• Forge of Darkness

  • Kharkanas Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Steven Erikson
  • Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
  • Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,053 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Forge of Darkness  By  cover art

Forge of Darkness

By: Steven Erikson
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $34.29

Buy for $34.29

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Steven Erikson entered the pantheon of great fantasy writers in 1999 with his debut, Gardens of the Moon. In the span of just 10 years, he completed his epic telling of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, collecting hordes of fans along the way. Now Erikson returns with a place for new listeners to enter the Malazan world, a trilogy that takes place at a time before the events of the concluded series.

Forge of Darkness takes listeners to Kurald Galain, the warren of Darkness, and tells of a realm whose fate plays a crucial role in the fall of the Malazan Empire and surrounds one of the Malazan world’s most fascinating and powerful characters, Anomander Rake. It’s a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, where Mother Dark reigns above the Tiste people. But this ancient land was once home to many a power...and even death is not quite eternal.

The commoners’ great hero, Vatha Urusander, longs for ascendency and Mother Dark’s hand in marriage, but she has taken another Consort, Lord Draconus, from the faraway Dracons Hold. The idea of this union sends fissures throughout the realm, and as the rumors of an inevitable civil war burn through the masses, something emerges from the long-dead seas. The Vitr - an ancient power that shakes the dormant and dying powers of the past. Caught in the middle of it all are the Sons of Darkness: Anomander, Andarist, and Silchas Ruin of the Purake Hold.

It’s a time of great strife as the past and the present of this warren boil with unfathomable alliances, great deceptions, and even greater passions...of both love and hate. This ancient tale within the world Erikson introduced in the Malazan Book of the Fallen should appeal to fans of George R. R. Martin for its characters and intrigue, but goes leaps further in the realm of the imagination.

©2012 Steven Erikson (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Forge of Darkness

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    605
  • 4 Stars
    284
  • 3 Stars
    88
  • 2 Stars
    38
  • 1 Stars
    38
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    566
  • 4 Stars
    217
  • 3 Stars
    94
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    29
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    562
  • 4 Stars
    213
  • 3 Stars
    90
  • 2 Stars
    28
  • 1 Stars
    42

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Precursor Epic Fantasy - A Rewarding Beginning!

Steven Erikson challenges the traditional fantasy genre' with his "Book of the Fallen" series, and again, more so, with this first book in his new precursor Kharkanas trilogy, "Forge of Darkness."

First, a brief review: A stirring, powerful, thought-provoking, wonderful "must read."

Now, a bit more info.

I've read this before I listened to it. It's HUGE. Just as in his "Fallen" works, this requires you to think. AND. It's setting the groundworks for a strong, amazing trilogy down the road. If you liked "Gardens of the Moon," which I've already reviewed here at Audible, you'll love this book. "Gardens" carries it's work somewhat herein, so you'll be comfortable. The descriptions are astounding, the plots and storylines immense, and the fantasy element is superb. A powerful mix of fantasy, machiavellian plots and engaging characters.

No spoilers here, as usual. I WILL tell you to look at my review of Erikson's "Gardens of the Moon," so you can get a better idea, if you need one.

This is EPIC. Strong fantasy at it's finest. And just like "Gardens," it's not a casual listen.

This is fantasy on par with NOTHING else out there. It's unique and refreshing. And again, anyone who knows Erikson's works will agree: He's preparing us in this first book for very great things.

Enjoy.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

31 people found this helpful

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

Not As Good As The Malazan Books

I'm a huge fan of the Malazan series and consider Erickson to be one of the best, if not the best, of the epic fantasy authors. I assume you've read some of the Malazan books if you're contemplating this book. This book is similar to the Malazan books in that involves massive world building and development of a huge cast of characters, most with difficult names that sometimes sound like others (an issue that may only be problematic when reading the audio version). While the scale and slow pace of the book is frustrating, it's also very much Erickson's typical approach. That said, this book seemed even harder to follow than the Malazan books. It constantly bounces around between characters and plot lines (again, as is typical), but unlike the Malazan books, the plot lines here rarely do anything interesting and often very little happens each time you re-encounter a character. There's also a dearth of enjoyable or comedic characters, as can be found in most Malazan books. As a result of all this, the book is a bit tedious, but worst of all, it lacks a real pay off. This may be due to the fact that it's the first in a trilogy, but that doesn't absolve it from the need to be enjoyable on its own, and it falls short of my expectation in this regard. I'm sure I'll read the next installment, but if it's the same as book one, I may not read the third. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

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

Not for the commute

I had hoped that in ten years the author would have learned to write a less disjointed plot. He has not. I still found myself forgetting who the characters were and where they fit into the plot. This book, like all of this author's books, demands attention, and getting distracted for a few minutes leaves you lost in a land of square pegs and round holes. Obfuscation is not art.

