Soldier of Fortune

By: Edward Marston

Narrated by: Christopher Oxford

Capitan Daniel Rawson is a soldier, spy, linguist and ladies' man. Whether he is extracting valuable intelligence from the wife of a French general or leading his men in a Forlorn Hope, Rawson is a man on whom the Duke of Marlborough can always rely.

Seething with intrigue and packed with swashbuckling heroics, the novel follows the Confederate army on the long, perilous trek across Europe to meet the French and their allies at the ferocious battle of Blenheim.

The first in an exciting new adventure series featuring Captain Daniel Rawson.

©2009 Edward Marston (P)2009 Oakhill Publishing Ltd

Trite story line.

Would you try another book from Edward Marston and/or Christopher Oxford?

I am going to try Marston's railroad series. If that is at the same level as this book, I'll give him up.

What could Edward Marston have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Reduce its size in half by getting rid of the trite filler. For example: Abigale: Daniel, I don't want you to go on the forlorn hope. Daniel: But Abigale, I am a soldier. Abigale: But you might be killed! Daniel: If I didn't go, it would be like you giving up your beauty!

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator not give Abigale an irritating five year old child's lisp.

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

Part 1 started off okay.

Any additional comments?

I gave up in the first ten minutes of Part 2.

A good listen

This wasn't quite as lively as I expected having read the Nicolas Bracewell series by the same author. Once I got used to the pace it became enjoyable. I wasn't sure about the narrator though.
Men can do female voices, and do them well. This narrator made the lead female sound like a total wuss!! She was but still:)

Puzzled

This reader is fine until a woman comes into the story. Then he adopts a whiny falsetto that makes female characters sound like Minnie Mouse or Olive Oyl. It totally destroys the listener's--or at least this listerner's--ability to follow the story. Moreover, it's offensive. He seems to be intentionally making all the women into jibbering idiots. In all audiobooks, we lose some of the wonderful freedom to see the characters strictly through our own imaginations, but the sacrifice is usually well compensated. Jim Dale is wonderful. This is awful.