Cody Westcott, a young archaeologist, returned from a dig
at Apachetarimac with more than he bargained for. Seems the
Chachapoyans that he had been studying had a lot to teach
us all. Soon he steps through the looking glass but unlike
Alice it's no fairytale world that he finds. Instead it is
our own world teeming with Interlopers - Those Who Abide.
Unseen by the mass of humanity they are aware that Cody can
now see them. They don't like it. Thrust into a fight which
finds him allied with highly unlikely characters he travels
around the world to ancient centres of power. He calls on
strength he never knew he possessed to save his wife and the
future of humanity...
As
this CD collection opened I really was preparing to settle
in for several hours of tedium. It wasn't the story that had
me concerned, but the vocal talents of Ben Browder. While
he comes across as an impressive actor in both Farscape
and Stargate: SG-1, he's not the sort of guy who should
ever read children a bedtime story - his delivery is too rushed
and devoid of any emotion.
But,
as this eight CD collection unfolded I decided to give him
a chance to redeem his wobbly start - that it may just have
been that he had so much to record and that his voice was
tired. For the opening few minutes, his voice is quite poor
- as though he'd been reading a little too long. It could
be that this was a retake after hours of reading.
To
be perfectly honest though, even at its best, his delivery
is not one of the most impressive I've ever heard - in fact
it was well below average. Some sentences he reads too quickly,
others he breaks up in the oddest of places, and quite a lot
he reads without any emotion at all. It's almost as though
he's doing this because he has too, but he's not happy about
it.
To
be perfectly honest I didn't make it past the second disc.
Browder's delivery made it almost impossible to sit through
some of the story and I had to keep relistening to chapters.
If I'd been a paying customer I'd have thrown the thing in
the bin.
Then
there's the presentation. It's not particularly impressive.
What we get are two cardboard gatefold packs (both of which
contain four slots into which the CDs are slotted) that are
housed in a cheap cardboard pack. I never like packaging like
this as it stinks of penny pinching. Not only that, but with
nothing to really hold the CDs in place you can almost guarantee
that they'll be scratched within two minutes. So, it came
as no surprise at all to discover that six of the CDs were
heavily scratched before they'd even been out of the packaging.
At
the end of the day, if you really want this CD I'd probably
suggest you buy the book and get someone (preferably whose
first language isn't English) to read it to you - it'll be
cheaper, and probably much easier on your ears.
Nick
Smithson
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£31.83
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MP3- CD Edition |
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$37.99
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8 x CD Edition |
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$24.99
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MP3-
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