Shadow Raiders

Dragon Brigade, Book 1

By: Margaret Weis, Robert Krammes

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

The known world floats upon the Breath of God, a thick gas similar to Earth's oceans, with land masses accessible by airship. The largest of these land masses are ruled by the rival empires of Freya and Rosia. Magic is intrinsic to the functioning of these societies and is even incorporated into their technological devices. But now a crucial scientific discovery has occurred that could destroy the balance of power - and change the empires forever.

©2011 Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes (P)2011 Tantor

Starts Very Slow, gets interesting, left hanging

For me this started out painfully slow with far to many detailed decriptions. For the first 8 hours segment I was almost ready to leave it. The story line started to pick up, come together and become more interesting to me around the 13th hour. Then just as it starts to feel like a real story and you finally start to care about the characters... boom it is over and you are left hanging with many questions. Obviously meant to get you to move on to the next book. If a cliff hanger is what you are looking for then this would be it and be prepared to have to wait for the next book to answer those question.
The narrator does a good job with the story and the many characters, but in the slower parts of the book he does sometimes tend to drone (him or the book?). However, when the story heightens so does the narrator.

Very Good Read

I cannot wait for the next book to come out. In the audio book genre, the books are successful in large part to the voice they use to tell the story. Kirby Heyborne was the perfect choice for the book. I hope Kirby stays through the rest of the series.

Great beginning to an exciting adventure

Story and performance were very good. Easy to listen to and enjoy. Looking forward to the next book.

WHY are fantasy writers obsessed with the past?

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book description talks about technology but don't be fooled. Unless you think candles and muskets are technology.

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

Get it out of the past.

What three words best describe Kirby Heyborne’s voice?

Reader was great.

Could you see Shadow Raiders being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Couldn't make me go to a period movie.

Any additional comments?

Please fix the description.

Narrator sounds so bored it put me to sleep.

I love Margaret Weis - I have never found a book written by her (regardless of co-writer) that I didn't like. This sounds like a very interesting story but the narrator sounds like he is bored and so I drift off and find myself thinking of other things. I'm about 3 hours into the story now and I will try to get through the rest of it, but it's a bit frustrating. It is, however, motivating me to do other things I need to do (laundry, dishes, homework, etc.)

Perhaps the pace will pick up soon - there is an interesting mystery developing. I know the narrator is affecting a calm and soothing voice that is pleasing to hear and would work well for a short commercial or other short spots, however it does not work well for this venue. As a former officer in a national voice over talent agency, I find this choice of style puzzling and I hope there is a change for future books.

Don't get me wrong, Kirby Heyborne does a fine job with clarity and with periods of character dialogue, it's just the general narration that has me wondering if I'll get through the first part, let alone the entire book. As I said, perhaps the action will pick up and as a result the narration will become more animated.

Again, there is an interesting mystery developing and I do find the system of magic interesting. There seems to be a great deal of court intrigue to be found within the story and at this point I do not foresee a great deal of overly gruesome and detailed fight scenes.

I've rated the book at 3 stars due to narration. I've given it as many as 3 stars because the actual story seems like it will be as good as other of Weis' books. I will update the review and rating if I am able to finish the book.