Small country in trouble. Boys to the rescue...

Good narration and production and some interesting ideas in the (dated but) adventurous story. But WHY the JARRING AMERICAN VOICE announcing irrelevant section changes. Spoiled the continuity and sometimes completely shattered the imaginative atmosphere

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An oddity

As a fan of 'The Secret Garden' and 'A Little Princess' thought I might as well pick this up. I can see why it's obscure! On the surface, the story of the lost heir to a kingdom and his journey across Europe ought to be a ripping yarn; but Burnett manages to avoid every single opportunity for suspense, action, conflict, or drama of any kind. The hero is of the Little Lord Fauntleroy type, a paragon of boyhood; his companion The Rat is interesting but never gets to do anything because nothing ever happens.

What makes this more than bearable is the magnificent reading by David Thorn, narrating the preposterous story with a slow, poetic gravity and commitment that makes it seem as though it all might have a profound meaning. Burnett does write in the fine turn-of-the-century classic prose style, so the combination is a pleasure to listen to, even if the story itself is a bit of a dead loss. Good to doze off to?

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3 people found this helpful

Dated, but still an enjoyable adventure

It's not one of Frances Hodgson Burnett's well known stories, but I've always enjoyed this adventure. Yes it's dated, and somewhat heavy on Victorian spiritualism, but if you can look past those moments it's an enjoyable story, with real moments of danger and a satisfying ending.

The narration was good, although I did notice one line which the narrator read in the wrong character's voice. Overall though, he uses a good range of voices for the different characters, and his accents are good.

The most annoying thing about this audiobook, and it's totally unnecessary, is that it has been copied over from a CD at some point, but instead of editing out the CD breaks they have left them in, so every hour or so the narration is interrupted by an American Woman telling you 'this story is continued on disk X'. She also introduces each chapter, which seems odd. It more than a little ruins the mood, which is a pity, as overall I was very happy with this purchase.

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6 people found this helpful

You should read this!

Throughly enjoyed this book, well worth time spent listening to it as it stopped me going to sleep on several occasions.

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Predictable and rather slow

Sadly you know the outcome before starting to read. Little suspense and the more interesting plot developments inexplicably dropped without development or explanation. Feels unfinished. Beautifully read.

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Interesting story of its time

This is a childrens story that would never be written today, as the characters hold very different values to the modern child. It is set in an age of a world of limited communication, definately no mobiles, or airplanes, and where the ideals of loyalty, bravery, and honour were uppermost. I found it fascinating. The reader was excellent.

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2 people found this helpful

Enjoyable story

Well written and performed. It's a shame that the disc (CD?) change prompts are still present.

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brilliant

I loved reading this book as a child and I loved listening to it as an adult! it was slightly annoying hearing the lady announce the cd disc numbers but the brilliant narration by David Thorn more than made up for those interruptions.

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The Lost Prince

I found the musical interlude and the synthetic voice between the chapters very distracting, particularly when announcing this book will continue on disc X often when the reader was in mid sentence! These interruptions spoilt my enjoyment of what is a very good book.

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Slow and with annoyingly jarring interruptions

I love FHB's other works, and though they are also of their time, they feel less dated then this does. The pace is very slow. But the worst thing about this audiobook is the jarring female American voice breaking in to announce the chapter headings and, worse still, when we are ending and starting a new disc! Totally breaks the spell and transports you out of the story and into the real world with a thump.

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