The Man from Bere
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The Man from Bere
Buy Now for £14.82
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Narrated by:
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Paul Fox
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By:
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Andrew Wareham
About this listen
Nick Turnhouse is a Dorset farmhand, a third son with nothing to inherit and no future, working his father's land for his keep. He is also tall, powerfully built, and handsome, and crosses the path of Squire's impressionable daughter.
Nick has to run, fast, with ten shillings and his father's blessing. Luckily, or so he thinks, he comes across a kind gentleman who can help him. After Nick is persuaded to say that he is looking for work, he discovers the man is recruiting for the Navy, and Nick has just 'volunteered in fact'.
Once at sea, he is amazed to discover that he is not stupid—he has simply had no occasion to use his brain plodding on the farm. He can learn and fight, and wishes to do both, finding his chance to rise in the nautical world.
The Man From Bere is the first of Nick's adventures on sea and occasionally on land.
Continue the series
On the positive side, there is an interesting narrative, if a little unrealistic. The narrator has a good, clear voice and a decent range of accents… BUT…
It is written as if it were notes. It’s full of incomplete sentences, with transitions and linking words missing. It needs proper editing — or frankly, actually writing up. Some people speculate it is AI-created. I don’t know, but all I can say is: I wish they had used AI to edit it! If you read the text yourself, it’s probably less annoying because your brain fills in the gaps, so you might get away with it.
The narration: given the above, the narrator has a hard task. That said, it’s read too robotically, with equal emphasis on everything. Combined with the notes style text, it just doesn’t work. A really talented narrator, given licence to adapt it, might have saved it — but that would basically mean editing on the hoof. I’m not sure if this is AI, but honestly the narrator should have sent it back. I would be embarrassed to have my name attached to this (despite the potential).
Creating an entire series in just a few years is only an achievement if it works. Objectively, this does not. I’m not sure why it went wrong, but it did. AI? I don’t know — but frankly, they should run it through AI and republish it; it would definitely work better.
It was free, but I wouldn’t pay for it. I might try the second book, but it would need to be significantly more polished. I’m not a particularly critical person, nor am I looking for a literary classic — but there are so many good works out there that have had real effort put into them. I think that needs to be said, because putting this alongside them does them a disservice.
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