The Emperor's Blades
Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
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By:
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Brian Staveley
About this listen
Now includes special bonus content. Stay tuned after the audiobook to hear “The Last Abbot of Ashk’lan,” a short story by Brian Staveley.
The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.
Kaden, the heir to the Unhewn Throne, has spent eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, learning the enigmatic discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power he must master before it's too late.
An ocean away, Valyn endures the brutal training of the Kettral, elite soldiers who fly into battle on gigantic black hawks. But before he can set out to save Kaden, Valyn must survive one horrific final test.
At the heart of the empire, Minister Adare, elevated to her station by one of the emperor's final acts, is determined to prove herself to her people. But Adare also believes she knows who murdered her father, and she will stop at nothing - and risk everything - to see that justice is meted out.
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In just a few short years, Richard K. Morgan has vaulted to the pinnacle of the science fiction world. Now he turns his iconoclastic talents to epic fantasy, crafting a darkly violent, tautly plotted adventure sure to thrill old fans and captivate new readers.
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This isn't your father's gay hero!
- By Kindle Customer on 01-23-09
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Taming Fire
- Dragonprince Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Aaron Pogue
- Narrated by: Cameron Beierle
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Daven Carrickson grew up as a beggar in the filthy alleys beneath the shadows of the palace. He's the son of a known thief, disgraced and despised. His only real talent is his ability with a sword, and his only real chance at finding honor or a home is a desperate dream of joining the King's Guard. Then, Daven receives a new future when Master Claighan invites him to study magic at the Academy. The wizard offers to make him into a new kind of soldier: a swordsman equally skilled with forged blades and mystic forces.
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Wow what a ride this kid had to take
- By Krop Circle LLC on 08-09-14
By: Aaron Pogue
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Akiri: The Scepter of Xarbaal
- Akiri, Book 1
- By: Brian D. Anderson, Steven Savile
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
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Akiri is a blistering new heroic fantasy novel from the multiple award-winning international best sellers Brian D. Anderson and Steven Savile who have come together to create the first adrenalin-filled standalone novel in Akiri's tortured world. Can one betrayal can save a kingdom? Will two destroy it?
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Buy this story!!!
- By wlantz on 11-02-16
By: Brian D. Anderson, and others
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The Mirror Empire
- Worldbreaker Saga, Book 1
- By: Kameron Hurley
- Narrated by: Liza Ross
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
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On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past - while a world goes to war with itself. In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin.
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Captivating & thrilling
- By Sean Higgins on 09-19-15
By: Kameron Hurley
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The Empire of the Dead
- By: Phil Tucker
- Narrated by: Paul Guyet
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Acharsis has always loved long shots. But even with a perfect scheme and a handpicked squad of godsblooded grifters and fighters, breaking into the undead lord's Akkodaisis' ziggurat is suicidally impossible. Good thing Archarsis is a fallen demigod with more than one trick up his sleeve....
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Incredibly imaginative
- By RyRy on 09-08-17
By: Phil Tucker
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The Fate's Forsaken Omnibus
- Books 1-2 and Prequel Novella
- By: Shae Ford
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 37 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Books 1, 2, and the prequel novella of the Fate's Forsaken series. The series follows the adventures of Kael: a young man who is thrust from his home in the Unforgivable Mountains and onto a hero's path. The journey is long, the battles are fierce - nearly all of his companions are outlaws. And Kael's rotten bad luck seems to make everything worse. This is his story.
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Fantasy with light romance
- By Skipper on 09-23-15
By: Shae Ford
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Web of Eyes
- By: Rhett C. Bruno, Jaime Castle
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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When a piece of the crown prince's soul is stolen by a traitorous warlock, disgraced knight Torsten Unger makes it his sworn duty to get it back and save the last hope for the kingdom. But he can't do it alone. Self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Thief" Whitney Fierstown sits in the castle dungeon, destined for the gallows until Torsten offers this choice: rot and die in a dank cell or join him on a dangerous expedition to put his skills to good use and earn his freedom.
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A Fantasy Version of 48 Hours
- By John Kang on 12-24-18
By: Rhett C. Bruno, and others
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God's Last Breath
- By: Sam Sykes
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 25 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The great demon Khoth-Kapira has broken free of his prison and taken his first step upon the mortal world. And he owes it all to Lenk. Believing that the demon will heal a broken world that the gods have abandoned, Lenk serves as reluctant champion to Khoth-Kapira's cause. But as the desperate and fearful flock to Khoth-Kapira's banner, begging for salvation, Lenk begins to doubt his patron's great designs.
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Fantastic Finish
- By Casey on 07-18-18
By: Sam Sykes
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Tower of the Forgotten
- The Tainted Cabal Prequel Novella
- By: Mitchell Hogan
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
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Niklaus, master swordsman, has not aged a day since being chosen by his mercurial goddess. A slave to her will, he moves from one cryptic mission to the next in the hope of ascending to become her equal. But even a man who has lived for centuries can sometimes find himself out of his depth. When Niklaus is sent to kill a sorcerer of the Tainted Cabal, overconfidence leads to a fatal mistake, and neither experience nor skill with a blade can prevail against the forces unleashed against him.
