Queen of Swords

By: Judith Tarr

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

The life and times of Melisende, the crusader queen of Jerusalem, regent to her young son, the king, during the 12th century, come to life through the eyes of Lady Richildis, a young Frankish woman on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, who becomes one of Melisende's confidantes.

©1997 Judith Tarr (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Amazing story . Pronunciation counts.

What did you love best about Queen of Swords?

The story. The characters.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Queen of Swords?

Bertrand's realization. (No spoiler)

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Quay is pronounced "key". Plait is prounounced "plat". Richildis is pronounced "rich SHIL dis".Bertrand is pronounced..... sigh, it's rather painful to listen to.

If you could take any character from Queen of Swords out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Michael _ a true gentleman.

Any additional comments?

New narrator? This one is good but not for this book.

Did not gel with the narrator

Although I managed to finish the audiobook (because I typically enjoy Judith Tarr’s stories), the narrator’s odd choice of accent made it somewhat of an effort of stubborn perseverance rather than true enjoyment on my part. I rapidly came to regret that the English language contains so many words that end in “d”. Or “s”. Or “-age”. Like any tiny but frequent irritation, the accent quickly assumed exaggerated significance, especially with the narrator’s mispronunciation of “Richildis” and other words. I checked samples of some other audiobooks she has narrated, and discovered that her normal speaking style does not include the “d” and “s” and “-age” pronunciations I found so annoying. I remain baffled by her choice of this accent. I will use caution in the future and listen to the sample recordings prior to purchasing an audiobook.