The Serpent and the Pearl

Narrator for Giulia sounds like she needs a nap

Any additional comments?

I think the story content is fascinating, and 2/3 of the narrators are wonderful. However, the narrator for Giulia seriously sounded like Ben Stein running on 2 hours of sleep. I'm gathering she's not a native English speaker, but the prosody was horrible. She'd pause mid sentence and it would be confusing as to the emotional content of the message. I tried listening for 2 days then couldn't do it anymore. Guess I'll read this on my Kindle!

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

This was a pleasant surprise!

What made the experience of listening to The Serpent and the Pearl the most enjoyable?

I often struggle with buying audiobooks from first time writers, because I've been burned way too often. Thus, I bought this book with really low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

I think the best part of it was the choice to have multiple narrators. I found it exceptionally wonderful to listen to these three narrate this story, and what's more, it really complements the way author wrote each character both as they see themselves, and as others see them. That's a clumsy way to describe it, but when you hear it, it will make perfect sense.

What did you like best about this story?

I don't read historical fiction so that I can learn about history, but I really do enjoy being able to get a sense of a place and time other than my own here and now. This book does a wonderful job of taking you then and there, and shows you what life is like from more than one point of view.

Any additional comments?

Worth a credit, worth a listen, and looking forward to book 2!

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Good Story & Performance

Any additional comments?

I am currently listening to this audiobook and am really enjoying it. I've been a big fan of the Studio Canal & Showtime productions of the Borgias and am enjoying the alternate POVs from non-Borgia characters.
I was disappointed that there weren't any more Kate Quinn books available on Audible yet. I hope they plan to release more of her novels in Audible format.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

VERY INTERESTING TAKE ON THE BORGIAS

I've read a lot of books on the Borgias, both fact and fiction, and watched all the recent cable movies about them. This book is great point of view on the Borgias, told by Guilia Farnese, the teenaged married mistress of the Borgia patriarch, 60 year-old, Rodrigo, later Pope Alexander VI; a cunning intelligent dwarf who is portrayed as a very sexy little person like Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Dinklage in "Game of Thrones"; and a female chef who is on the run from a major crime in Venice. The cool thing is that each character is read by a different narrator. There's nothing more disconcerting than a male narrator trying to sound like a teenaged girl or a female narrator making "courtly love" in a quasi-bass voice. The dialogue is clever and interesting. Well worth the price of admission!

13 of 15 people found this review helpful

Half a book

I listened to all of Kate Quinn's The Serpent and the Pearl and I'd have liked to have found out how it ended. Yes, yes, I listened to the entire thing, but the story just stops with the heroes in grave danger and no resolution to any of the stories I've been following for sixteen hours.While it is true that the title includes a "Book 1" after a very strategic colon, I took that to mean the first one in a series - not act one of a story.

I might listen to the next one if I can't find anything good (want to bet it won't resolve anything either?) but I feel a little ripped off.

Besides the non-ending, this is a historic melodrama with characters and dialogue that are alright, but in no way memorable. The writer has an annoying tendency to harp on specific characterizations over and over again: Julia has long hair, the dwarf character is short and the cook is thin. Alright to pass the idle hour, but don't get your hopes up that you'll find out how it ends without spending more credits. Bah.

8 of 11 people found this review helpful

dreadful narration

I loved Kate's book, The Alice Network, so downloaded this book. The narration is appalling... sorry I can't finish what sounded like a promising story

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Bad narrator spoils the book

I enjoyed the story but the person who narrated Julia is terrible. I felt she was just reading the words but doesn't understand what she is saying. Her phrasing is terrible. All the other narrators are great
I enjoyed the other Kate Quinn book 'The Alice Circle 'much more

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Interesting story with some caveats

I did not like the narrator for Guilia as she was hard to listen to. The story seemed only half finished but the characters were interesting. Some of the description was repetitive but overall I liked it well enough. Interesting era.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Best Audio book I've listened to in years.

I give this book five out of five stars for immersing me in the 14th Century Vatican, exposing me to stunning characters, mesmerizing me with mystery and intrigue, and making me hungry like a culinary trained foodie. If you haven’t read a work by Kate Quinn you need to, the woman will wrap you up in a tale and leave you begging for more. I could not put this book down.
The three main characters each have their own narrator. Between the work and the actors, this is one of the best audio book I have listened to in years, fantastic.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Interesting Take on the Borgias

While there are some glaring historical inaccuracies, the overall story was entertaining enough that it didn't really matter. The author knew she was taking liberties and just went with it. The three separate characters each had their own unique quirks and a good storyline that wove together enough to make me want to keep listening. It was unbelievable at times, and not exactly great literature, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy listening. I even bought the second book to continue the story. I will agree with some people's comments that the narrator for Gulia was awkward with her pauses and pronunciation. The two other narrators were perfect.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful