The Fire's Stone

By: Tanya Huff

Narrated by: Bill Hensel

A wizard, a drunkard, and a thief - three strangers who must learn to work together or Ischia is lost beneath a sea of lava. But Aaron, the thief, is hiding more than stolen jewels. Chandra, the wizard, is running from a political marriage. And Darvish, the prince Chandra is intended to marry and the man Aaron has hidden the most from, well, Darvish really needs a drink. Before they can hope to save Ischia, they must save themselves.

©1990 Tanya Huff (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Poor narrator

What did you love best about The Fire's Stone?

The story is unbeatable

What didn’t you like about Bill Hensel’s performance?

When he's doing straight narration, he's fine. The moment he does a "voice", he tanks. All the women are done in a horrid falsetto. Dervish has a funky thick middle-eastern/Spanish accent, despite the fact that the entire rest of his family has no accent. Local military ships captains have thick Irish accents. I doubt I'll be able to listen to the rest. I've listened to more than half. It's too painful. If he could just read it and not try to perform.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Hensel's"voices" made me cringe and weep.

Any additional comments?

New narrator? Please?

OK, hard to get into & comes in ENHANCED FORMAT

I don't like enhanced format, it won't download to my Blackberry for 'on the road' listening. I didn't notice it before downloading but am unhappy about it now. Book is probably fine, but I have fallen asleep within the first 2 chapters 4 times...slow starter. I love Tanya Huff's work, usually, and I hope this one will warm up. BUT please notice the lack of choice in formating. It doesn't warn you even if you have a default preference, just downloads the enhanced and off you go.

A Fantastic Delight, with Added Gay

If you could sum up The Fire's Stone in three words, what would they be?

Fantasy Heist Adventure

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were all well-rounded people with interesting motivations. The setting was also a richly-realized tapestry with the ring of authenticity to it, and avoids many weary cliches of Yee Medieval European Knockoff

What about Bill Hensel’s performance did you like?

The different voices for characters were well and true.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This was a real page-turner for me. I had to force myself to alternate with other stories to draw out the enjoyment.

Any additional comments?

This may be the best thing Tanya Huff's ever written.

Characters that live

This is a good fantasy story, with believable characters who I would like to see more of. The actors brought them all to life

Overall an enjoyable listen

Any additional comments?

Tanya Huff is just really *good* at this, even in her earlier books it's possible to find enjoyable characters and an interesting and well thought out story.

Some elements are predictable and spelled out but overall just a fun listen and worth the credit (although it's only 11ish hours and not the 22 it was marked as, this seems like a weird bug audible, because I'm sure I've seen it happen before).

Tanya Huff my go to author

When I want something with strong female characters, no limits on sexual preferences and stories of emotional turmoil followed by a happy ending, I read Tanya Huff. Her worlds are refreshingly accepting except for the bad guys of course. This story has emotionally tormented characters with depth. They grow and change and learn about themselves. There's action too. It can be humorous at times too. For me this was a satisfying story. However I didn't care for the narrator. He was adequate but towards the middle he suddenly became inconsistent with strange pauses. He also changed the tone of one of the male characters to something more feminine then back to his original voice toward the end of the book. His female characters were a little too high pitched for my taste too. I didn't care for his narrative style for the parts without dialog. I was able to focus on the story and ignore my dislike of the narrator because he wasn't bad just not great either. Overall an enjoyable fun story with a so so narrator.

An old friend

Was going to continuing listening to another book but ended up listening to an old favorite while to/from work. I just couldn't resist.

I love the balance between Aaron, Chandra and Darvish. They are perfect together in this quest to find themselves as well as save Darvish's country. It is still believable and nice to read how the relationship of the three strengthens through the trip and eventually heals all of them. Although this is my first time to "listen" to the book, I read this book numerous times since I first read this decades ago. It's still gold!
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Original review
OMG just found that this is out in audiobook at Audible.

One of my favorite Tanya Huff book! Should I or should I not? that is the problem. It could be a wonderful comfort listen if the narrator is good.... Hmmm FT/MM and has a nice strong female character... just like a good Yaoi manga.....

Ack! I am getting this. LOL resistance is futile

Great little book!

An old fashioned short fantasy tale that still stands the test of time for me. It's funny, well-written and you can't help fall in love with the 3 main characters.

very dissappointed

1. Was stated to be 22 hours, was only 11

2. listened for a short time, not impressed with main character being homosexual, if I had known I would not of purchased the book. Srry mean no offense but as a heterosexual female I am just not interested in reading how a man falls in love with a man. I just cannot relate to the characters.

3. Audible will not let me automatically return the book, so much for satisfaction guarantee

4. The narrator sounded like he was doing a good job. I would listen to him reading a book in my interest category

characters talk instead of do things

I found the story uninteresting, not because it lacked the things I love, but because most of the plot points happen in dialogue and not in events. it seems carved from Renaissance story telling, where characters tell us about the action instead of us seeing the action. Also, the bi characters seem only nominally bi; I wanted this to be an exploration of the implications of bisexuality in this world, and it's not. He just also pines after a man. lastly, the voice actor occasionally used a strained falsetto for women's voices which for me is unforgivable because it sounds more like parody than a portrayal of a character. I hope he doesn't do that again because I really liked his voice, besides.