The Legend of Broken

By: Caleb Carr

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

With the historical storytelling brilliance of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, the hugely best-selling author of The Alienist writes a bounding epic: The Legend of Broken is an action-packed, multi-charactered tale of a medieval clash of cultures.

In Caleb Carr’s fascinating tale of the kingdom of Broken, legend meets history, science defies all expectation, and one noble soldier struggles to save a fortress city besieged by enemies within and without.

©2012 Caleb Carr. All rights reserved. (P)2012 Simon and Schuster Audio

Decent story, Great narraton, Excellent prose

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, if the friend was in to epic fantasy like novels such as Game of Thrones. However, I would warn them that the last section of the book is a four hour appendix on linguistics and eastern European history that really adds nothing to the story.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the writing. It was lyrical and brought the world of Broken to life.

What does Tim Gerard Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Reynold's rich narration is perfect for the book. It gives the feeling you are listening to a adult fairy tale (don't panic-- there are no fairies!).

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Realm of corruption?

Very detailed=Boring!!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I'm in the second part and bored. Sometimes can be hard to follow. I've lost my interest.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I think this book is a bit too abstract for me.

What aspect of Tim Gerard Reynolds’s performance would you have changed?

The narrator was good. I think it's a hard book to read.

Could you see The Legend of Broken being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No

Brilliant

I don’t write many reviews , but I must say that, with respect, I disagree with other reviews here. The writing is sumptuous and the plot lines have something new relative to the fantasy I’ve read. The cautionary tales regarding religion and science are nuanced but but expertly explored. I consider this Carr’s best work to date.

Decent story and GREAT narration!!!

Any additional comments?

This is one of the freshest and most original stories I have come across in a long time. The way in which Carr first introduces the reader into his world is genius. Blending ancient history and fantasy in this way really captured my full attention. Carr's writing style is witty and insightful. The title alone tells much of what Carr is trying to get across in his story. The narrator also gives a knock out performance Mr. Reynolds really brought the story to life. His infections and tone do a great job of fleshing out and individualizing the characters.

A New Mythology

If you could sum up The Legend of Broken in three words, what would they be?

An incomplete story

What other book might you compare The Legend of Broken to and why?

The Fire and Ice series by Martin. This is a story of people with to the problems of today. There is distrust of a corrupt central government, with the over lay of secular science in opposition to a myth based religion.

What does Tim Gerard Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

This is a hard book for an audible presentation because of the extensive foot notes. I got a written copy from the public library to follow the footnotes.

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

No, it was, however, quite interesting

Any additional comments?

At least one more book should be forthcoming, since the story ends at a point where only the immediate question is answered. In any further writing care should be taken to have more maps and diagrams to supplement the text.

The books is an interesting read

This is an interesting read, and it does have some modern and inaccurate views that do cause the pretense that the story was found in some ancient manuscript. Overall fairly decent story however.

Loved it!

This book really caught and kept my attention. Part fantasy adventure, it reminded me of the original Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West... but much shorter. I will "read" both books again soon, just for the fun of it.

Difficult to follow

Timeline of the story was difficult to follow with author's notes inserted. Had to rewind often to keep characters straight

Just couldn’t do it

Epically overwritten. I listened for seven hours. I didn’t want to give up, but I just didn’t care about any of the characters.

Brilliant Story, Brilliant Narration

Any additional comments?

This is one of the freshest and most original stories I have come across in a long time. The way in which Carr first introduces the reader into his world is genius. Blending ancient hitory and fantasy in this way really captured my full attention. Carr's writing style is witty and insightful. The title alone tells much of what Carr is trying to get across in his story.
The narrator also gives a knock out performance Mr. Reynolds really brought the story to life. His infections and tone do a great job of fleshing out and individualizing the characters. Time Reynolds also brings a sense of humor to the reading. There have already been several moments, and I am only on CHapter 6, where I laughed out loud. It's kind of like Monte Python meets George R.R. Martin.
I had never heard of this book or the author before but at the end of The Daylight War, during the "credits", The Legend of Broken was recommended by the company that produced The Daylight War. I went straight to my computer and downloaded Broken and am super glad that I did.