Got through one full CD of this audiobook, but I wasn't enthusiastic. A lot of worldbuilding going on, and most of the character development is just establishing forcefully that Jack is your typical unappreciated farm-boy-turned-mage's-apprentice. It didn't help that the reader gave Jack a voice that really kind of annoyed me. Strangely, that didn't come up all that often - most of the first CD is narration, not dialogue.

Anyway, I might have listened to more, but a friend pointed out to me based on hearing the title that it was almost certain to have boats in it. I don't know how I could possibly have not thought of this, given that the cover of the audiobook, like the cover shown here for the regular book, sports a big freaking boat and nothing else, but I think I'd been paying more attention to all the acclaim the book had received.

The boat thing really cemented my decision not to keep on. Eleven more CDs would be a lot for a book I'm just not excited about listening to.