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Hannibal Rising  By  cover art

Hannibal Rising

By: Thomas Harris
Narrated by: Thomas Harris
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Publisher's summary

He is one of the most haunting characters in all of literature. At last the evolution of his evil is revealed.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck. He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him. Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki. Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France. But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn. He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.

Serial thriller: don't miss more from Thomas Harris.
©2006 Yazoo Fabrications, Inc. (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“There are images of morbid beauty here.... Harris' handling of the wartime violence is also impressive, as swift and vicious as the blitzkrieg itself.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Gripping detail.... [Harris] moves the story along at an impressively fast clip.” (Boston Globe)

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What listeners say about Hannibal Rising

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    5 out of 5 stars

Good origin story

Thankfully, I had read the reviews about the narration and was prepared for it. I don't think it is as bad as others have made it out to be. Remembering the different foreign names was a bit tricky only because I am not accustomed to hearing them. The overall story is good and I can't wait to listen to the next.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

eh

struggled to finish. not as good as other books in series. Harris' reading was amazing with accents

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not boring

slow at the beginning but definitely picks up later to where I lost myself in the story.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great story but crappy recording

enjoyed the back story but the recording had a multitude of blank spaces. that part sucked

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just another reason writers shouldn't narrate...

This book was great, but it only strengthened my belief that the authors of the books should in no way narrate their own books....

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Hannibal Origins

Strange way to end a series but a great story all the same I recommend

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Love this Author

Great story and a really great narration. Listened to this in one whole sitting while fishing. Highly recommend!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wish a voice actor would’ve read it

I hate to write this as a fellow Southerner, but I almost returned this audiobook multiple times due to the author’s Southern accent being so distracting. I flew through the first three audiobooks of the Lecter series because the voice actors were all incredible in their own ways, and I easily got sucked into the story. It has taken me about 4x as long to get through this one because I kept having to go back and re-listen to other parts over and over. The various accents he does are not bad, but his primary one truly just does not fit the story at all, especially compared to the first three audiobooks. He just doesn’t set the scene as well, so it’s easier to wander off mindlessly. I’m glad I finished the audiobook, but I will definitely be picking up the hard copy to re-read.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting

I liked the idea of hearing about what made Hannibal the sociopath, it was interesting how Thomas Harris portrayed him as a severely damaged child. The book was a bit disjointed, and it was difficult sometimes to keep track of all the names (being a visual person, I have a much easier time reading when there are lots of characters). The one major downfall was actually the narrator, and while I know it was the author himself, his southern accent really threw me off when I was trying to get into a Eastern European story, and his French and German accents were even more distracting. I appreciate his involvement, but I think another narrator would have served better. It is a good book, however, and I recommend it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Revenge the motive?

Revenge for WWII war crimes. That's how it all began. Everything that happens in this book happens for that reason. But his exploits in the other movies and books go far beyond anythng that could be related to WWII.

I selected this book because of curiosity and I'm still curious. I agree that the choice of narrator was not the best but it's always interesting to see how a writer tells his or her own story. Harris is better than some in that regard even though the accents are off somewhat.

I found it difficult to follow some of the time changes from chapter to chapter. Sometimes they were minutes. Sometimes they were years.

I listen o audiobooks while I walk so it helped fill some time. It hasn't stimulated any great desire to explore this character any further even though I'm sure a movie will follow. Perhaps a movie will be more compelling than the listen.

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3 people found this helpful