The Emperor's Tomb

By: Steve Berry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The tomb of China’s First Emperor, guarded by an underground army of terra-cotta warriors, has remained sealed for more than 2,000 years. Though it’s regarded as one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world, the Chinese government won’t allow anyone to open it. Why? That question is at the heart of a dilemma faced by former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, whose life is shattered when he receives an anonymous note carrying an unfamiliar Web address. Logging on, he sees Cassiopeia Vitt, a woman who’s saved his life more than once, being tortured at the hands of a mysterious man who has a single demand: Bring me the artifact she’s asked you to keep safe. The only problem is, Malone doesn’t have a clue what the man is talking about, since Cassiopeia has left nothing with him. So begins Malone’s most harrowing adventure to date—one that offers up astounding historical revelations, pits him against a ruthless ancient brotherhood, and sends him from Denmark to Belgium to Vietnam then on to China, a vast and mysterious land where danger lurks at every turn.

©2010 Scott Berry (P)2010 Random House Audio

Couldn't finish listening

I typically love listening to Scott Brick, but between his overplay of the lines and the story that I just couldn't get interested in, I was bored to tears. I listened for about 4 hours and then decided I wasn't going to waste my time trying to get invested.

Yawn...

I see that everyone seems to like this narrator. I think he is terrible. I will admit, I love when each character has his/her own voice. When the book first starts, the narrator does not "do voices" and it is somewhat difficult to follow who is saying what with his slightly irritating inflections, usually at the ends of sentences. When a Russian character enters the scene, all of a sudden this character has a flawless Russian accent (and I mean PERFECT!). And then the narrator starts giving distinctive voices to the rest of the characters. However, these voices are sketchy and inconsistant throughout the rest of the story (except the Russian). The main character has an American southern accent. I think.
At times, he uses the same "voice" for several Chinese characters. This voice is the slow, deliberate voice of an elderly Chinese man - seems believable. But when this character has a long monologue, the narrator speeds up the reading and the effect is lost.
This is my first exposure to Steve Berry, which is unfortunate because I think I might enjoy his books. There is a lot of history, but I am not sure it is only for buffs. I am not a history buff, but I did find it interesting -- although I also did a lot of rewinding...
Its an ok audio book as far as that goes, but definitely don't pay full price for it!

Waste of time and money

I purchased this audio book on sale.....and now I know why it was on sale. The narration was so bad, it was nearly impossible to differentiate between characters. The attempt at Chinese accents hurt my ears it was so bad. Don't waste your time or money on this one.

Chinese Garbage Disposal Unit

Any additional comments?

This was my first Steven Berry "adventure". While I appreciated the voluminous tidbits about Chinese history like Mao's failed embalming and his communist inspired genocide, the actual plot line was terrible and characters laughable. The torture scenes were unnecessary. Scott Brick reads well as always, but even he cannot save this monstrosity. Awful!

Not good

Oddly a very negative feeling towards China from people who have never been. The whole story is not very realistic or believable and the characters don't stick in the mind. Overall a weak book.

Same old, same old

What would have made The Emperor's Tomb better?

plot is old Only different places and names So simplistic

Would you listen to another book narrated by Scott Brick?

Yes

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

If in paper, good for recycling bin

boring, boring, boring

i normally love steve berry and am usually fascinated by anything to do with china. but for some reason could not get into this book. it was so boring. i kept losing the plot... thinking about shopping, what to cook for dinner, have the kids done their homework?

this book fails in its basic job: namely to entertain. i got about 4 hours in and then decided not to waste any more of my time on it. got a lee child instead. feel cross about the loss of a credit.

AVOID!!!!!

Too much history not enough mystery.

Every time they gave more and more background on someone or something that happened that got repetitive I wanted to scream! You got the idea of the backstory without needing it being so detailed. I get it!!! Now stop! Description made it sound like it was going to be some great treasure hunt mystery. I wasted a VERY EXPENSIVE credit. I loved the Amber Room book but this was HORRIBLE!!! Love Scott Brick as a narrator of ANY book. He was all that got me through this book!

Dull

A disappointing offering from the usually reliable Berry. The plot is disjointed and boring, the characters lacking in anything resembling reality. Even Malone doesn't measure up.

Scott Brick doesn't help the book. He's trying to control the annoying lilt at the end of each sentence with about 90% success. He doesn't do accents or character voices well, and in this book it's a major failing. It's hard to tell which character is talking.

Glad to be done with this one. Hope Berry's next book is a lot better.

The Emperor's Tomb

I really tried to pay attention to this book, but kept falling asleep. The historical content was good, but the way Scott Brick narrated was the worst. His Chinese accent was horrible. He is one of the worst readers I have ever listened to. I will not be listening to any more books that he narrates in the future. Too bad for me because some of the other authors he narrates for I really like.
Audible, please do something about this.