The Castle of Otranto

Enjoyed listening while oil painting

Good story, narrator was dry.

I have heard of this book in the past when you read about the beginnings of the Gothic novel, and I'm glad to have finally had the opportunity to listen to it. I can see why the book is considered the "grandfather" of the genre because it has pretty much everything we've come to expect from those works - dark passages, foreboding estates or castles, mysterious deaths, possible curses, a usurper to some claim, damsels in distress (in this case, two of them), a hero with his own enigmatic past, an apparition or two, and a few supplemental characters brought in for dramatic or comic relief. It's all rather over-the-top at times, and I admit that part of the final chapter did throw me for a loop because an incident occurs that I didn't expect. The denouement comes to a speedy and partially satisfying conclusion when it comes to the remaining characters, and we have a not quite "happily ever after" but I guess as close as you will get in a story like this. The narrator was quite good, and I actually followed along with him using my Kindle copy of the book. He was able to accomplish both male and female voices without exaggeration which is all I ask for. It's my hope to hear him again with some other work.

Enjoyed very much and the narration was well done.