The Silvered

By: Tanya Huff

Narrated by: Dee Macaluso

From the author of the best-selling Blood books, a brilliant new tale of shape-changers, mages, soothsayers, and a power-mad emperor.

The Empire has declared war on the small, were-ruled kingdom of Aydori, capturing five women of the Mage-Pack, including the wife of the were Pack-leader. With the Pack off defending the border, it falls to Mirian Maylin and Tomas Hagen - she a low-level mage, he younger brother to the Pack-leader - to save them. Together the two set out on the kidnappers’ trail, racing into the heart of enemy territory. But with every step the odds against their survival, let alone their success, grow steeper....

©2012 Tanya Huff (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

couldn't put it down

narration is a bit flat, attempts at male voices are just raspy. but a seriously excellent book. I usually only listen in the car, but I had to keep playing this one even inside

Amazing

I adore Tanya Huff's writing. I have read or listened to almost everything she has written and this is her best book so far. I don't know the narrator, but her performance was perfectly attuned to the writing. Now I want more!

Great story, poor narrator

This review is mostly for the quality of the audiobook, not the book itself. The book is great. However, the narrator of this book is painful to listen to. I only made it 10 minutes in before I couldn't stand if any more. There are wierd pacing issues, pausing in the middle of sentences, and just something odd about the way it's read. It sounds almost like the narrator was reading the material for the first time. the character's voices have little to no inflection and are very hard to tell apart from the non dialogue reading. Definitely not my favorite reader.

You need to listen for 35 minutes..

At first the narrator grated on me like a cheese grater. It took a solid 35 minutes (thus the title), of listening, and three tries at the book, but I simply couldn't believe Tanya Huff could write a terrible book and choose a hideous narrator to boot, so I gave it those three tries and finally, the for me, magical 35 minutes. At that point I forgot about the narrator completely and got lost in the book, and listed to it pretty much straight through. It turned out that the narrator did a great job giving voice to wolves and young ladies, and soldiers and ruffians! I was, in the end, totally impressed!
The story is very good, combining a world in the midst of industrialization and a nation state run by The Pack, werewolves who are fairly civilized but still pack dominated, and what happens when the more industrialized Empire and they go to war. That's the first chapter or so. Things become more magic oriented and interesting after that, and it's a good novel, solid and filled with great characters. Not Huff's best work, but certainly an interesting world with much potential and I wouldn't mind a few more novels set therein.

stick with it

the beginning is rough...the narrator was not a good fit for this book but thankfully the story is so well written it can be ignored. I absolutely loved this book, could barely stop listening despite of the poor narrative. I'll definitely be checking out others of this author.

Love the story, but...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Audiobook No. Novel Yes. The story is great, but this reading is almost unlistenable. Did not finish listening to it.

How could the performance have been better?

Having Siri read it out loud would probably have given a better performance. I have never heard such a flat, wooden, uninteresting performance from a "professional" reader.

Any additional comments?

I love love loved the novel, & wanted to listen to it on a long drive. Bought this without checking the sample first. Big mistake. Great story, I recommend it highly, but not in this format. Read the book.

Give the narrator a chance.

The narrator is very difficult to listen to at first, but once I got into the meat of the story, I found her enjoyable to listen too. She performed the story beautifully, even if the tone and texture of her voice is not typical.

The story itself was very entertaining, as are all Tanya Huff stories, but the climax and the ending felt rushed and somewhat unsatisfying. After a loooong build up, it was all just over, with a simple epilog.

Good story, terrible narration

I enjoy Tanya Huff’s work; I’ve been reading her books since the late 80’s.

I liked the print version. I even hoped for a sequel, but not any more. The narrator is just too awful.

The reader was among the worst I’ve ever heard: robotic, grating, and s-l-o-w even at 1.2x. I gritted my teeth and finished because it’s by a favorite author. Even so, I’m tempted to return it because I can’t listen to it ever again.

I’ll avoid this narrator in the future; they ruined a good book.

Persevere-- The sample doesn't do it justice!

I owned the paperback, and was excited to see an audio version--then listened to the sample. It took months for me to overcome my horror, and actually purchase it; more months before I could convince myself to load it onto my mp3 player. Finally, I loaded a couple of new books, and told myself I'd give it a couple of miles of my walk, at least, before I gave up on it completely. Soooo glad I did! The narrative settles down, the 17 year old male's voice loses a few decades (even if the 28 year old inherits a close relative of the same voice), and the the narrator actually adds something to the overall experience! (I wavered, but in the end gave her a 4 since most of the book is quite easy to listen to.)
Just grit your teeth through the uneven narration at the beginning. The rest of the book is worth your time and money!

never a bad book with this author

wish there were books in this world. great magic system, great descriptions to see everything.