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What's Next?
- By James on 06-04-17
By: Mitchell Hogan
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Heroes Die
- The First of the Acts of Caine
- By: Matthew Stover
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions.
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Don't Let the Cover Turn You Off
- By Paul on 08-13-12
By: Matthew Stover
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Hollen the Soulless
- Dokiri Brides, Book 1
- By: Denali Day
- Narrated by: Shane East
- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Always the dutiful daughter, Lady Joselyn is weeks away from marrying a rival lord in order to save her house. However, she suddenly finds herself in the clutches of an ancient beast she’s only ever heard of in legends. More terrifying than that is the beast’s master, a wild man who insists Joselyn is his bride by right, and plans to seal his claim in blood. Dragon-rider Hollen has finally captured the woman of his dreams, though he quickly learns waiting for her was less than half the battle.
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Love It!
- By Lily U. on 05-20-21
By: Denali Day
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Abomination
- By: Gary Whitta
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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He is England's greatest knight, the man who saved the life of Alfred the Great and an entire kingdom from a Viking invasion. But when he is called back into service to combat a plague of monstrous beasts known as abominations, he meets a fate worse than death and is condemned to a life of anguish, solitude, and remorse. She is a fierce young warrior, raised among an elite order of knights. Driven by a dark secret from her past, she defies her controlling father and sets out on a dangerous quest.
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cool concept. typical execution.
- By Amazon Customer on 11-22-16
By: Gary Whitta
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Onyx & Ivory
- By: Mindee Arnett
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
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They call her Traitor Kate. It’s a title Kate Brighton inherited from her father after he tried to assassinate the high king of Rime. Cast out of the nobility, Kate now works for the royal courier service. Only the most skilled ride for the Relay and only the fastest survive, for when night falls, the drakes - deadly flightless dragons - come out to hunt. Fortunately, Kate has a secret edge: She is a wilder, born with forbidden magic that allows her to influence the minds of animals.
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Fantastic.
- By Alex Tollefson on 06-04-18
By: Mindee Arnett
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Get the Fall of Radiance boxed set, featuring all five action-packed books in the best-selling epic fantasy series - including adventure, magic, war, and a bond between warriors that can't be broken.
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I cried at the end of this damn thing.
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The Ancient Woods of Saldia hold secrets. The gnarled oaks are home to murderers, slavers, and the legendary blightwolves that ravage the countryside by the light of the twin moons. In a world of rabid wolves the size of horses, not-so-extinct dragons, and magical reagents that grow over every inch of the land, tonight is unique. Tonight, a merciless king dies alone in the forest. Tonight, an usurper rises from within the ranks of the king's trusted noblemen. Tonight, ancient enchantments are unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
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Awful. Cliche.
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Mankind has lorded over the land of Illian for a thousand years, building on the ruins left by the elves, as if it were their birthright. A thousand years is a long time for an immortal race to see the truth of things, a truth that has remained unsaid for a millennium - elves are superior. They are faster, stronger, and connected to the magical realm in a way that man could never grasp. Illian should belong to them.
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Worth it
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The rot eats away at mortals. The Witnesses pray so that they may not turn into one of the forgotten. And the constricting mists infect the lands with fear. But there is more to this tale than just the Elders and their Seeds. Four mortals will have a part to play in Minethria’s fate. A farmer girl with only love in her eyes. A warrior born to the life of a refugee. A highborn stuck between the realm of gods and men. And a woman running into front lines and away from home.
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Catharsis abound
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The Silent Champions: Publisher's Pack
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As the son of a famous general, Aravon is proud to captain his own company against his people's enemy. But the experienced veteran’s march toward glory dissolves into pain as ruthless barbarians massacre every last one of his soldiers. Burning for vengeance, he leaps at the chance to spearhead a specially trained company and pay back his tragic defeat with blood.
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Such modern, so politics, wow
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What listeners say about The Emperor's Blades
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- Deldepth
- 05-15-15
The pace of the story dragged it down.
As far as stories goes, this has a very slow pace. It wasn't until the last few hours of the audiobook when the story really started to pick up and gain shape. Up until that point, there were just a multitude of cliché cliff hangers while the story switched from character to character.
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- Skipper
- 03-09-16
3rd-person POV fantasy, and not too long
This is the first book of an epic fantasy trilogy, set in a Japanese-type medieval culture. It's told in 3rd person, with the POV limited to the Emperor's three children, ages 17, 18, and 21. He calls them his blades. Hence the title.
I would rate the contents PG 16. Violence with tons of bloody gore. No sex, but foul language includes lots of F-bombs and crude sexist language, especially in the Kettral Training Grounds. At times, it was all a bit much.
Good book, despite some quibbles. For a nice change of pace, the magic is atypical. Leaches are born with the ability to draw power from a particular element (like Butcher's Codex Alera). There are ancient portals for traveling long distances, created by the gods (yes, gods play a fairly big role). We also get huge birds with an 80-foot wingspan, trained to fly warriors into combat, similar to Temeraire -- His Majesty's Dragon. (But unlike Novik, Stavely failed to make these birds seem real to me, because he never showed them cold, hungry, thirsty — eating, drinking, sleeping, etc.)
