The Rise of Zenobia
Overlord, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Paul Hodgson
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By:
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JD Smith
About this listen
My name is Zabdas: once a slave; now a warrior, grandfather and servant. I call Syria home. I shall tell you the story of my Zenobia: Warrior Queen of Palmyra, Protector of the East, Conqueror of Desert Lands …
The Roman Empire is close to collapse. Odenathus of Palmyra holds the Syrian frontier and its vital trade routes against Persian invasion. A client king in a forgotten land, starved of reinforcements, Odenathus calls upon an old friend, Julius, to face an older enemy: the Tanukh.
Julius believes Syria should break free of Rome and declare independence. But his daughter's beliefs are stronger still. Zenobia is determined to realise her father's dream.
And turn traitor to Rome ...
©2014 JD Smith (P)2014 JD SmithListeners also enjoyed...
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Now a major motion picture from MGM and Paramount studios, the story follows Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman whose childhood friend, Messala, betrays him. Accused of trying to murder the new Roman governor in Jerusalem, Judah is sentenced to the galley ships and vows to seek revenge against the Romans and Messala. But a chance encounter with a carpenter from Nazareth sets Judah on a different path.
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Maginificient remake
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By: Carol Wallace
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Funeral Games
- A Novel of Alexander the Great
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India.After Alexander's death in 323 B.C. his only direct heirs were two unborn sons and a simpleton half-brother. Every long-simmering faction exploded into the vacuum of power. Wives, distant relatives and generals all vied for the loyalty of the increasingly undisciplined Macedonian army. Most failed and were killed in the attempt.
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Postmortem of an Empire and the Dream that United
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Cleopatra's Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Michelle Moran
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony's vengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome; only two---the 10-year-old twins Selene and Alexander---survive the journey.
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A pretty engaging story
- By Annette on 12-23-09
By: Michelle Moran
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Orion
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- Unabridged
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John O'Ryan is not a god...not exactly. He is an eternal warrior destined to combat the Dark Lord through all time for dominion of the Earth. Follow him, servant of a great race, as he battles his enemy down the halls of time, from the caves of our ancestors to the final confrontation under the hammer of nuclear annihilation.
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Cornucopia of Genre's
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The Bone Doll's Twin
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- Unabridged
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As people start to recall the Oracle's prophecy, Erius begins to quietly kill off his female relatives who pose the only threat to his monarchy. Constantly in fear for her life, Princess Ariani the King's sister, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. But Ariani is married to Lord Rhius, the patron of the powerful wizard Iya, and Iya has sinister plans for the babes.
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Not a bad beginning, but . . .
- By bluestatereader on 12-29-10
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I, the Sun
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- Unabridged
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This is the saga of the Hittite King Suppiluliumas, and rings with authenticity and the passion of a world that existed 1400 years before the birth of Christ. They called him Great King, Favorite of the Storm God, the Valiant. He conquered more than forty nations and brought fear and war to the very doorstep of 18th Dynasty Egypt, but he could not conquer the one woman he truly loved.
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Wonderfully Researched and Fantastic Performance.
- By Rev. Zombie on 07-08-15
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The Skystone
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Everyone knows the story-how Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, how Camelot came to be, and about the power struggles that ultimately destroyed Arthur's dreams. But what of the time before Arthur and the forces that created him?
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Fascinating new series
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Cleopatra's Moon
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- Unabridged
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Princess of Egypt.... Cleopatra Selene is the only daughter of the brilliant Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and General Marcus Antonius of Rome. She’s grown up with jewels on her arms, servants at her feet, and all the pleasures of a palace at her command, and she wants only to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a great and powerful queen. Prisoner of Rome.... Then the Roman ruler Octavianus, who has always wanted Egypt’s wealth, launches a war that destroys all Selene has ever known.
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Great Book
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Shaman's Crossing, Book One of the Soldier Son Trilogy
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- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugo and Nebula Award finalist Robin Hobb crafts intricate fantasy tales featuring larger-than-life characters and exotic landscapes. Nevare Burvelle survives the King’s Cavalla Academy—where nepotism and corruption reign—to become a soldier in the Gernian king’s army. As he and his fellow soldiers are thrust onto the front lines of the king’s brutal territorial expansion campaign, they struggle against the Plainspeople—forest-dwellers who possess a powerful magic long dismissed by the Gernians.
