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Speaks the Nightbird
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 30 hrs and 42 mins
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Publisher's summary
Audie Award Nominee, Fiction, 2013
Judgment of the Witch
The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe a witch has cursed their town with inexplicable tragedies - and they demand that beautiful widow Rachel Howarth be tried and executed for witchcraft. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Believing in Rachel's innocence, Matthew will soon confront the true evil at work in Fount Royal....
Evil Unveiled
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Once there were hundreds of members of the Oversight, the brave souls who guard the borders between the mundane and the magic. Now there are only five. When a vagabond brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, she could answer their hopes for new recruit, or she could be the instrument of their downfall.
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Fantastic start to a fantasy series
- By jessica on 06-01-14
By: Charlie Fletcher
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Shaman's Crossing, Book One of the Soldier Son Trilogy
- By: Robin Hobb
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugo and Nebula Award finalist Robin Hobb crafts intricate fantasy tales featuring larger-than-life characters and exotic landscapes. Nevare Burvelle survives the King’s Cavalla Academy—where nepotism and corruption reign—to become a soldier in the Gernian king’s army. As he and his fellow soldiers are thrust onto the front lines of the king’s brutal territorial expansion campaign, they struggle against the Plainspeople—forest-dwellers who possess a powerful magic long dismissed by the Gernians.
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Sometimes Magic Isn't A Good Thing
- By Therese M. Woolley on 10-18-13
By: Robin Hobb
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Pirates
- By: Linda Lael Miller
- Narrated by: Jeanine Bartel
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Phoebe Turlow needs to get out of Seattle and forget about the man she just divorced, her dwindling finances, and the lonely nights that stretch ahead of her. But she can't foresee what awaits her on Paradise Island. Duncan Rourke is known to historians as "the pirate patriot". He's been dead for two centuries - or at least he's supposed to be, until Phoebe Turlow steps out of a van, into a run-down island hotel, and into his world.
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Narrator Spoiled An Interesting Story
- By twocats on 06-04-20
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The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
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Very Good, With One Objection
- By Kindle Customer on 05-05-20
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
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The Scar
- By: Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko, Elinor Huntington - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Sergey and Marina Dyachenko mix dramatic scenes with romance, action and wit, in a style both direct and lyrical. Written with a sure artistic hand, The Scar is the story of a man driven by his own feverish demons to find redemption and the woman who just might save him. Egert is a brash, confident member of the elite guards and an egotistical philanderer. But after he kills an innocent student in a duel, a mysterious man known as “The Wanderer” challenges Egert and slashes his face with his sword, leaving Egert with a scar that comes to symbolize his cowardice.
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Highly, highly, Highly Recommended
- By Robert on 08-13-12
By: Sergey Dyachenko, and others
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Luck in the Shadows
- Nightrunner, Book 1
- By: Lynn Flewelling
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things, none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec's new mentor.
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Fantastic Series! Homophobes, shut up!
- By Ted on 09-23-11
By: Lynn Flewelling
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Except the Dying
- A Murdoch Mystery, Book 1
- By: Maureen Jennings
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In the cold Toronto winter of 1895, the naked body of a servant girl is found frozen in a deserted laneway. The young victim was pregnant when she died. Detective William Murdoch soon discovers that many of those connected with the girl's life have secrets to hide. Was her death on attempt to cover up a scandal in one of the city's influential families?
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If you like the show - don't buy
- By Sarah on 06-09-16
By: Maureen Jennings
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The Unseen
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Webb
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Cannings' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.
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Great book!
- By Dana on 09-03-12
By: Katherine Webb
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What listeners say about Speaks the Nightbird
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- aaron
- 06-05-12
Dark, Twisted Period Piece with GREAT Characters!
McCammon never disappoints. This story stays localized in the Carolinas, at a time when people still believed in witches. ---Yes, there was a time in this country when we believed in witches. The attention to detail is extraordinary. McCammon takes you to this dirty little backwoods town and leaves you there with no map...and you will LOVE it! The story itself is a mystery...of sorts.... but it feels like more of a journey novel. This is due to the fact that the characters are so incredibly unique and well fleshed-out, that you forget you're reading a mystery.
Warning--This book is VERY adult. Without getting too "spoiler-ry" about it, I'll just say that there are a few depraved acts that take place that I wouldn't want my child reading (listening) about.
The narrator is GREAT.
If you're itching for a good period piece, with a sprinkle of "who dunnit", then this is the book for you.
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- Marie
- 07-12-12
Started a 5, eased into a 4, slowly sank to a 3
For the first 10 hours I enjoyed this book, then it started to drag. And the drag was compound by the main character becoming a tiresome bore. Entire chunks of the manuscript could have been deleted and the story would not have suffered. The story begins to bog down midway. I kept forgetting that everything took place in a matter of days, not weeks. It felt like months. By the time I wanted to stop listening, I had invested so much time into the story I felt I had to see it through
The positives:
-The narrator, Eduardo Ballerini, does a superb job. I would definitely listen to another of his books.
-Robert McCammon is a wonderful writer. His language is evocative and sucks the reader into the story. There is just too much of it.
-Great character studies of the residents of Fount Royal, even the bad guys. And that contributes to the negatives because some characters feel like they were there because the author wanted to write about them, not because they were critical to the story.
The negatives:
-The 30 hours which should have been 20 - at most
-Matthew Corbett's repetitive and sanctimonious whining. I don't blame some of the other characters for not taking him seriously.
-Characters that appear and then disappear once they have served their purpose. What, for instance, happened to the blacksmith after his tryst with his equine companion?
-My unwillingness to believe that a young man as educated and smart as Matthew would throw away his entire live on a woman he met briefly.
-The book takes place over less than two weeks yet feels like it is at least two months.
-Others have pointed out the details that are off for the period.
-Too many characters that serve little purpose other than to help Matthew uncover someone's secret. The troupe of actors come to town, months ahead of schedule. with a new stage manager who just happens to have been acquainted with one of the bad guys decades ago in England. The troupe appears one day and then departs the next.
-The absence of positive females, or many female characters at all, except the witch and the housekeeper. The only other females were an entreprenurial shrew and her seemingly possessed daughter. None of the main male characters had a wife living in Fount Royal. The wives were all dead or crazy or addicted but living elsewhere.
The "I almost stopped listening":
-The penis obsessed language used by almost every male character in the story. They all seemed to be obsessed with penises big and small. It didn't feel right. Just like it felt very wrong that the magistrate would tell the slimy innkeeper Matthew was a virgin. Matthew was 20 years old in 1699. I wonder if this would have been acceptable dinner conversation.
-(Spoiler Alert on this one) Instead of finding the scene where poor Lucy the horse is mounted by her owner (in the biblical sense} to be grotesque or repellent, I found it laughable. The image of the man suspended in mid-air in a homemade sex sling to enjoy connubial bliss with his pony made me think of a circus for perverts.
-Matthew is so set on proving Rachael is innocent, yet he willing lets the guilty go free. Most of the main characters have a secret to hide or have been committing crimes. But Matthew keeps the secrets to meet his own ends.
-Matthew can't see past his quest to save Rachael. He was even willing to abandon the magistrate, the man who educated and protected him, for the sake of a woman he barely knew.
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185 people found this helpful
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- Mel
- 02-15-13
Frogs, Mudhens, and Scapegoats
McCammon knows how to tell a story; and in a genre where it is difficult to successfully intersect historical facts with horror and fiction (without "jumping the shark"), he conjours up a plagued Carolina colony inhabited by one of the most ruthless entourages imaginable, to tell us a macabre and convincing tale of witches, demons, and pirate's gold.
Whether or not widow Rachel is a witch--and McCammon keeps us wondering as young Matthew becomes obsessed with the woman and her innocence--she would hardly be the most diabolical resident in Fount Royal. The colorful characters: the gluttonous Mayor Bidwell, rat-catcher Linch, preacher Exodus Jerusalem, Hazelton the town bugger/blacksmith, a one-eyed killer bear, savage natives, and murderous innkeepers keep the story suspenseful and constantly expanding. As Magistrate Woodward sinks deeper into a grave illness, apprentice Matthew is forced to take over the investigation of Rachel and her witchery. Less a traditionalist than the Magistrate, the mystery deepens as a curious Matthew looks beyond the *evidence* into the shady underbelly of the town, revealing bizarre secrets and a possibly less-than-noble motive for witch burning. With a knack for keen observation, (and his pining for Rachel) Matthew seems transformed into a Sherlock Holmes-esque sleuth, with hormones.
You could rightly say it is a long read, at times it seemed too long, and I wished for an abridged edition, but it is packed with atmosphere, great writing, and historical details (a few anachronisms if you're being a stickler) that held my interest. Edoardo Ballerini's voice is nothing less than a fine instrument, and his nuanced performance of the characters was worthy of double **. This choice was a tough one for me; one I was sure I wouldn't like, because I was one of the few that loathed the much loved Swan Song. But, I was so curious. I wound up liking this entertaining piece of skullduggery, and I recommend as a good historical fiction book for your consideration (with noted caveats)--unless your in a hurry, or a stickler. The fact that I'd written off McCammon, and am now ready to continue with the next volume in this Matthew Corbett series (I like his style) is my endorsement.
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- Brian
- 06-01-12
ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL HISTORICAL MYSTERY FICTION
This is just a wonderful story. If you are a fan of the Outlander series or Charles Dickens or many classic authors you will love this book. Every word drips with precision and power. Such a masterpiece. Not what you would expect from Mccammon a horror master. This book brings you to 1699 and the character of Matthew Corbett. So many twists and turns, great characterizations. Edoardo Ballerini gives a perfect peformance. Cannot say enough.
