What happened to Sean Barret?

I’ve loved listening to the Courtney series, the stories are excellent…but much of the enjoyment has been in the characterisations by the reader. Sean Barret brought the characters to life, in previous books, adding the right amount of drama, emotion and nuance. This new reader has changed everything - reading it like a “boys own adventure” for 11 year olds, and missing the characters completely…he gives Aboli (an African warrior prince) an American accent!
Not as enjoyable!

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Keeping up with the Courtneys.

I struggled to get back into reading and my partner is a huge Wilbur Smith fan - he suggested we listen to the Courtney series together and I am not dissapointed! Every book so far has hit all the right notes for me - action, history, romance, sex, suspense, and all written exceptionally well. I'm only upset I hadn't discovered Wilbur Smith sooner!

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Not Mr Smith at his best

I would class myself as an avid Wilbur Smith fan but writing with another this was somewhat disappointing. Small details were evident throughout… portholes were referred to as ‘windows’ on a ship (more than once) as examples of detail that would have previously never occurred. I’m sure this narrator is a very nice person but my goodness he is surely lacking the ability of his predecessor. I very nearly gave up on listening many times due to his uncalled for intonations and unnecessary cadence at the end of sentences or declarations only because I loved the characters. Not the greatest in this series, very sad.

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Despite the different Narrator, this awesome!

Having gotten used to the the normal Wilbur Smith Courtney stories, this new bloke has a voice that reminds the listener of Jeremy Irons, and his distinctive voice!

Like all of the previous Courtney novels, this was entertaining and the characterisations are excellent.

I recommend it wholeheartedly.

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1 person found this helpful

Missed His Mark.

I loved the coutrney series I've read them all at least twice in the past 2 years, this is the only one I haven't listened to yet and it's missed the mark for me. The narration wasn't as engaging as Sean Barret. The story doesn't have the same spunk. It was Nice however to ear more about Tom and Dorrion Courtney

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Narrator was hard to listen to, but story was good.

Not bad once I got used to the narrator voice, and his emphasis on points that weren’t there. The story was good, as one would expect from Wilber Smith.

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Just ok

Compared to Birds of Prey and Monsoon read by Sean Barrett this was an average story, weak personalities and the adventures were lacking Wilbur smiths magic

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Bit lacking

Hard to go from the narration of Sean Barrett to this gut. Was good but didn’t seem like the same characters because of the voice.
Was a good story, still don’t think the saga should finish, need to link up the 17 century family with the modern African Courtney’s somehow. Would like to see them go back and claim high wield.

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