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Forge of Darkness

Kharkanas Trilogy, Volume 1

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Forge of Darkness

By: Steven Erikson
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
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About this listen

Now is the time to tell the story of an ancient realm, a tragic tale that sets the stage for all the tales yet to come and all those already told.... It's a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the realm of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power…and even death is not quite eternal.

The commoners' great hero, Vatha Urusander, is being promoted by his followers to take Mother Dark's hand in marriage, but her Consort, Lord Draconus, stands in the way of such ambitions. The impending clash sends fissures throughout the realm, and as the rumours of civil war burn through the masses, an ancient power emerges from the long dead seas. Caught in the middle of it all are the First Sons of Darkness, Anomander, Andarist, and Silchas Ruin of the Purake Hold....

Steven Erikson entered the pantheon of great fantasy writers with his debut, Gardens of the Moon. Now he returns with the first novel in a trilogy that takes place millennia before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and introduces readers to Kurald Galain, the warren of Darkness. It is the epic story of a realm whose fate plays a crucial role in shaping the world of the Malazan Empire.

©2012 Steven Erikson (P)2012 Random House AudioGo Epic Fantasy

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The trouble with splitting up an epic many-threaded story into two is that you have a first volume of relentless introductions and scene setting with relatively little actual story.

The reading is outstanding and deserves great credit for making a huge cast sound distinctive and recognisable.

Ponderous, rambling, brilliantly read

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Really enjoyed this book as it gives great insight into the origins of the Tiste and others of the original novels but it is a dense complicated story with a lot of philosophical musings and political machinations so not everyone’s cup of tea, that said if you are a fan of the malaz series then this is a must.

Great if your are a fan of the Malazan world

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I love Malazan Book of the Fallen, and had some hopes this book to be of the same quality, however the author has those to tell large parts of the story and lore through thoughts of his characters. This results in it being incredibly hard to keep track of who's rambling thoughts were following and how things are connected with a large plethora of characters through whom we get to try and follow.

At the same time the performance of the audio narration is sub par to the other Malazan books, wich means theres little help at times differenting between characters when theres more in one scene.

Nor impossible to follow and understand, but I lost large parts of the story since at times I couldn't help zoning out and ind during listening.

Hard to enjoy as an audiobook.

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Fantastic story complemented by excellent narration. Couldn't stop listening and already have the next volume!

As always amazing

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Misleading practices by Audible - the name suggests this is the full book however it's actually only a third. You will need to buy volume 2 and 3 to get the full book.

Not the full book!

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Erikson is the modern Shakespeare of fantasy. The kharkanas trilogy is arguably the greatest of them all, but not anyones favourite. The prose can be challenging but very rewarding. The discourse continuously exquisite. If you make it to the end you will need your wits about you, but you will come through stronger, wiser. Changed.

Hear ye a story of tragic proportion

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I find that I cannot listen to this slow enough to not be distracted by interpreting the form of English used. At times I have found the narrative to have excessive details and leaving me bewildered by what I should be remembering versus that which is just trying to paint a picture. I will persevere with it till the end of this book and see if it becomes clearer.

The English is too Larney

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the reader for this book is the best I have ever come across. you can listen to the man read a restaurant menu and still be entertained. the book itself is hard to get into but the comparisons with Shakespeare are not far off. Erikson's writing is poetry in motion

best audio

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It was a difficult listen with sections running into each other without breaks and names not introducing characters for a couple of sentences, so it is difficult to follow and pick up. Narration was good but the clarity and volume changed between characters within the section making it even more difficult to follow. I have read MBOTF, so had context, others might have the same and I wonder how difficult it was for them. Onto the next.

Too many story lines

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This was a real struggle to finish. Definitely not written with audio books in mind

No Idea What is Goin On

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