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- Catherine P.
- 06-10-12
Extraordinary!
I never write reviews... Too lazy! But this book is so extraordinary that it deserves to be pushed into the hands (ears) of every serious reader. The plot is complex; the mystery is engrossing; the characters are perfectly drawn; the period detail is flawless; and the philosophical conclusions the reader enjoys are rich. Go for this one....
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-17-12
Meh...
I am able to listen to audio books at work, which is the only reason I got as far in this book as I did. I currently have 3 hours left and am just so over it that I doubt I will finish it. I don't even care what happens. The book mildly held my attention for 2/3 and the last 1/3...is just disappointing. Nothing is really getting wrapped up and I'm bored (everyone else seems to love it, so I'm assuming that the "wrapping up" takes place in the upcoming 3 hours).
It takes a LONG time for the story to pick up. Hours and hours in, you are still wondering when the plot will "really" develop. And when the plot DOES go somewhere...it splices in so many different directions that it feels like 10 different, bordering-on-snooze-fest stories. Plus, it's super weird. For instance, there is a fairly graphic scene of bestiality that takes place near the beginning of the book...and the author does nothing with it. The kid runs out of the barn and that's all you hear of the blacksmith and his horses...for the rest of the book. (Granted, I do still have 3 hours left...maybe the story goes back to it? Doubtful) My point is, it seems like it's just grossness for the sake of being gross. And there are numerous descriptions of demon sex, etc...which, in my opinion don't add to the story. It just leaves the entire book feeling scattered and dripping with a grimy darkness that you don't know what to do with.
Not my favorite. I definitely don't recommend. I tried it because it got such rave reviews, so I'm trying to balance everything out :)
As a side note, the narrator was excellent. I only gave him 4 stars because I can't for the life of me figure out why he's reading this book. I see him narrating The Count of Monte Cristo or something...which is what I'm going to listen to next. (Doing a bit of course correcting on my audio books)
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- 9S
- 02-04-13
One of the best from Audible
This is one of the few audio books that makes me wish Audible had a 10 star rating system. Speaks the Nightbird deserves 10 stars. Life in Colonial America must have been brutal beyond anything we can imagine. Yet Robert McCammon does imagine it and he does so brilliantly. We learn about the superstitions, illnesses, lack of medicine and constant danger of starvation. The story starts in 1699, when Isaac Woodward, magistrate, and his clerk, Matthew Corbett, travel to Fount Royal to investigate Rachel Howarth. Rachel has been accused of murder and of being a witch. Woodward believes Rachel Howarth's accuser's, but Matthew is not so sure, but he has only a few days to prove her innocence. And the story of Matthew's investigation gives us a tale that will leave listener's racing to get the next book in this series. I listened to this audio book in just 4 days. Few books can keep me that mesmerized for 30 hours, but Speaks the Nightbird does so easily. I have such high regard for this first entry that I struggled to express it. I leave you with-it is wonderfully fantastic.
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- Caroline Sandlin
- 06-11-12
Very enjoyable historical fiction!
I really enjoyed this book. Historical fiction is my favorite genre. This series reminds me of the Outlander books without the time travel. Very well written and entertaining from start to finish. I just started the last book and I know it's going to be a while before I find another book I enjoy as much as this series.
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- dumbclub
- 06-23-13
Too much is not enough
The author freely mixes bits of modern parlance with his overuse of contrived Dickensian language. He wallows in the vernacular of the time, trying to convey a sense of life in 1699 America, but ultimately, the overuse is a distraction. Why say something plainly when you can force layers of awkward similes to make it sound "authentic". Edoardo Ballerini delivers this babble well, but he is unable to salvage the author's exuberance for flowery gibberish.
McCammon's attempts at eroticism come off as unfortunate and gratuitous sexual exploitation of his readers/listeners that would likely drive even Ken Follett to rethink what he believes the average reader secretly desires. McCammon is willing, even eager, to put a tawdry spin on nearly everything his poor characters do. After so much grungy titillation threatens the morality of his characters, his credibility takes a serious hit.
And when considering his trustworthiness as an author of historical fiction, his cavalier use of artistic license has to be challenged. His fact checking becomes secondary to inadvertently painting an inaccurate, but convenient portrait of life in the colonies. As a small example, the place where a blacksmith works is a smithy and he is referred to as a smith, not the other way round. The inaccuracies are troubling and they become such a distraction, that they undermine the strengths that an otherwise good story might have capitalized on.
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- Peggie
- 06-14-12
Great Story and Professional Performance
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This book has taken its place in the pantheon of my favorite books, alongside Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens), Outlander (Diana Gabaldon), and The Quincunx (Charles Palliser). The story is complex and compelling, the characters are unique and complicated, and Edoardo Ballerini has turned in one of the most accomplished performances I have ever heard. Serious readers owe it to themselves to listen.
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