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A Crown of Swords  By  cover art

A Crown of Swords

By: Robert Jordan
Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
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Publisher's summary

Now an original series starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind.

In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken?

In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.

In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.

In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.

Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn...

The Wheel of Time®
New Spring: The Novel
#1 The Eye of the World
#2 The Great Hunt
#3 The Dragon Reborn
#4 The Shadow Rising
#5 The Fires of Heaven
#6 Lord of Chaos
#7 A Crown of Swords
#8 The Path of Daggers
#9 Winter's Heart
#10 Crossroads of Twilight
#11 Knife of Dreams

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
#12 The Gathering Storm
#13 Towers of Midnight
#14 A Memory of Light

By Robert Jordan
Warrior of the Altaii

By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
The Wheel of Time Companion

By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk
Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

Listen to more books in The Wheel of Time series.
©1996 The Bandersnatch Group, Inc. (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Amid all the Sturm und Drang...is a finely tuned comic strain that both leavens the story and adds to its development. This latest installment of a major fantasy epic definitely will not disappoint its fans." (Booklist)

Featured Article: Wheel of Time Character Guide—Perrin


Among the most popular and enduring characters in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series is Perrin Aybara: blacksmith, Wolfbrother, and Steward of the Dragon. Perrin is a beloved character because of his strength and leadership, and because of his parallels to some heroes from various myths throughout time. Here is everything you ever wanted to know about Perrin Aybara, one of the prophesied saviors to stand up against the Dark One.

What listeners say about A Crown of Swords

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

Chapter 12 is out of order. Audible should fix.

I have read the books before so I noticed a very confusing inconsistency in Egwene's story line. The middle of chapter 12 is tacked on to the end of chapter 11. So you end up listening to the end of chapter 12 followed by the beginning of chapter 12. Once you get to the middle of 12 it skips to chapter 13. It is very confusing but also hard to pick up if you have not read the book before.

So if you are wondering why Egwene is talking to a certain someone after she had already sent said person through a gateway to Ebou Dar in the previous chapter then you have found the mixup. Hope this helps anyone who hadn't noticed.

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134 people found this helpful

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

Solid performance, and a good book.

Since this is book 7 of the series, fans probably know what to expect from the story. They're right. What you want to know is, can these two narrators do it justice? Kate Reading and Michael Kramer narrate the entire series, so on the off chance this is the first of the books you are listening to, just know that they do it justice. Kramer reads the parts of the book that have a male viewpoint, and Reading reads the female perspective. This does not mean that they switch every time a different character speaks in dialogue, which would be jarring. They seem to hesitate before using words in the author's made-up language, but it's only enough to be noticeable, not irritating. For diehard fans, you should know that they occasionally use different pronunciations from those listed in the back of each book. As a diehard fan myself, this is sometimes annoying, but it's hard to blame them when so many words and names exist which are not part of our ordinary lives. Both narrators are good at what they do, and use slightly different voices for different characters' dialogue. Although I have read all the books several times, I believe this different format brings new entertainment and is worth it.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Extremely hard to follow (possible SPOILER)

I believe there is a huge recording mistake in chapters 11 and 12. I had to find detailed chapter descriptions from encyclopaedia-wot.org to figure out what was going on, and I am convinced that the recording is out of order. If anyone has a hard copy that can confirm if this chapter description is chronologically correct (http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/books/acos/ch12.html) that would be most helpful.
Spoilers: While listening to the audiobook, Lan reappears too suddenly and abruptly with no explanation. There is no obvious jump or gap of context, except that he is suddenly there, and so Egwene sends him off to protect Nynaeve. She skims him out to Ebou Dar. BUT THEN!!!!!........AFTER that, he is suddenly back at the Aes Sedai camp where there is a scene more like what I would expect of Egwene seeing him for the first time since Moiraine died.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

getting annoyed

Ok, I have to say I began really liking the story but, I am beginning to realize that he if didn't continue to describe every stitch of clothing each woman wears, like 10 times each, or how low cut their dresses are, or say "ageless face" (in fact I am going to count how many times in the next book!) or letting me know how every incidental character is doing besides getting to the story, I could go no and on... It took him a whole book to really accomplish nothing. This series could easily have been wrapped up in 5-6 books.
In each book he spends so much time describing useless details, and wraps up each book very quickly in the last few minutes, spending very little time on climatic scenes. Any way, going to try get through the series because I started it, but beginning to think I could get more out of reading the synopsis on Wikipedia

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Narration

I agree with the previous reviews that this was a good story linking great ones, but the wonderful narration by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer makes it as riveting as all the others. The narrators provide nuances to the numerous characters that is a wonder to listen to.

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19 people found this helpful

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

lots of restarts

Throughout this book, the narrator would suddenly pause and restate exactly the last phrase, like maybe the editing crew didn't bother to do more than to string together the readings. I would have been fine with 1 or 2, but there were so many it got distracting and annoying.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Poor editing

Many times lines are repeated and the audio stops for no reason. Hard to believe an editor listened to this even once

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Incredulously!

What did you love best about A Crown of Swords?

The story throughout these first 7 books is complex and compelling. They do keep my interest although I must say the detail of every dress, coat, room, blanket and expression is a bit tiresome and there are so many characters I find it difficult to remember who is who... where they are in this vast world, who is on who's side, etc. The first book or two where the main characters were introduced and where all were in the story at the same time made the story and plot cleaner for me. By book 7, I long for information about my favorite characters, wonder why... with the "One Power" and other advantages they have they can't seem to get together, or believe or even understand each other.

And I listened to the book "incredulously" over how many times the author uses the word "Incredulously". Can't they look at each other in disbelief... just once?
Perhaps you notice it more while listening to the book than reading it... particularly when you are listening to the series back to back but I would seriously like to find out how many times that word was used in this story... and to buy the author a thesaurus.

What other book might you compare A Crown of Swords to and why?

The rest of the series

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoy the scenes with the "lessor" characters... The scenes involving the main character are always so angry.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A crown of "blood and bloody" redundance

This series was fun while it lasted. If you have a lot of time on your hands as I did commuting each day, its pleasant to get lost in a world that seems endless. But an endless fantasy has a way of...not ending. Thus it is with "A crown of swords". If you are at this point in the series you may very well know where it/this is going. No-where fast. I myself am getting a bit worn on the over-descriptive longwindedness of Mr Jordans "reader must know everything" form of writing. I dont think he gives us enough credit. Part of the work in fantasy and fiction writing is done quite well by the reader. The color palate, the lighting, the creases in an old book on a shelf, are all things I can deliver quite well on my own without guidance. Give us plot motion or give us another fantasy series.

Side note. "Blood and Bloody ashes" has got to go.

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

deja vu central

randomly this book repeats like 6 seconds back. you'll think you're giving crazy. don't worry, you aren't. yet...

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10 people found this helpful