However, the joy of this book is also its weakness. The command of the English language displayed in this book is stunning. It merits the comparison to Jack Vance's Dying Earth; the very complexity of the language creates a sense of other-worldliness that, combined with imagery, creates a captivating world and a captivating story. Like Vance (or like Shakespeare for that matter), this book is a high-effort, high reward read.




Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

I can't believe I have to wait for the next book!

Where does Forge of Darkness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Right at the top. The production is great, the narrator is engaging and consistent. Erikson is at his most philosophical and his prose is deliciously dark, but at times still warm and humorous.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Draconus. He is the beating heart of the book for me.

What about Daniel Philpott’s performance did you like?

The most important thing about a narrator for me is that they make it easier, not harder, to follow the storyline. Philpott does this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

the whispering

very inconsistent volume from the narrator. at times the whispers are barely audible, so I turn up the volume only to have screaming bust my ears.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

cant even get into this

i have listened to all of the malazan series(&loved it), i was looking forward to this book, but with the narrorator changing pronunciations of names and places it makes it hard to follow and harder to want to. i made it about 2 hrs into it and gave up, which is rare for me since i sit on a tractor 6 to 10 hrs a day.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Not up to Malazan Par

Still better than most other books, but the way the story is told is disorienting at first and for a book its size not a lot happens, there's just a lot of PoV's showing the same things. It suffers from prequal syndrome.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Not What the Fans Were Hoping For

What a shame. This book is a missed opportunity to be a new starting point for new readers of the series. Instead, this feels more unapproachable than Gardens of the Moon by far. There are vast sections of boringness, with near endless thought monologue involving minor characters that we've never met and frankly don't care about. If you were hoping for character viewpoints of your favorites, such as Anomander Rake, Silchas Ruin, Caladan Brood, and Draconis, you'll be disappointed.

As the name implies, this book is dark. It's full of sex, grotesque sexual references, rape and brutal violence and gore. Nearly every new scene gets around to the topic of sex, in which it is crudely discussed, then either had, implied, or forced. This gets old really fast, for me.

The problems with this book are the same ones in all of this series. There are several things that stand out in this series that are totally unrealistic. First, every soldier is a philosopher. We get pages and pages of philosophical imaginings by small nobodies and line soldiers. Doesn't anyone have a more simplistic view of life in this world? It's a big mistake to make so many characters so similar.

Secondly, I think it's a mistake to make all of the elder gods, and the ascendants and ancient characters from the Malazan series, to all be contemporaries in this book. I feel that it cheapens the history when we're basically told that the Malazan series was just the same characters from this book getting back together to make war upon each other again. There is very little revealed about any of them, making it feel lacking in terms of payoff.

Finally, all the women in this series are voraciously oversexed. The women in the Malazan series have more sexual appetite then the men in most fantasy series, and in fact they actually act more like men instead of real women. Those who do not, who are in the least bit clean and unsullied, are brutally raped and murdered as a general rule. In fact, there is so much atrocity, child slaughter, and rape-fests in this book I wonder if his was some kind if catharsis for Erikson's dark side, where he could envision the most terrible things happening that he dared write down on a page.

Even if you're a fan of the main series, I don't recommend this book. There are certain cases where the image in your kind of what happened long ago will always be better than the book/movie depicting those events. This is one of those cases.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Catch of the Day

What made the experience of listening to Forge of Darkness the most enjoyable?

I'm a huge fan of Steven Erikson and his mythic, Malazan, decalogy so, naturally, an appointment with Forge of Darkness was on my calendar. His twisting depths of narrative never cease to enthral, and this is no exception. I am an avid reader but thoroughly enjoy the freedom an audiobook can grant.

What did you like best about this story?

Wonderful detail, the intricate unfolding of character relationships, with the customary amount of humour, and the beautiful mythic, overall plot. What is not to like?

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Well, there is the matter of the continuity and correct pronunciation of names from the previous books, which does seem careless given the amount of loving fans who surely will have noticed this. It would be well worth while obtaining a list of correct pronunciations from Erikson himself to finally end the confusion amongst the different narrators of his works.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • C
  • 03-29-13

Terrible

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Anyone who enjoys 32 hours of immortal self respective. Teases u enough to keep listing with a tid bit here and there. He sucked me in all the way to the end. Just more circumspect! And mental agony.

Would you ever listen to anything by Steven Erikson again?

I enjoyed the first two books and will listen to the third.

What didn’t you like about Daniel Philpott’s performance?

The narrator did a fine job

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Forge of Darkness?

More magic, less characters, less psychological sessions usually one character self analyzing!! The language he uses tends to make ur mind drift. Written in words used 100 years ago , and a lot more action!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful