The Blood Mirror [Dramatized Adaptation]

Lightbringer Saga, Book 4

By: Brent Weeks

Narrated by: full cast

When does an empire fall?

The Seven Satrapies have collapsed into four - and those are falling before the White King's armies.

Gavin Guile, ex-emperor, ex-Prism, ex-galley slave, formerly the one man who might have averted war, is now lost, broken, and trapped in a prison crafted by his own hands to hold a great magical genius. But Gavin has no magic at all. Worse, in this prison Gavin may not be alone.

Kip Guile will make a last desperate attempt to stop the White King's growing horde. Karris White attempts to knit together an empire falling apart, helped only by her murderous and possibly treasonous father-in-law, Andross Guile.

Meanwhile, Teia's new talents will find a darker use - and the cost might be too much to bear. Together, they will fight to prevent a tainted empire from becoming something even worse.

Narrated by: Alyssa Wilmoth, Andy Clemence, Audrey Bertaux, Barbara Pinolini, Bradley Smith, Chris Davenport, Christopher Scheeren, Colleen Delany, Dani Stoller, Danny Gavigan, David Coyne, Delores King Williams, Dylan Lynch, Elliot Dash, James Lewis, Jeff Allin, Joe Brack, Johann Dettweiler, Jonathan Lee Taylor, Ken Jackson, Kimberly Gilbert, Lawrence Redmond, Michael Glenn, Michael John Casey, Mort Shelby, Nick DePinto, Nora Achrati, Ren Casey, Richard Rohan, Robbie Gay, Rose Elizabeth Supan, Scott McCormick, Steven Carpenter, Terence Aselford, Thomas Keegan, Thomas Penny, Yasmin Tuazon

©2016 Brent Weeks (P)2021 GraphicAudio

10 STARS!!

Graphic audio always does an absolutely phenomenal job in everything from, background sound effects to each and every voice actor they have performing!

Phenomenal work as always

I don't know how they did it but they have made one of my favorite stories in to one of my favorite tellings ever. each character is so well acted, the sound effects are perfect.

my only complaint is the reading of the appendix at the end. but it was in the book so I get it.

Excellent work

The music and atmosphere is superb in battles, and even romantic chapters - but some of the sounds, such as tooth on luxin can be absolutely grating when it continues for long periods. Otherwise great performance and voice acting - inspires chills and tears in the best of ways.

Overacting can diminish a story

Overacting with Kip, mispronunciation of Names, changing pronunciation of names ... forcing comical inflection ... removed gravitas... strips the inspiration from the text ... Some things were done right, like having clearly defined differences in voices so that complicated parts of the story were more easily followed, but ... playing it broad like it's a stage play where you have to make sure the cheap seats can follow the story is a mistake. Making Kip into a petulant, often mentally distracted, smarmy voiced screamer with a shifting accent was a weird choice to make for the hero from whom we are to gain inspiration. But ... it is different from the infinitely quotable version we got from the Simon Vance version. I wish the best of the two versions could be merged. But if I had to choose, it would be the Vance version: that one I've listed to 3 times all the way through; this one I will finish because I've already parted with funds. Some books have witty writing, and some are written so that one expects punchlines: one of those needs accomplished narrators, and the other needs funny voices with the verbal equivalent of prat falls. I hope you do better in the future figuring out which one the source text requires.

Edit: So ... Gil Grayling's character should never have spoken to Gav Grayling like that at that time ... you'll understand. Is it Kro-MEER-e-uh or Kro-MAIR-e-uh? Koo-ne-WAHR or Ko-WINNI-wer? Or-HO-lem or ORA-lem? The actor for Kip doesn't seem to have been told that Kip was supposed to be seriously introspective with sad and sometimes harsh self-deprecation rather than condescending and dismissive the way that nobles speak when they are tired of your presence and think they are humoring their friends. Finally ... the grunts and screams when people are supposed to be quiet or at least strong in endurance is ... is ... honestly, it seems as though some of the actors didn't study the script or didn't understand the nature of the text or didn't want to take direction from those who did.

Oh, and Kip seems to have learned how to yell from "Grover" over there at "Sesame Street", which is the go-to move for showing anger or struggling... I'm glad this wasn't my first introduction to the series. Instead of "A Movie In Your Mind," this series is like "A Wednesday Afternoon, Off-Broadway Play with Understudies, All For The Cheap Seats". I will now only get Graphic Audio if I think the story is to meant to be stylized and broad ... like the Mick Oberon series. Nothing subtle. The stuff they did well in this series was negated by what they did really poorly. BUT ... just about anything done that didn't focus on "The Mighty" was done EXTREMELY well and if that's enough for you ... enjoy. I'll stop, now.