Belladonna

Ephemera , Book 2

By: Anne Bishop

Narrated by: Maggie Hoffman

The Eater of the World continues to spread its dark influence across the realm of Ephemera, corrupting people's souls with doubts and fears. Only Glorianna Belladonna possesses the ability to thwart the Eater's plans. But she has been branded a rogue, and must stand alone against the encroaching entity.

But she is not alone. In dreams, a call has traveled throughout Ephemera - "Heart's hope lies within Belladonna" - and reached Michael, a man with mysterious powers of his own. It awakens a fierce hunger within him to find the dark-haired sorceress he's dreamt of - a beautiful woman named Belladonna. Together, they may be Ephemera's only hope.

©2008 Anne Bishop (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"A shattered world of extraordinary, interconnected landscapes.” (Publishers Weekly)

"Belladonna is the work of a master...thought-provoking.” (Fresh Fiction)

“Bishop excels at characterization...compulsively readable.” (RT Book Reviews)

Maggie Hoffman brings Belladonna to life!

This audiobook was excellent. Maggie Hoffman did an amazing job portraying the wide variety of characters and really brought the story to life. I wish she could read all of my books!!! The book itself is wonderfully creative, tasteful, and enthralling.

wonderful!

I love her works beyond words! even my fiancée likes to listen to these stories while we Cook together! I hope they just keep coming and coming

Belladone

It was okay. I was so excited for this book while reading Sebastian, but this felt so long, not in a good way. I can honestly say my low ratings for this story is in part to the switch of narrator. It wasn't that Hoffman did a bad job, but her voice wasn't right for this series. Most of that has to do with Graham narrating the first book of the series.

Besides the change of narrator, Michael just didn't 'resonate' with me at all. I tried to find some sort of connection with him but I just couldn't. He lacked something that Sebastian, and even Lee, had. This entire story could have happened without him. When a character who is supposed to be an essential player can easily be plucked out, his role easily filled by other characters already there, it is not a strong character.

However, I never thought Bishop could make me feel sorry for The Eater, but I kinda did.

I give it a 3 at best.

Love the series not so happy about change of voice

Would you consider the audio edition of Belladonna to be better than the print version?

I pretty much love anything by Anne Bishop, and was not sure if I would like this series. However it ended up being one of my favorites b/c of the humor. I was not thrilled with the change of narrator though. I really like the guy who read Sebastian, he is one of my favorite narrators, and would have liked it better if he had read the second book. Other than that I am happy with the audio book.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Did not like the way she made the women sound and hated the way she did Sebastian's voice.

Plusses and minuses

What made the experience of listening to Belladonna the most enjoyable?

As always, Anne Bishop creates a world like no other; complex, original and breathtaking.

What other book might you compare Belladonna to and why?

None. Anne Bishop is a writer too unique to be compared to anyone else. Love her!!

What didn’t you like about Maggie Hoffman’s performance?

The voice of the reader is why I would tell people to get the book and read it. The tones didn't fit the story. She would put in a bit of a laugh in her voice when the situation was serious, like it all was a bit of a joke. It was very distracting.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I couldn't listen to the voice for long and almost stopped listening to it all together.

Any additional comments?

I loved Sebastian and the voice for that story. I wish they had used the same person for both stories. I'm afraid the new book, Bridge of Dreams, will be yet another voice that doesn't work so I will most likely get the book and read it.

didn't like the narration at all!

the reader was terrible and after holter grahams dynamic characterizations, the story was flat...boring really. its a shame b/c gloriana was my favorite character in ephemera. Michael was depicted as a cranky, whiney hero via the female tone of the narrators voice. sucked the romance out of the story.