The Danish Scheme

By: Herbert Sakalaucks, Eric Flint

Narrated by: Bill Brooks

Something new is brewing in the 17th century! Fans of the 1632 series have often asked “What's going on in North America?” Herbert Sakalauks has set out to let you know in his short novel The Danish Scheme. Christian IV, King of Denmark, Sir Thomas Roe, the English Ambassador to Christian's court, and various elements of the extended Nasi/Abrabanel family have arranged an unusually well-funded and well led expedition to North America. In addition to a new version of this story, which had previously been published in the Grantville Gazette, Eric Flint has added a short story which provides a view of the same events from Magdeburg. What does the Stearns administration make of all this?

©2013 Herbert Sakalauks, Ring of Fire Press (P)2014 Ring of Fire Press

Performers Make a Difference

I imagine Bill Brooks might be an adequate performer, but after listening to many recordings by the masterful George Guadell, this was a huge disappointment.

An Interesting Side Note to the Ring

Would you try another book from Herbert Sakalaucks and Eric Flint and/or Bill Brooks?

I'm a solid fan of the Ringsphere, yet this was just a side trip off of the circle that I could have easily lived without.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was okay, but not a surprise

Would you be willing to try another one of Bill Brooks’s performances?

Absolutely not. Mr. Brook's performance was dreadful...simply dreadful. As a speaking performance, I would have preferred to read the book rather than to listen to his performance.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Nope. The main portion of Ringsphere, of course, but not this stub off of the Ring.

Where is George when you need him?

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Great Book, but if your a fan of the series you'll wonder where your favorite narrator is.

Pass this one Up

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

The story was not great, and no great addition to the ring of fire series.

If you’ve listened to books by Herbert Sakalaucks and Eric Flint before, how does this one compare?

Not well.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The Narrator should be fired. His voices are terrible.

a disappointment

Would you try another book from Herbert Sakalaucks and Eric Flint and/or Bill Brooks?

Questionable on Sakalaucks. Definitely not for Brooks.

What was most disappointing about Herbert Sakalaucks and Eric Flint ’s story?

Seemed to be only half a book. Pieces are moved into place with a lot of wasted verbiage but the action implied by setting the board is missing. Perhaps the back half of the book will show up later.

What didn’t you like about Bill Brooks’s performance?

It was worse than terrible. His attempts at Dutch, Danish, upper class & lower class English, Turkish Sephardic Jew, & WV American are just awful. His attempts at a French accent pass below even those marks and become comic book slapstick. He should be excused from reading any book other than ones requiring a midwest accent.

What character would you cut from The Danish Scheme?

All of the characters are overdrawn. Just removed anything that does not move the story along.

Any additional comments?

Add the missing half and cut half the verbiage to get a reasonable addition to the series

Beware - very very bad reader

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

I have listened to all the Audible Ring of Fire series as read by George Guidall - his voicing is always engaging. His skill at accents and character and flow have been so spot on throughout all the books. I guess I assumed it was him and only too late realized that it was not Guidall reading. Sigh.

What was most disappointing about Herbert Sakalaucks and Eric Flint ’s story?

I must admit that the story got lost in the horrible reader! I was really interested in the narrative possibilities of adventures in the New World but by chap 4 truly did not care. Now I may buy the Kindle book so I can find out what happened but it's gonna take a lot to get the reader's voice out of my head!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

This reader Bill Brooks is beyond bad. He has a bombastic almost shouting reading style and has absolutely NO sense of accent. This is especially evident when he gives Mike Stern - ex-West Virginia coal miner - a bad English accent! Clearly Mr. Brooks had not listened to any of the previous readers or for that matter even read the story line. H!ow was he auditioned/chosen? His voice gave the narrative the flavor of a very juvenile and badly written children's book. I was tempted to return the book to get my credit back but that's such a hassle . . . . .

not impressed

I'm very sorry, but I'd like to hear this after being re-recorded and narrated by Charles Guidell. This narrator not only mangled some names but mispronounced common words like vehemently. I also did not enjoy his lame attempts at accents. All in all this is my first disappointment in this series

Awful narration spoils the tale

I could never decide whether the accents the narrator adopted were an homage to ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ Day a drunken Goofy. Whatever his intent, it ruined the story. Avoid this 1632 audible offering is my recommendation, and read it yourself instead.

Performance anxiety.

The narration is, to be gentile, flat and difficult to understand. Mr. Brook's Danish is okay. But, every other character sounds the same. I was able to put up with the voicing only because of the story.

No idea if this book is any good, narrator sucks.

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

Better accents, or even no accents. Also, fewer jarring narrator transitions.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

No idea. Not sure if I'm actually going to get to the end. Yup, it's that bad.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Bill Brooks?

George Guidall, Eric Summerer, John Lee, pretty much anyone.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Danish Scheme?

Any scene narrated by Bill Brooks.

Any additional comments?

I can't believe that Audible let this recording be sold through the store, it detracted from the book so much, I have no idea if was any good.