Reviews: e-books and audiobooks - Wilbur Smith, Macbeth, and a stunning debut
Sean Barrett reads Smith with enviable intensity, The Black Country reads like a David Lynch version of Gone Girl, and James Marsters and Joanne Whaley take on the Bard's Scottish play the LA way
by Wilbur Smith and Giles Kristian (read by Sean Barrett) Harper Collins (audiobook)
It takes a strong man to narrate Wilbur Smith. His novels, whether set in war, Africa, Egypt or on the high seas, are full of strong men fighting other strong men, and often powerful women. Sean Barrett knows a thing or two about strong men. His audiobook credits include Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, Michael Robotham's thrillers, Angus Watson's trilogy and the mother of all battles, Anthony Beevor's . In , one of Smith's rampaging historical novels starring Hal Courtney, Barrett has to take on a disfigured baddie (who sent Hal's father to his death), shipwrecks off Zanzibar, violent maharajas with an axe to grind against Christians, and a heroic female Ethiopian leader who saved the Holy Grail. It is about as subtle as a kick to the groin, which in is getting off lightly. Barrett reads with an enviable intensity and can flit between African, English and many other accents. This passion is slightly more than this plodding novel deserves.
by Kerry Hadley-Pryce Salt Publishing (e-book)
