. In her long-awaited new fantasy novel, Nancy Springer (the Books of Isle series) explores the darkness of the human heart as well as its unceasing capacity for love.

©2018 Nancy Springer (P)2018 Recorded Books

Excellent

There’s definitely a style about this narrative that is high fantasy that is greatest. It’s the type of story you want to have on the shelf and take out in a cold winters evening to warm you by the fire.

This is such a wonderful book

I absolutely loved this book! It was suspenseful, exciting and all and all brilliant. I love Nancy Springer’s books, and this is one of my favorites. The narrator, Samuel Roukin, also did a great job. In conclusion this is a book that you must read!

Loved this fantasy story!

I could listen to these all the time! What a great storyline! It really kept me on my toes, wondering what was next. I love the way the author tied reality with tales, adding adventure & drama. But the narrator really made it come alive. Samuel Roukin did such a great job. This was a wonderful book. Enjoy!

Fantastic all the way around!

Here we have yet more evidence that (at least for me) audiobooks provide an entirely different experience than traditional reading. 


In fairness, it is possible my lesser enjoyment when I read the ebook could be on account of it taking me so much longer to read it, but there's more to it than just my inability to remember the details from the ebook. 


As a matter of contrast, I am including my original review at the bottom of this one. But let me state, unequivocally, that my opinion of this book no longer resembles my original impression. 



Okay, to begin with the narrator (as I typically do). 

I cannot overstate this, I love, love, LOVE what Jack Voraces did with this book! I'm not sure that he quite took the title from the likes of R. C. Bray, Scott Allen, Michael Kramer, and Will Patton, but he's definitely in my top ten favorite narrators of all time. 


The single critique I have for the audio is there is a point toward the end where the text repeats two or three words. 



The story. 

In Stark contrast to my previous experience with this book, I absolutely loved the world and the characters. 


While the world view is somewhat tamer than what I usually read, it is a fascinating world. I love the history and mythology and the way the Eldar, dragons, and elementals all tie into the history of the world. 


There are a few dichotomies between characters that I loved reading and feel so, so real in the reading. 


Soren and Edmund have this fantastic mentor/student relationship that evolves on several different levels over the course of the book, from its beginning as a very grudging respect while Soren tries to do his teenage "what-eva, I do what I want!" thing and gradually grows into something much more natural that could end up being a tragic loss later in the series (I'm just speculating here). 


Similarly (and yet not), we have Luke and Eve. These two lived their young childhoods together and while both feel that loss keenly, each responds to it in their own way that somehow adds something special to each character and builds up the other even more. 


I do feel the magic system is a little simplistic (the fact that a character has a whole language of magic words suddenly inserted into their mind when the magic "awakens" creates some problems for me), and I would have liked to get to see more of Naisa and Brithilca, but I have no other complaints. 


My favorite scenes (of course, me being who I am) are those in the Dragon Isles, where we get an awesome glimpse of the Dragons and their hierarchy. 


While I do find the relative peacefulness of the climax a touch on the unsatisfying side, we still have a wonderful blending of the various plot threads and everything ends up coming together beautifully. 


I'm definitely going to be picking up the audiobooks coming later in this series, as well as other of Meg Cowley's work. 






And now, for anyone interested in seeing my original review from when I read the ebook:



In many ways, this book was a pleasure to read.

The major characters are well developed, the plot is solid, and the setting is intriguing.

That said, there really weren't any *awesome* character moments, there are some clunky sentence constructions, and a handful of typos (a small number, considering the length of the book).

Some of the supporting characters are a bit flat, and I found the general pacifism a bit unrealistic.

However, much like Brandon Sanderson (so obviously it's not a bad thing), Meg Cowley seems to approach her world building from a very optimistic world view, which does reduce the difficulties faced by the characters.

My last point of contention is the way things I would think of as important get glossed over. In some parts of the book, there is much detail devoted to descriptions and events, while in other parts we get only a broad overview.


In closing, if you're a fan of the stories of George RR Martin or CS Friedman but aren't fond of the sex, graphic violence, and grittiness, this is exactly the series for you.

Great story - well done presentation

I enjoyed listening to this tale of human and fey. It was very innovative and original.

Add Odd Tale

First, I’ve heard this reader before, and I feel like his delivery is too slow, but he speeds up occasionally, making listening at an accelerated rate unpleasant. I need to note his name because I would prefer to avoid him. He’s probably good for little listeners, but not for me.

This story was not what I expected at all. I was thinking it would be an adventure story, but it was more of a “this happened and that happened” kind of thing. There was a little adventure thrown in, but, as before, not really my kind of thing. I still can’t quite get over the 14-year-old girl accepting a marriage proposal from a 17 or 18-year-old guy, but what do I know?

I didn’t feel like the world ever came alive or made any kind of sense, but maybe I need a background in Northern English Isle folk tales to appreciate it. Overall, kind of a bummer.

Well done

I came to this author by the way of Enola Holmes. If you enjoyed the Netflix series, the books will delight you in a new and fresh way. I decided to read The Oddling Prince, and Springer reveals her depth as an author. Her voice is so different in this story, and just as compelling. I love the character of both princes, and was very surprised and pleased with the manner in which Springer worked out the plot!