Then they are the nearly immortal Csestriims, a pre-human race, amazingly intelligent and utterly without emotion (see prologue). These Csestriims want to wipe out humanity, similar to the Cyber-race in Battlestar Galactica.
I like the length. Excessively long fantasy novels are not my thing. This series is fairly dark and sad, but also promising, with an engrossing plot. Stavely offers a measured blend of action, dialogue, and interaction. Some internal reflection, but not too much. I enjoyed the proverbs from the monastic Shin (Zen) masters and the quotes from the Book of War.
Scenes transition nicely, without jitterbug leapfrogging (Yay!). Chapters transition from Kaden, studying at the Shin monastery in the Bone Mountains at the edge of the world, to Valyn on the Qirrin Islands, striving to become a Kettral (a black-ops elite warrior who travels on a huge kestrel-like raptor), to the eldest sibling, 21-year-old Adare, the first female finance minister, working in the capital city. When their father suddenly dies, life is never the same for the three, and the race is on to save the Unhewn Throne.
I was afraid all the adults in the book would be incompetent or evil — as many of them were. That would be a total turn off. For credibility, a few adults showed courage and sense.
The map in the e-book is blurry but the author has a sharper image on his blog site. There is an appendix of information about the various gods in the book.
Narration by Simon Vance is nearly perfect but some voices sound too much the same.
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- Nicholas A. Lovier
- 01-25-15
Confusing, but I eventually dug in.
Unfortunately, by the time the characters really started to develop, the story ended. And at a cliffhanger no doubt, to encourage the reader to buy the next book in the series. Very slow at times, but also a deep storyline that has me hooked. I will most likely follow up with book 2 in the series.
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- Penpaperandplans
- 03-23-15
Great Epic Fantasy
What did you love best about The Emperor's Blades?
I knew before starting that the narration would be top notch. I often select books based on my favorite narrators. This story did not disappoint. I hope that this is just the start of an epic series.
What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Simon Vance does not just read a book aloud, he breathes life into each character.
Any additional comments?
Spend that credit. You will not be sorry.
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- Brian Young
- 02-23-15
Just what I was looking for
Where does The Emperor's Blades rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I feel like this series is going to be in my top 3 very soon. I just wish more of the books were out.
What other book might you compare The Emperor's Blades to and why?
I'm not sure how to compare this to another book series. I will say it temporarily filled the void I have while waiting on the next books in The Kingkiller Chronicle and Stormlight Archive series.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Some elements seem a little brutal at times. However, I think it's the author trying to use background to paint each characters motives and emotional state.
Any additional comments?
Overall, I'm very pleased. It was dark, has a little magic, a slight twist on the standard epic fantasy (boy rising to power), a little gore, and plot twists. Bottom line, it was worth the purchase (credit) and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for their next fantasy story.
The only negative I have, is that it developed very slowly and seemed to end abruptly. Perhaps the character building process that I enjoyed is what made it seem slow. I can't say for sure, you'll have to decide for yourself.
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- jay
- 04-21-15
Amazing!!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I have been listening to about 2 or 3 audiobooks a month for the past 4 years and this book is easily in my top 3 of all time. It's one of those rare combinations of genius writing and an exceptional narrator. I'm always a little worried when I buy a fantasy type book because a lot of the time they end up being written for 12 year olds. This is definitely an adult book and it kept me on the edge on my seat through the entire story. I'm listening to the second book in the series right now and it's proving to be just as good as the first. Do yourself a favor and download this, you won't regret it
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Emperor's Blades?
The last two chapters, I kept thinking wow this is a gd masterpiece
What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?
Everything
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I would never admit it if it did but, when _____ died I might of got a lil teary eyed
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- carol
- 04-18-14
Rarely have I listened to such a fabulous book!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would definately recommend this audiobook to a friend. It was so enjoyable; I felt like I was right there in the action. Also strong women in this book, which I definately find appealing!
What did you like best about this story?
The writing was fabulous. I was totally drawn into the story, the action, the drama, the characters.
What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?
Simon Vance is one of my favourite readers. He has an amazingly soothing voice, but also does a multitude of characters voices so well.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes, definately! I had a hard time NOT listening, when I had to do other things that required my attention.
Any additional comments?
Can't wait til the second book comes out. This is a new author, and he is very very talented.
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- Kyle
- 05-23-17
Fantastic
What an amazing world and immersive story, looking forward to the rest of the series
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- Travis
- 06-09-16
Great fantasy book! Pleasantly surprised!
I would definitely recommend! Best I've read since Stormlight! Hopefully it stays strong from here on out! Can't believe I'm just reading this now!
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- Charles Herrin
- 03-06-15
Superb!!
This was a fantastically crafted story. From the get go, Brian creates tension and intrigue, maintaining it so well, while at the same time using the slow-reveal to keep the reader thirsty for more. The characters are well defined and relatable and the issues dealt with tug at the heart-strings. I also seriously enjoyed the world building that went into this creation. It is vast, yet believable, fantastic, but realistic. I would recommend this book to anyone that includes The Lord of the Rings and the Song of Ice and Fire in their top favorites.
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