Clash of Legions: Empire XIV

Empire, Book 14

By: Anthony Riches

Narrated by: Damian Lynch

Two emperors - one must fall

Marcus Aquila and his patron Rutlius Scaurus have fought a superior enemy force to a standstill in Thracia, gaining the favour of the gods but paying a grievous cost in their family's blood.
Battle-weary and mourning their losses, they are tasked with rooting out a spy ring operating in the lands into which their imperial master Severus's armies are advancing.

Hunting down informers operating under the skilled and ruthless command of their sworn enemy Sartorius, spymaster to the usurper Niger, will not be easy. But the potential to turn his intelligence network, and thereby deceive and distract the enemy, might land a war-winning blow on the army of the east.

The quest to find and subvert their foes' informers will place the two friends at great risk, with torture and death the price of any mistake. While success will put them in the front rank of a bitter battle against battle hardened legions, hungry for revenge, in a bloody struggle to determine the fate of Asia's loyalty.

And Scaurus is a man with a powerful threat still hanging over him, a curse imploring the gods to fell him at the very moment of his greatest victory.

©2024 Anthony Riches (P)2024 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

'A master of the genre' The Times

The narration

I get very frustrated when audible changes narrators part way through a series, and this change in particular has been very frustrating. I struggled at times to tell the difference between characters, where as the previous narrators characters were varied and suited the origins of the characters.

It actually put me off listening to this book and probably wanting to listen to any more in the series. Bring back Saul.

Tough narration

It’s tough to understand whose speaking as every voice is the same. Hope this is a one off.

New narrator leaves a lot to be desired

The story itself is great but the audio version of this is extremely lacking. Saul reichlin had done such an awesome job with the series up to this point. Lynch would have done well to review his performance. The humor and comradery of all the characters seems to have escaped him. All the voices are the same no differentiation between the rougher britons and the equestrian and senatorial characters.

didn't like the new narrator

Please re-record the narration, I gave up with this recording, This is the only time I have ever stopped listening to series I love over the narration.

so sad that Saul is gone.

I thought the continued adventures of the familia was well layed out and fun. To our new narrator, welcome to this new world. the only feedback would be to try and individualize the characters voices more. Your cadence and emphasis on the words was welcomed and I look forward to the next installment.

Horrible reader

Just can’t get through it. The reader is very bad. Every character has the same voice. The Eastern spy master sounds the same as the Briton and the Roman gentlemen. Just awful.

Narration was awful.

The narrator used the same boring voice the whole time. No distinction between characters. The fake yelling voice was also just terrible. I’m sure the book was great but the narration made it extremely boring. If you want help falling asleep this is for you.