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Sometimes Magic Isn't A Good Thing
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Children of Earth and Sky
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- Unabridged
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From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request - and possibly to do more - and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman posing as a doctor's wife but sent by Seressa as a spy.
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Deep Echoes of the Sarantine Mosaic
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By: Guy Gavriel Kay
What listeners say about The Rise of Zenobia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gilly
- 12-17-14
Bringing the past to life through audio
Would you consider the audio edition of The Rise of Zenobia to be better than the print version?
I have read and loved the print version of this book also, and have to say the audio adaptation really took the story to another level. I think the narrator did a brilliant job with the characters. The voices were just as I had imagined them in my head. And listening to the book, rather than reading it, seemed to transport me to the location.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Bamdad! The voice was wonderful, and although he was probably my favourite character when I read the book, I was delighted with the narrator's handling of him. Brilliant!
What does Paul Hodgson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I think because for me you listen to longer spells of the story - maybe in the car or on a train journey - than I would if I read - you become much more involved and immersed in the story. The characters become real. I do feel with this kind of historical fiction, audio is a fantastic choice.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I laughed at a lot of Bamdad's parts!
Any additional comments?
Can't recommend this highly enough, the marriage of a talented writer and equally talented narrator has resulted in a real joy here.
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- DabOfDarkness
- 04-20-15
Fascinating, entertaining, & educational!
Zabdas tells us his story, that which is closely entwined with his relative, Zenobia. Palmyra, the jewel of Syria, is ruled by Odenanthus, a client king of the Roman empire. While he guards the frontier from the Persians, Rome refuses to send additional aid. Zenobia and her father, Julius Zenobius, feel it is time for Syria to stand on it’s own.
This is an exceptionally engaging historical fiction. Zabdas’s story was exciting, full of his own plight (going from slave to warrior), strained family relations, and the politics between Rome and Palmyra. His tale is told in a back and forth manner, his present day where he is a grandfather and a respected, aged warrior, and his past told through a memoir he is writing and his granddaughter is reading. I found it fascinating to see the young, unsure Zabdas versus the confident, aged warrior.
Before reading this book, I knew little of the Palmyrene Empire (I could spell it and I knew Palmyra was Syrian) and even less about Zenobia. I had no problems getting caught up in the story and learning as I went. The reader does not have to be versed in the times or area to follow this tale. It was delightfully educational.
Zabdas’s uncle, Julius is an interesting figure, being polite and gentile but also knowing when to be a bit cutthroat. He also has his fair share of secrets. So does his daughter, Zenobia. She is regal in her bearing, but also strong-willed. Various male leaders have a hard time tossing her out of meetings without looking the fool. She keeps her personal political agenda close to her chest until near the end of the book. Since we don’t get to spend time in her head, we must guess her motives, as Zabdas does.
I enjoyed every minute of this book and had a hard time putting it down, like for a few hours of necessary sleep. I am very much hoping Book 2 comes to audio.
The Narration: Paul Hodgson was the perfect fit for Zabdas. He did a great job switching back and forth from the unsure youthful Zabdas to the seasoned war veteran Zabdas. There are only a handful of female characters in this book, it being of a small cast. Hodgson had a nice female voice, but I found that all the ladies sounded alike. If two were talking together, I had to pay close attention most of the time to follow who was talking. Hodgson had a variety of accents that added to the over all flavor of the book.
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- Cinders
- 04-23-17
PALMYRA !!!! and Rome….. and even the Persians...
This is marvelous historical fiction. Highly recommended for history buffs, not to mention those of us who never got to see Palmyra before ISIS reduced her ruins to total rubble. I must add that in addition to loving the writing, I enjoyed the narrator very much, and the only reason he didn't get a 5 instead of a 4 is because of the Scottish accent he used for a Syrian. Otherwise, a truly grand listen.
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- prusikgal
- 01-10-15
great characters
really good story but the transition between characters was dificult to follow at the begining. looking forward to the second book.
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- Marie
- 12-24-22
Zenobia who?
Not gonna lie, really thought this would be about Zenobia. It's not. It's about the rise of her cousin and top general, Zabdas. Zenobia is a minor side character. Between the title and description, I feel pretty mislead about this book.
Why on earth would I want to read another book about yet another male military leader in antiquity, when Zenobia is right there??
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