By Heresies Distressed

Safehold Series, Book 3

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 24 hrs and 24 mins

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

Engaging story

I have read this book several years ago. Listening to it is just as good. The voice actor brings to life a fantastic story that was well written!

like the books before it in the series, GREAT BOOK

Great Book, seamlessly continues the story . The story continues with the same quality, continuity, and cant put it down quality of the books before it in the series.

Really didn't like the narrator

The narrator, Jason Culp was quite bad. Made the book much less enjoyable. A real step down from the previous narrator.

Great story by David Weber, did not care for narrator

I have and all the other Safehold books and truly enjoy them along with all of the Weber's other works. The first two audibles in this series were just wonderful. This one I don't care for the narrator at all. His voice does not have enough variety for the different characters and his pseudo Scottish accent is very tiring.

close to great

Like all the other books from David Weber this one is worth listening to. The first thing you going to notice is that there's a Different Narrator, the loss of Oliver Wyman the old reader isn't so big that this book isn't worth getting. It's painful in the beginning but as the story went on I found that I liked the new guy just as much if not more so, I would for sure listen to more books narrated by Jason Culp.

New Narrator still solid story

The story is pretty solid, but with a different narrator. The new narrator isn't quite as good as the previous one, but the story still holds up.

Engrossing continuation of the series, subpar narration.

This is a solid continuation of the story.
It is slow moving, but that was to be expected based off the previous books in the series. Slow stories are a trade-off; in exchange for the time spent, a good writer will leave you immersed in the world described- and give you an attachment to the characters not easily paralleled in more fast paced novels.
Mr Weber achieves all that and more; leaving you surprisingly invested in the story and characters.

If you have the time to invest, I do not think you will be disappointed.

On to narration.
Jason Culp is disappointing as the storyteller. Taken singly, his performance in this book isn't terrible, but it is clear he did no preparation. Changing narrators mid-series is nearly always a bad idea, but his absolute refusal to pay attention to the accents ascribed to the characters by the previous narrator turned a bad situation far worse; leaving me often mistaking characters for each other.

Changed narrator. Preferred old one.

Great story. The new narrator uses accents willy-nilly without keeping similar ones to similar characters.

Caleb Does Sound Like a Thug

Reviewer Augustus White hit it right on the nose. Jason Culp does make Caleb sound like a Welsh thug. It’s kinda funny. But with that exception, I thought Culp did a good job. It really is hard on fans—and readers—to change readers midstream.

The story is just as mixed. If you love over-the-top sermons, lectures and detailed descriptions of firing pins, you’ll love this episode. But you’ll also love this audio if you enjoy people outwitting conspirators, hard-fought battles with honorable men on both sides, and brave men/women rushing to the rescue.

I almost didn’t buy this after reading the reviews, but I’m glad I did despite the endless sermonizing.

This is probably the 2nd best narrator

You know, since they have over 9000 narrators on this series :( Stories really good though, wish audible would get its head out of its 4th point of contact