Love the story, hate the sound effects

I read this series as a university student and loved the stories, especially Lerris’s. However, the incessant sound effects were annoying even while reading the books - in an audiobook, it’s painful.

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Curious about the sound effects

The story was captivating. I finished it in 3 days. that said, the voices were not excepting identifying and the sound effects were also not easily identified without the descriptions.

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Meh.. But Certainly Thought-Provoking

I very much appreciate the effort L.E. Modesitt Jr. puts in to imposing an overlying theme on his Fantasy Coming-Of-Age tale: Order versus Chaos. The author introduces readers to the island/continent of 'Recluce' - where all aspects of society are so rigid that a relatively free spirit like the protagonist 'Lerris' is considered a threat to civilization itself - an actual invitation to evil/anarchic sorcery to overtake the island's culture. Lerris decides to go on a "dangergeld" - a perilous off-island quest for wisdom in hostile territory - rather than choosing straight exile - and finds out that he has latent powers (and could potentially return to Recluce as either a magical "Order Master" or a magical "Chaos Master" if he survives).
It's a thought-provoking posit.. and prompts some great philosophical discussions among the characters - reminiscent of conversations I had with DnD-playing colleagues regarding the concepts of "Alignment": Chaos/Law, Good/Evil, and various forms of Neutrality. As a Fantasy-SciFi addict, I love how well-written speculative fiction like this can get a debate going. It's right up my alley.
Unfortunately, Modesitt has little understanding of pacing. The sociopolitical conjecture overwhelms any action, he focusses way too hard on "craftsmanship" as an example of order vs. chaos, and encounters & combat are over in a sentence or two, anyway. I couldn't shake the frustrating impression that "nothing's happening!!" while listening to this book.

As to presentation: I largely disagree with reviewers turned off by Kirby Heyborne's approach to sound effects. Overall, this is a solidly "average" listening experience. True, Heyborne could have minimized their prominence in the recording (and trying expressive horse neighing is a baffling performance choice that reminded me of Scooby-doo's stupid "Ruttsup, Rhaggy?"), but Modesitt wrote Sounds into the text, and you can't really ignore that as a narrator, can you? ("Yes, it's stupid, but it says "Thwaap, Thwaap, Thwaap" here. I guess I have to read it, No?")

In toto, 'The Magic Of Recluce' is a diverting 6/10-star story that got me thinking between listening sessions about societal expectations, personal ethics, and philosophical stances/paradigms. As a 'Plus' selection, it was a reasonable time investment.. but I wouldn't spend a Credit on it. Neither did it captivate me enough to make me continue with Lerris's story - I'll be passing on further installments in the 'Saga Of Recluce' book series.

[Incidentally: Modesitt's odd fascination with facial hair conventions and food description continues in this book. His preoccupations make Dean Koontz's dog fetish look negligible]

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Fortunate to find this series and author

Absolutely love this book and the entire series. Own every audio book in this series and most by this author.

If you haven’t tried this author out and you like magic and sci-fi I would highly suggest you give this book a listen.

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sound effects

omg i dont understand y anyone would put half assed sound effects in a book, not sure if ill b listening to rest of the series free or not, totally ruined it.

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1 person found this helpful

Decent story

Overall pleasant pace to story, beside the sound effects not even close to matching what they should sound like I can say that reading instead of audio this book will procure a better overall rating.

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If Anakin Skywalker actually grew up

Start with a whiney arrogant and entitled brat.. and force him to grow up in an environment that is both deadly and banal... and give him just enough direction to become either a very good or an extremely bad person.
Stick him with a sidekick that doesn't speak much but is steady and is beside him day in and day out and that bravely faces evil...
And you'll get laris and garlock. And a confused lucky hero who succeeds despite his own stupidity just enough to start growing out of it.

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2 people found this helpful

I hate the sound effects

I am not sure if it is the author or the narrator. the constant sound effects are so annoying. they added nothing to the story.
edit them out.
otherwise it would be a good story.

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Somewhat entertaining

Narration was good but sound effects detracted from the actual story. Story concept was okay but took longer than necessary to develop.

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1 person found this helpful

Not ready for Prime Time.

I tried, I really did, but I just cannot tolerate the narrator's vooice. He voice, tone, and cadence came across as weak. In my opinion his performance was just not ready for prime time. I couldnt invest the time to get to know this book.

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