The Crow

The Third Book of Pellinor

By: Alison Croggon

Narrated by: Colin Moody

Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

While Maerad journeys in the far north, her brother, Hem, is sent south to the golden city of Turbansk. There, he learns the ways of the Bards and discovers a hidden gift when he rescues a white crow. But when the forces of the Dark threaten, Hem flees with his protector, Saliman, and a young orphan girl named Zelika to join the Light’s resistance forces. Soon Hem discovers that he, too, has a crucial role to play in the quest to solve the Riddle of the Treesong.

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©2010 Alison Croggon (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“This penultimate epic... is emotionally astute and brimming with vivid detail.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

Very well done

Some reviewers have panned the narrator of this performance, but I feel their wrath is unfair. He does a fantastic job, and had the entire series been performed by him, I don’t think anyone would have regretted it. I do, however, agree with other reviewers that it would have been best to not change narrators in the middle of the series—there truly was no need to do so, and the experience as a listener was jarring, and no doubt contributed to the reactions of other listeners.

Great Story, Worst Narrator

Would you try another book from Alison Croggon and/or Colin Moody?

The Books of Pellinor are one of my favorite series, and I'd be interested in reading anything else Alison Croggon creates. However, I will never purchase another audio book narrated by Colin Moody. His voice is bland, his accents are horrid and his dictation overall was very difficult to listen to. He mispronounced many words specific to this book, and I had to reimagine all of the dialogue in the book to match the tone and setting of the story as well as the personality of the character because I thought his impression did not make any sense at all. There was scant emotion or feeling put behind any of the words. He did a disservice to the Alison Croggon's beautifully created world and story.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Colin Moody?

I would have stayed with Eloise Oxer for all of the books. I don't think just because the book is in Hem's point of view that a male should narrate the book.

love

loved it can't wait to read the rest of the series . you did a great job

Interesting and Enjoyable

I've found I've generally enjoyed each book in the series as much or sometimes a little more than the last. It's not an unforgettable epic or anything but it's enjoyable. I think it's even better for tweens/ teens (and that's probably more the target audience than I am, anyway). With this book, however, I was not impressed with the narrator at all. He had a sort of frog like quality to his narration and most characters voices that I didn't care for and often found irritating. But overall it was fine I guess.

Dry

I love this series and bought the audio books to enjoy them again during my week off from work this year. The narrator for the other three books does an excellent job of even the male voices and I'm thus disappointed to find that she was not hired to perform The Crow, which is largely from the perspective of a pre-pubescent boy, and which she could have performed with much entertainment just as well as any male narrator. This choice, to be honest, seems inappropriate from my, perhaps feminist, perspective. I hope they do eventually ask her to narrate it. At which point I will have to buy it again.

In any case, this narrator, although clear spoken, speaks dryly, though he does sort of get into it later. It's a bit of a switch from the other narrator. Not personal against him. He does voice the character speech, so it's still entertaining. But I also listen to these before bed and it tends to lull me more.

This is the 3rd book of Pellinor and follows Hem and occurs during about the same timeline as Book 2. There are 4 books total. Truth be told, the first time I read the series, I skipped this book. I didn't particularly care much about Hem's character. And I didn't feel I missed much in doing so, though the story is interesting and does answer some of the questions about Turbansk and the South that you may have from the first and second books. To me, it was like he went away, and came back with information to share. But I was glad I read it on the 2nd or 3rd read. And now I have the audio books, so I can enjoy it whenever I miss the world of Annar and want to revisit it and it's people. But I might again skip this if he puts me to sleep. Such is life.

Best of the 4

For me this book is the best of the 4, blending the inner struggles and events of the young man's life. More action than book 2; in a way I felt it had better sense of resolution than book 4, which is more of a critique of book 4 I suppose. For all those complaining about the narration, bump up the speed - this is easily a 9 hour book.

Narrator ruined the story

What didn’t you like about Colin Moody’s performance?

Moody's performance was stiff and uninteresting. He had little range in his voice, giving just about every character the same Eastern European-type accent. If this recording was the first one in the series, I wouldn't have listened to any of it. I pushed through it because I want to know how the series ends, but this was very, very disappointing.

Great story grating narration...

From the pronunciation of names to the rubbish accents to the main characters sounding dim witted somehow, the narration for the crow was really disappointing for me. I felt that all the characters were dimmed by it. Still I was/am invested in the story and had purchased it so I listened to the whole thing. I have rarely if ever given an audio book a bad review and to be fair I feel that this narrator is not so much bad at narration but was just not right for this story. He strikes me as being someone I'd choose to read a book for much younger listeners.

Terrible Narrator

Would you be willing to try another one of Colin Moody’s performances?

NO! This is the worst narrator I have listened to so far. I wish I could get a refund.

The story is AWESOME. The narration is HORRID!!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Using the same narrator for all four books would have made this experience wonderful!! Eloise Oxer did such a fantastic job with the rest of the series. Colin Moody would have made a good computer voice, dull, monotone, dreary and therefore annoying. I couldn't even get through one chapter. I would adore hearing this story redone using Eloise. I regret downloading this version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hem and Crow were the characters I wanted to follow in this book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

His voice was very Text to Speech. Monotone doesn't even begin to describe the awful sound. He has no inflection, no sense of using his voice to portray different characters, and no sense of timing or dramatic pauses. Please don't let him read any more of your books!!!

What character would you cut from The Crow?

none. Alison Croggon wrote a wonderful story that fits perfectly into the series.

Any additional comments?

Fire this narrator immediately.