Midst Toil and Tribulation

Safehold Series, Book 6

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

David Weber's New York Times bestselling Safehold series of military Science Fiction adventure, which began with Off Armageddon Reef, continues with Midst Toil and Tribulation

WAR AND FAMINE

Once the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold. Then, after centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of Mother Church—egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athrawes, who enjoys the Charisian royal family's absolute trust.

What vanishingly few people know is that Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which aliens destroyed Earth...and that since awakening, his task has been to restart the history of the long-hidden human race.

Now, reeling from the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the Republic of Siddermark slides into chaos. The Church has engineered a rebellion, and Siddermark's all-important harvest is at risk. King Cayleb and Queen Sharleyan struggle to stabilize their ally, which will mean sending troops—but, even more importantly, preventing famine. For mass starvation in Safehold's breadbasket is a threat even more ominous than civil war...

©2012 David Weber (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Re-record this novel with a different narrator!

What did you like best about Midst Toil and Tribulation? What did you like least?

Continuation of a good story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Changed the pronuciation of virtually every character & place name from previous series narrators. Narrator reads EVERY LINE with same breathy, exaggerated damatization. Struggled through 3 chapters, unable to listen for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. Will finish READING novel.

Any additional comments?

Won't purchase anything with this narrator.

Love the series, HATE the narration!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. I couldn't stand the narration and wish I had actually listened to the preview before I wasted a credit on this book.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator could have listened, even briefly, to the previous books in the series to learn how places and names were pronounced. A more measured pace to his speaking would have helped greatly, he sounds extremely wound up.

Any additional comments?

Don't waste a credit on this audiobook, just buy it in print or ebook format and read it instead - I think even a text-to-speech app would sound better!

STOP CHANGING NARRATORS!!!

Would you listen to Midst Toil and Tribulation again? Why?

No. Worst of some bad narrators.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Go back to original narrator. And stop changing them!

How could the performance have been better?

Get a new narrator.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I like the series and will suffer through bad narrators - but it grows weary.

Any additional comments?

GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL NARRATOR!

Religious War

I am not sure about this series. I read it and say no more then I find myself wondering what happens next and download the next book in the series. I am hooked on Weber's Honor series but this series can not compare to that one. I hate it when a series keeps changing narrators. My message to the publishers and author is hire one narrator for the whole series. If the narrator can not commit hire a different one. In this series Oliver Wyman narrator the first two books. Jason Culp the next two, then Charles Keating and now Kevin T. Collins. The main plots of the story and its' characters are interesting but Weber seem to go into long description trying to build a world rushing into the industrial revolution and a religious war. Merlin Athawes has a bout of survival guilt and bout of conscious doubt about killing people. Did Weber forget he is a machine? The book ends but what happened to the war in the Republic of Siddermark? Lots of question --is it coming up in the next book, if so, do I want to read it? Guess time will tell, if I again wonder and reach for the next book in the series.

narrator is terrible

the narrator sounds like he is trying to woe a sock popet named Motilda.