The Sorcerer of the North

Ranger's Apprentice Series

By: John Flanagan

Narrated by: Stuart Blinder

The international best-selling series with over 5 million copies sold in the US alone!

Several years have passed since the apprentice and his master, Will and Halt, first met, and Will is finally a full-fledged Ranger with his own fief to look after. The fief seems sleepy - boring, even - until Lord Syron, master of a castle far in the north, is struck down by a mysterious illness. Joined by his friend Alyss, Will is suddenly thrown headfirst into an extraordinary adventure, investigating fears of sorcery and trying to determine who is loyal to Lord Syron. As Will battles growing hysteria, traitors, and most of all, time, Alyss is taken hostage, and Will is forced to make a desperate choice between his mission and his friend.

Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.

©2008 John Flanagan (P)2018 Listening Library

Poor Narrator

You’d think the new narrator for the series would make an effort to at least pronounce “Araluen” similar to the previous one. He has two or 3 “voices”, so many characters sounded the same. He do well reading nonfiction. But for this? Pretty bad. I still love the story though

Swedish chef?

The narrator was markedly different from the previous books. The Skandians sounded like the Swedish chef from the Muppet Show.

A one for the performance but the story was good.

New narrator

I don’t mind him for the normal story, but the skandians and female voices are pretty rough. Love the books

Good story - poor narration

New reader in the series. He made everyone sound pompous. Glad this is the only book he does.

Bring back John Keating

The books are always a great listen, but why did they have to mess with a good thing? John Keating is THE definitive narrator for this series, why on earth did they have to go and get this new guy for? I bought the audio book on Amazon before I bothered to check the narrator. I would go buy the other one, even if you have to get it on CD, it would still be a better experience.

Great Story Bad Narrator

Loving this series but the narrator was painful. Was anxious to get through this to get on to the next book and the former narrator

New narrator

The book is amazing. it's just without john Keating doing the voices and narration it's a bit jarring. he's been doing the last five books and as far and I know he does the rest of them. but why not this one? other then that the book is great. one of my favorite series ever.

First cliff hanger ending

I think this is about the half way point in the series, and I am still listening to it. Audible has “updated” these books in their catalog. I still have some of thr originals on my phone, which means my narrator changed. The jury is still out if I prefer this one. Wills voice mannerisms a very different between the 2 narrators I’ve heard so far. Fun book overall.

Love the series, hated the narrator

The only way to get through his “hissing” sss and his inability to hold a character’s voice was to listen at 1.25 x speed. No one speaks the way he does. It is unrealistic and it gets in the way of the quick whit and banter that commonly occurs in the books. I read the books many years ago and now I am enjoying listening to them. This book was not available in another narrator and I thought I’d give it a try. It was very difficult to listen to.

If another narrator is available give them a try.

Stuart Blinder instead of John Keating?

I was surprised that a new person was reading the books. Stuart Blinder does a fantastic job with all male voices/characters. However, Stuart’s female character voices are absolutely dreadful awful ear piercing pain to listen to.