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

meh voices

didn't like the new voices as much as the first two books. owl changed. Merlin changed. just not as good.

love the books

love the books. Don't like the new voices in this book. we'll see what's in the next book

Good story; terrible choice in narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'm three hours in. It's a little slow, but I expect the plot to continue to develop. But I would be somewhat reticent to recommend the book based on my comments related to the narrator (below).

How could the performance have been better?

Culp has a great narrating voice. Unfortunately, he completely changes the characterizations and pronunciations from the first two books. Caleb goes from having a Patrician English accent to an inconsistent Scottish brogue. Other characters suffer a similar fate. Clinton now sounds like Santa Claus. Perhaps had this been the first narrator, this would have been fine. But the unexpected and unwarranted change is disappointing. It's unfortunate that we have to wait until Book 7 to get Wyman back.

Please God, Try to Forgive the Narrator

I love David Weber and this series specially. I can't imagine the amount of research done to present such detail in so many areas and I would really like to see by what magic Weber is able to keep all the characters and relationships so clear. However, going from the second book to the third the narrator, Jason Culp, is completely unable to follow the previous narrator who did a great job. In the last book an important secondary character had a very strong almost Irish accent and in this book the primary character has the accent and a couple of characters sound like vampires. I think Culp should have read the previous books so he could have maintained some even little bit of continuity.

very good book

Love this series can not say enough good about it can't wait for next one

Jason is just as good as Oliver~

There's a distinct difference between the two beyond mere range considerations. Merlin takes on a growly, almost sometimes sinister voice - and this highlighted one of his darkest moments of fury.

Love this series!

Well written. Great characters! The premise is the survival of the Human Race. That at least one Human Colony survives a horrible war. The Colonization Team changes the plan at the last minute. Violating their Mandate and stealing Humanity’s chance to fulfill its destiny to travel the stars. Find out how the they did it. And discover how, a small group, of that same Team of Colonizers rebelled against the Change and set about putting a “wrench” into the Colonization Team’s plan that can’t be stopped. Enjoy!!

If you liked the first 2 read this one

Any additional comments?

If you liked the first couple of books but are the reviews made you question wether to buy this book or not... I suggest ignoring the reviews. The new narrator is not that bad.

The action continues

This is book three of the safe hold series. A rollicking story continues With Merlin the PICA Attempt to clean Up the mess

Narration Change

At first it was really jarring that the person reading this book changed, and in turn changed all the voices and accents of the characters. But, after a small adjustment period, I’ve come to appreciate the new changes, and prefer them over the old. The story continues to be great beyond that.