• By Heresies Distressed

  • Safehold Series, Book 3
  • By: David Weber
  • Narrated by: Jason Culp
  • Length: 24 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,217 ratings)

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By Heresies Distressed

By: David Weber
Narrated by: Jason Culp
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Publisher's summary

In David Weber's By Heresies Distressed, the battle for the soul of the planet Safehold has begun.

The Kingdom of Charis and the Kingdom of Chisholm have joined together, pledged to stand against the tyranny of a corrupt Church. The youthful Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm has wed King Cayleb of Charis, forging a single dynasty, a single empire, dedicated to the defense of human freedom. Crowned Empress of that empire, Sharleyan has found in Cayleb's arms the love she never dared hope for in a "marriage of state." In Cayleb's cause, his defiance of the ruthless Group of Four who govern mother Church, she has found the task to which she can commit her mind and her courage. It is a cause for which she was born.

Yet there are things Sharleyan still does not know. Secrets Cayleb has not been permitted to share, even with her. Secrets like the true story of humanity on Safehold. Like the intricate web of lies, deception, and fabricated "religion" which have chained humanity for almost a thousand years. Like the existence of the genocidal alien Gbaba, waiting to complete mankind's destruction should humans ever attract their attention once more. Like the existence of a young woman, Nimue Alban, nine hundred years dead, whose heart, mind, and memories live on within the android body of the warrior-monk she knows as Merlin.

And so Empress Sharleyan faces the great challenge of her life unaware of all that task truly entails...or of how the secrets the man who loves her cannot share may threaten all they have achieved between them...and her own life.

Listen to more in the Safehold series.
©2009 David Weber (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“From the clean, enunciated tones of Merlin, to the faint Scottish accent of Cayleb, to the gruff and terse voice of Grand Inquisitor Clintan, Culp manages to convey a distinct identity through tone, pitch, accent and speech patterns of each character.” —KingoftheNerds.com

“The unabridged audiobook version of By Heresies Distressed...is masterfully narrated by Jason Culp. The excitement and tension of dramatic events...come across even more strongly to a listener than to a reader.” —BookLoons.com

What listeners say about By Heresies Distressed

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

I want Oliver Wyman back

the book was really good but I really didn't like the fact that they replace the narrator. plz bring Oliver Wyman back for the next one

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

I miss Oliver Wyman

Not having Oliver Wyman narrate was a big surprise. He established the personality and voices of the characters. With Jason Culp, the personality of Merlin, especially, recedes to the background, IMO.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Bad Choice in Narator

The change from Oliver Wyman to Jason Culp as narrator is disastrous. Culp's reading is dull and boring. I have given up listening and instead bought the book to read! I will not purchase the forth audio-book either as Culp is the narrator.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • AW
  • 12-06-09

Narrator Down Spiral

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the narrator for this book is not the same one as the narrator for the first two in the series. The change is very jarring, and this narrator is not up to the task. The first narrator changed his voice and accent for various characters. This new narrator didn't really, nor did he even attempt any kind of voice continuation from earlier in the series. Good book ruined by bad narration. Read it, don't listen to it.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Is David Weber Getting Paid by the Word?

This book is the third installment in the Safehold series, and is actually substantially shorter than the preceding title, "By Schism Rent Asunder." Still, I find the author to be indulging a penchant for excessive dialog. Perhaps "wildly excessive" would be more accurate.

The story is driven almost entirely by dialog, both internal and external. This is a story of war (and political intrigue), and Weber seems to have adopted the view that his writing should provide long stretches of boredom punctuated by brief moments of action. Despite the best efforts of the narrator, almost all of the conversations and internal dialogs seem to drag on far too long.

Compared with much of Weber's earlier work, his efforts here at character development are appreciated, but it would be nice if the characters would occasionally get to the freakin' point! After listening to this book, I am of the impression that Weber was obliged to produce it (perhaps on a deadline), but had a very skimpy plot outline to work with. He seems to have fleshed out the narrative with a lot of overwrought and unnecessary verbiage.

I would like to note that the narrator (Jason Culp) has changed since the first two books in this series. Those titles were narrated by Oliver Wyman. Apparently, Culp makes some effort to mimic the voices and accents portrayed by Wyman, with mixed and unsatisfactory results.

If you have read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the preceding books in this series, this one is probably worth enduring. But I have my doubts as to whether I will be purchasing the next one. I hope that David Weber will wrap up this series in the next book or two. Personally, I find this entire bastard sub-genre of science/historical fiction to be quickly growing tiresome.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Oliver Whyman, Where Are You?

By Heresies Distressed is the third book in David Weber's "Safehold" series. I have to agree with a number of others who objected to the loss of Oliver Wyman as the series narrator. The change to Jason Culp caused me quite a few problems with vocal character identification. It was a terrible move on the part of Macmillan Audio. If Wyman was not available at scheduled time for recording the book, they should have waited for him to become available.

As for the book itself, I had the same feelings about the audio version that I did about the printed. Unless Weber plans to become another Robert Jordan, he needs to move the story line along a bit faster. The politics involved are devilishly delightful, but they take up too much story time. We don't really need a blow by blow account of every political and religious move on the entire planet to enjoy the action. If nothing else, that level of detail makes recapping the next volume in the series a tediously lengthly process, and makes fans lose interest before the new story lines starts. I did greatly enjoy the new story, what there was of it, but it could have been a lot better with less political detail and more action.

I give the book and audio recording 4 Stars, and Jason Culp's rendition 2 Stars for effort.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

More of the same

By Heresies Distressed continues much as By Schism Rent Asunder. Glacial and deliberate.

Character development and plot are consistent and make sense, but the narration move too slow for my taste. If Conquerring one safeholdian nation after another, one boot at time, is the intended modell of the series, then I will stop listening.

The change in narrator, and with it the new rythm and less consistent "character-voices" for the lead characters, were hard to get used to.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

more action but different reader

Probably my biggest beef with this book is taht the reader has changed and he's put his own interpretations on how the characters should sound. Narmahn in particular... not to mention a effeminate sounding Merlin.

Story wise, more "action" then in the last book, though I prefered the last book. If the next book is the same price as this was I'll discontinue the series. On the other hand it doesn't ahve the mad technological dash taht Weber's otehr books like Harrington or Prince Roger series have.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

And the saga continues

Well, at least David Weber does not make us wait years between installments. There are two major areas in this book that I really enjoyed (one was a battle, the other intriguing). But I found much of it a build up for . . . well that is the problem . . . I do not know exactly where this is going. Will they fastforward in the future to a point where technology advances enough that this civilization can threaten the dangerous aliens (introduced so long ago). I want to know what happens, and I will buy the next book, but I am very thankful for the 2x feature on my ipod allowing me to listen to this at double speed. Maybe I will buy the book next time so I can gloss through the less interesting parts.

Also for those of you reading this review before the book, realize that this book (more so than the others) is really a part of the story. The ending feels more like the end of chapter, with little closure.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Should have combined this book with the last one

My problem here is the author didn't move the plot along far enough of fast enough. The last book and this one could have been combined very comfortably. The reader is different and puts a very different feel into his characters which would have been ok if we hadn't been so used to the previous reader. It is disconcerting to have Prince Narmann sound just like Ringo Starr though.

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7 people found this helpful