Lords of the Earth

The Yali people of Indonesia call themselves "Lords of the Earth," and they live by a set of rules designed to appease a wrathful god. But when a disillusioned member looks for another mythos, or framing story, he can't find one until an Australian missionary arrives. There follows a testimony to the transforming power of the gospel. The story takes place in the 1950s and 1960s, not the 1800s. Raymond Todd is a capable reader. His voice is clear, and he smoothly articulates Yali names and common phrases. But his reading of dialogue is flat, with no hint of a cadence or articulation different from that of standard English. This is due in part to the writing, but he also lacks an appropriate degree of emotion. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine