City of Bones

By: Martha Wells

Narrated by: Kyle McCarley

Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working on the edge of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors and to support Sagai's family. When Khat is hired to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients' arcane engines, they are both reluctant to become involved. But the request comes from the Warders, powerful mages who serve Charisat's Elector.

Khat soon discovers that the deadly politics of Charisat's upper tiers aren't the only danger. The relics the Warders want are the key to an Ancient magic of unknown power, and, as all the inhabitants of Charisat know, no one understands the Ancients' magic.

©1995 Martha Wells (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This finely crafted novel expertly combines several genres-SF, fantasy, horror-and, perhaps most impressive of all, even manages to avoid an overly sentimental ending." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)

Not the best narration but certainly not the worst

I found this book while I was waiting for the newest book in the Murderbot Diaries to be released - I'm officially a self-proclaimed Martha Wells fan. I love her world-building and unique character perspectives.

The narrator isn't my favorite and he did rob some of the characters of their ability to be taken seriously, giving them somewhat "cartoony" voices, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish listening or get fully immersed in the story.

As a casual listener, tough to follow initially

Took awhile to get into the story, which was unique, but I kept at it until the story smoothed out for me. The narrator was OK but not enough differentiation when a lot of characters were in the mix. I didn't get a good idea of what the point of the story was until about half way through. I enjoyed the dialog of the MurderBot series more.

Get off the fence and put your cash on the barrel head!

I can’t even count how many times I’ve re-listened to Martha Wells several different series, but she has become one of my all time favorite authors, along with Anne Leckie, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, John Scalzi , Brian McClellan , Elliott Kay, John Conroe, and Elizabeth Moon. There are many other great writers who speak to me, but these are just some of the people who I re- listen to regularly.

Martha Wells has become a superstar with her Murderbot series, and they are fantastic, but I love her fantasy series and standalone novels (such as City of Bones) as much if not more.
If you’re even remotely on the fence about getting this audiobook, just gently get down from that fence so you don’t tear your jeans on the barbed wire and hit “purchase “…you won’t ever regret listening to a Martha Wells book.
Promise.

Good storming telling horrible narrative

The narrator sounded like he was reading a detective novel and the voices were aweful.

good story

good world building, characters you relate to, narrator sounds board, nothing more to say about it

World building

Very interesting characters ( human, almost human, not human at all) cooperating to solve a mystery/puzzle. Spoiler alert: no robots. No space ships. No what we science. Mostly magic

Sweet story great characters

Read this a long time ago and the audio is even better. Narrator does a great job.

Excellent characters.

I loved the story and the world. The characters were compelling.... well set up for a sequel. Filled with the usual tropes, but written well enough that I hardly cringed at all.

A Childhood favorite, garishly narrated.

I've loved this book since I discovered it in the mid 90's (always hoping for a sequel), but was excited to see it available on Audible. The story holds up, but I almost gave up on it a few times because of the narration.

Narrator…

I liked the story pretty good, a bit slow and confusing to visualize at times. I like the narrator too but not for this story. He has amazing cartoon character voices but cannot do a woman’s voice to save his life.