A Kingdom Besieged

Book One of the Chaoswar Saga

By: Raymond E. Feist

Narrated by: John Meagher

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

After nearly 30 years and more than two dozen novels, Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle has become one of the most iconic, beloved, and enduring sagas in modern fantasy. The Riftwars were epic battles between Good and Evil whose ramifications have echoed through generations. The latest entry in the epic, A Kingdom Besieged, ushers in the most fearsome threat the Kingdom has yet faced - the Chaoswar - a magic apocalypse with cataclysmic results.

Years ago, the Empire of Great Kesh failed in its attempt to conquer Krondor after the Serpentwar, thanks to the bravery, cunning, and magic of the sorcerer Pug and the Conclave of Shadows. Since then, peace has benefitted both nations, and the Kingdom has been free from the threat of another Keshian invasion. Yet now, the dark clouds of war gather again....

From the Far Coast in the west to the frontier with the Eastern Kingdoms, rumors, uncertainty, and political instability are rampant. Spies have gone missing - some were murdered; others have turned traitor. Factions are rising, powerful legions from the Keshian Confederacy have been mobilized, and an attack on the kingdoms of the Isles and Roldem is all but certain.

As the men of the Western Realm begin to mount a defense, Martin conDoin, the middle son of Lord Henry, Duke of Crydee, finds himself leading the charge against the invaders - like his legendary ancestor, Prince Arutha. But Arutha had an entire army at his command. Martin has just a ragtag force comprised of a few old men and young boys.

As Kesh's invading hordes once again descend upon the Kingdom, no one is safe - not experienced masters of intrigue Lord James Dasher Jamison and the beguiling and deadly Lady Franciezka; not the brave warrior Knight-Adamant Sandreena and a new generation of loyal yet untested defenders; not even the great Pug himself, the most powerful magician the world of Midkemia has ever known.

©2011 Raymond E. Feist (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

enjoyed the book but the narrator is horrendous

This narrator does not have the necessary skills to do his job. He reads past the breaks for point of view changes so you cannot tell he is either on a new chapter or changed scenes.

His Voice does not pull you into the story at all, he is boring, and his character voices are terrible.

the publisher needs to have these readings redone. His reading is detrimental potential fans as it makes the book not enjoyable to listen to.

Narrator improving, but still bad

This book is best listened to using speed of 0.85, otherwise the narration is way too fast for actual enjoyment.

After that, you can look forward to rabid and consistent mispronunciation of midekemia specific words such as Keshian (KESH-ee-uhn, NOT KEESH-ee-in).

Sounds petty, but the truth is that hearing poor pronunciation is like someone tying rope around your waist and then tugging on it randomly in random directions while walking down a hallway: you cannot get anywhere fast and it ruins an otherwise nice walk,

Very annoying, and now I wonder why I paid money for someone to connect my testicles with wires and then plug it into an electrical receptacle in the wall.

Do you smell something burning?

Will it ever end....

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I'm half way through this book and I must say the narrator was a poor choice. He's not too bad when performing some of the characters voices, but he's insufferable any other time.

What didn’t you like about John Meagher’s performance?

nothing......really......nothing

recording quality is shockingly bad

I can't believe they would actually allow a recording this bad to be published. I loved the book and it fit with the rest if fiests work.

Well. Hmmm.... I can say I finished it...

Well. This was my first Feist book. I guess I didn't realize this was a series related to earlier series by the same author. Anyway, I didn't really feel lost due to not being aware of any related/back stories. It was a super long story though... and not in a good way. Has a lot of characters and they are not particularly different from each other, so sometimes I had to go back to check a name to find out if he was prince 1 or prince 2 in the story. There are no female characters... well... of course there are females, they just have no character development. But at least they weren't prizes to be won either. Overall... I finished it. I am not very likely to read any more in the series though, probably not even if the next book was on sale...

The narration is fine. There is not a lot of pause between sections/characters so sometimes it took a few seconds to figure out we were with a different group/location in the story. There is not much difference between the characters, so no way to tell who was "talking" until someone's name was mentioned. No gore, no swearing, no sex.

I still love the writing style of this, and the royalty created

Cannot stand the performer, mispronounces everything. I think a little bit of research should be gone into how the first 29 books were performed before these people come in and just change the view of the world we we have come to know and love

Fix your audio

Did you record this in a server room?! As an audio engineer it hurts to listen to this. How can you ignore the MASSIVE amount of background noise. EQ, deEssing, reverb.....all crap. Production value of this is awful. I had to fix it before I ended up listening to it.

Bad narrator

What happened to the previous narrator? This guy speaks to quickly, doesn’t have a good variety of accents & most importantly mispronounces names & places. If the story wasn’t so good, I wouldn’t bother. Has the producer never heard of continuity??

Great story, poor performance

It's a standard continuation of the Riftwar Cycle. Much of what comes is rooted in it's past. Don't expect grand new ideas, but revel in the fan service. Sadly, a subpar reader mars damages this audiobook but it isn't unlistenable. Be prepared for the just most wrong fantasy word pronunciation ever.

Unfortunate narration

While I suppose narrators have to get experience somewhere, it is a shame for this series to be concluded by someone with out the skill to properly service the work. They story is great. The performance, not so much.