The Sicilian Coil

By: Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlett

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The impact of the time transposition that brought a twenty-first century cruise ship to the Hellenic world right after the death of Alexander the Great continues to unfold. While President Al Wiley is building a new America in Trinidad and Captain Lars Floden is trying to use the Queen of the Sea to spread enlightenment around the world, Rome is experiencing a wakeup call—and so are its neighbors. If things don't change, the Roman republic is going to become a dictatorship. And if things don't change, the Samnites, Etruscans and other Italian states will become subjects of the Roman Empire.

And what's worse, the heirs of Alexander the Great aren't the sort of people who are going to stay within their borders and let the rest of Europe—or Asia, or North Africa—work out their own destinies.

It would be bad enough to be subjects of Rome. To be subjects of the Macedonians was something you wouldn't wish on a Gaul.

Something must be done. And with the help of the radio teams that give Rome and the other Italian states access to the knowledge from the twenty-first century, something will be.

Excellent Writing

I enjoy the story. The AI was disappointing but probably a necessary evil to keep costs down for the authors do to Ring of Fire Publishing’s dissolution. They may not be able to afford paying a live narrator without the publishing company. I really do prefer an actual voice though. I was pleased to see the series continuation and want to see more of this series.

Mispronounced words disrupting the suspension of disbelief

Grossly mispronounced words as if no attention paid to conventions. Horrid amount of mental speed bumps.

AI Narrator Detracts from Overall Experience

I very much disliked the virtual narration produced by AI. Technically the voice was fine and indistinguishable from a real person. But the inflection was flat and off. it was painfully obvious that the story was being narrated by a machine with no understanding of what was being read. The delivery was awkward and detracted from the story, which could have been so much better. I love the premise of the story and very much enjoyed the previous installments. Maybe the AI narration was an experiment to see how well it would be received. What a disappointment, to say the least. I would urge the authors and publishing company to go back to a human narrator. i'm willing to pay for that.

great story, not a great narrator.

This is a great story. The narrator, not so much. She slaughters names and locations with impunity.

Worst Reading

AI is fine for reading news, but not for books! Worst performance ever! Only slightly better than theatrical performances!