D.G. ~Shameless Reader~

I've had the hots for Toby Stephens ever since I saw his portrayal of Rochester in the 2006 BBC version of Jane Eyre. So when I realized he was narrating this book, I jumped at the chance to listen to it.

This is an abridged version of the "One Thousand and One Nights" so it only contains 4 of the most known tales (Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad, etc.) I've never read the stories and was a bit surprised that they were not AT ALL like their Disney counterpart (don't know why I should have been!) The characters are not sympathetic but very greedy people mostly concerned with riches. I cannot even say they were morality tales because even when the characters do bad things (like Ali Baba stealing from the thieves), they never reach a bad end. There's a lot of gore too with beheadings, people being boiled in oil, being eaten by ogres, you name it!

But I what I enjoyed the most was the narration. Mr. Stephens had such a flare with the voices, the emotions and the characters that the narration fairly sparkled. Most of my enjoyment came from imagining his face while he was narrating the book.

Overall, an entertaining audio with a first rate narration.