The Shadow King

A Novel

By: Maaza Mengiste

Narrated by: Robin Miles

"A brilliant novel, lyrically lifting history towards myth. It's also compulsively readable. I devoured it in two days." (Salman Rushdie)

In 1935, orphaned servant Hirut struggles to adapt to her new household as Ethiopia faces Mussolini's looming invasion. As the battles begin in earnest, Hirut and other women must care for the wounded. But when Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia is about to lose hope, Hirut helps to disguise a gentle peasant as the emperor to keep the fight alive. She becomes his guard, inspiring women to join the war against fascism.

In this extraordinary, beautifully told epic, Hirut overcomes rape, violence, and imprisonment, finding the strength to fight for her country's freedom and her own. Maaza Mengiste breathes life into complicated characters on both sides of the battle line, shaping a searing story of ordinary women and the advanced army they courageously opposed. Set against the first real conflict of World War II, The Shadow King is a heartrending, indelible exploration of what it means to be a woman at war.

©2019 Maaza Mengiste (P)2019 Recorded Books

Narration accents were awful!

Narration was very, very disappointing. The ethiopian accents were extremely off-base. Audible should be finding authentic voices to read books like this. You’ve done a disservice to an incredibly powerful and beautiful text.

Excellent book, superb reader!

This book is historical fiction that centers the real-life Ethiopian women who fought the invading Italians during WWII. This book brings them to life in beautifully written language. The reader is phenomenal. Highly recommend!

Beautiful book, but hard to read

This book is beautifully written, tells an important and often overlooked story, but is very violent and hard to get through. The tough parts I listened to at a faster speed. When I was about to give up, I read some reviews of the book and interviews with the author and this helped me appreciate the story so much more and want to finish it. I am so glad I did.

Amazing

Loved every second, inspiring and touching story of the women soldiers during the Ethiopia war.

Not quite what I expected

Reviews that I’ve read of this book are accurate in their communication of its excellent literary qualities, and the basics of its plot. What none of them addressed was the role played by rape in the book. The rape and sexual assault of girls and women, and the threat of rape and sexual assault of girls and women, were a nearly constant presence. Rape functioned to shape and reveal character, to move the plot, and as an allegory of colonial violence. It was exhausting. Given how prevalent rape is in war (and peace), I am not complaining about its inclusion here (and I was very glad that the author handled it without a hint of salaciousness), but am shocked that it has been left out of the larger conversation about this book—treated as background, somehow not worth mentioning. I thought I’d mention it. This is a beautiful book, exploring a fascinating history, but often difficult—especially for readers for whom rape and sexual assault are not merely symbolic.

Epic!

Compelling and engaging story, great characters, and a strong audio performance. I enjoyed learning more about the war and found the focus on female soldiers quite interesting. It’s a bit of a slow build, but absolutely worth the ride. Highly recommended!

Anger

I did not enjoy this story, although it was based on a true story and has moments of beautiful writing the story was dark and depressing. Seems to have a strong thread of hate towards men, very few, if any, decent man were featured

Struggled to finish

Too many references to Greek theatre and the Greek choruses jumbled the narrative. Too much explaining by the author. The reader should not try to do accents. Her reading is good but all of her accents meld together -Ethiopian and Italian alike.

Ponderous

I have a stressful, busy job which might be affecting this rating. But I made it halfway through and quit. It was ponderous and confusing. Maybe after my retirement, I can appreciate it.

Tried to get through, but couldn’t

The story was way to slow and the characters not like able or easy to follow. And I didn’t like the narrator’s voice. It returned this book after only listening to 6 chapters.