It's enough to drive a devoted Bujold fan mad. Beyond the accents, the narrator adds weird chuckles, grunts, and other verbal ticks not called for in the text. Palli sounds like a stereotypical comic book hero (think The Tick), and the main character Cazaril gruffs and growls his way through every scene. Instead he sounds like Apu from the Simpsons (very distracting in a character who is supposed to be learned and spiritually deep). The worst is probably Umegat, whom he probably intended to endow with an Arabic accent. He imposes weird accents on the characters.

This is one of my favorite books, and I was very excited to start listening to it. This was another example of a narrator adding a whole other dimension to the book. While not originally drawn to the book by the court intrigue and romance, what the magic and even religion contributed, it all worked to draw me in deeply to a captivating world and a very sweet story. Adversity does not often come in the form of knockdown, drag out, hand-to-hand combat or epic wars but skillful and intelligent (often in spite of himself) dealings in royal politics and usually not so adroit magic. But his heart is strong and his mind is as sharp as ever and he rises to every occasion to meet and successfully deal with adversity. No, he is beaten-down and crippled by years on a slave ship. While only middle-aged, in those days (whenever that was), he is certainly not young and virile. This is one of those rare books where the hero is about as reluctant or prepared as one can be to be a hero. When if first heard the voice of the protagonist, Lord Cazaril in The Curse of Chalion, I thought oh brother, this is not going to be good.

Penric's demon by lois mcmaster bujold