The Fall of Highwatch

Forgotten Realms: Chosen of Nendawen, Book 1

By: Mark Sehestedt

Narrated by: Dara Rosenberg

An exciting new trilogy set in the far north of Faerun!

Hweilan is the last of the line of Highwatch and - as she discovers - one of the last of the Vil Adanrath, a bloodline of lycanthropes left on Faern. Guric, her uncle and the slayer of Hwelian's family, has released a terrible evil in order to resurrect his beloved wife and gain control of the northern countries. When Hweilan escapes Guric's schemes, she is taken in by Lendri, a Vil Adanrath who has stayed in Faern to help guide Hweilan to her fate.

©2009 Wizards of the Coast, LLC (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Great Book, Poor Audio

Sounds of traffic, music, awkward pronunciations and inconsistent voices make what would be an enrapturing story into a pain to listen to.

Well paced story in a new Forgotten Realms setting

Sehestedt takes us to a little used region of the Forgotten Realms and does a great job of fleshing it out with a story that describes some of its history and peoples. Hweilan maintains my interest as a young woman forced to grow up as her world is suddenly shattered and she is chased relentlessly through forest and tundra. The supporting characters are also well drawn. Her companions are complex to the point where you aren't sure if their loyalties are to Hweilan or to someone else. Sehestedt also introduces new undead and fey creatures. So this thrilling story has a lot going for it.

My only disappointment was the poor sound studio quality that stole from Dara Rosenberg's narration. By itself her narration was good. She doesn't differentiate characters with accents and tones so much, but enough so that you can tell who is who in any given scene. What she does do is project some emotion into the characters, even if it sounds a little cliched at times. But I much prefer that to the dull, robotic performances I have had to endure from some other narrators. Sadly whenever I listened to the narration with ear buds I could hear sirens in the background! Frequently! At first I though it was background noise from my own neighborhood, but it was definitely coming from the audio. At other times I could hear the feint sounds of some musical track playing on the audio as if it was recorded over used magnetic tape. How is someone supposed to escape into a book with all that going on.

Lastly I have to say I love how Sehestedt ended the book. It was a gripping climax and a powerful ending that makes me want to dig into the next book of the trilogy immediately. But this time I will read it instead of listening to it. I live in a place where I hear enough sirens and other people's music all day as it is. I don't need it on my audiobooks.

The mispronouncing

I've several titles from forgotten realms and every one narrated by this person drives me nuts. she refuses to learn any pronunciation from the source material plus butchers the English language itself.

Radio and sirens in the background

A *very* bad audio. Radio and sirens in the background, high and tinny, it's a real shame because the story was pretty good. The audio made it incredibly irritating to listen to.