Stone of Tears

Sword of Truth, Book 2

By: Terry Goodkind

Narrated by: Jim Bond

Length: 38 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

An epic of awesome power from Terry Goodkind, the second installment of the bestselling series A Sword of Truth

Kahlan has at last gained the one goal she had always thought was beyond her grasp...love. Against all odds, the ancient bonds of secret oaths, and the dark talents of men long dead, Richard has won her heart.

Amid sudden and disastrous events, Richard's life is called due to satisfy those treacherous oaths. To save his life, Kahlan must forsake Richard's love and cast him into the chains of slavery, knowing there could be no sin worse than such a betrayal.

Richard is determined to unlock the secrets bound in the magic of ancient oaths and to again be free. Kahlan, alone with the terrible truth of what she has done, must set about altering the course of a world thrown into war. But even that may be easier than ever winning back the heart of the only man she will ever love.

War, suffering, torture, and deceit lie in their paths, and nothing will save them from a destiny of violent death, unless their courage and faith are joined with luck and they find the elusive...Stone of Tears.

Epic edge: listen to more in the Sword of Truth series.

©1995 by Terry Goodkind. (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Another Great Story

The SOT series is fantastic, and Stone of Tears as the second book is a good continuation of the story, though I thought not as exciting as the first book. Still, I enjoyed it all the way through. I feel sorry for Jim Bond's narration getting slammed so hard, but the truth is... it is pretty bad. I did eventually get used to it, and the story is so good that even though the narration bugged me, I enjoyed listening anyway. It would have been much better to stay with one narrator through the whole series, as you start to recognize charaters by the voice the narrator uses (when done well anyway) but that is not the case with this book. Nonetheless, I still give it a good review because the story is great, and there is much more to come in the series.

As to it being dark, I don't find it to be any darker or more disturbing than many books in the fantasy genre. There are certainly graphic descriptions of torture, (Though not as much as the firs book) but only enough to really get across the extent of what the character is forced to endure. This plays an important roll in what is to come, and I didn't find it to be too much. I will say that if you are new to the fantasy genre, or if you find books like the Harry Potter series "Dark", then this might be a bit more than you are used to.

If you can get past the issues might have with the narration, I think you will truly enjoy Stone of Tears and be ready to jump right in to the next book. (Blood of the Fold)

everyone is a native robot

ok narrative, robotic characters with minimal differentiation.
story is great, but reader was poor. all of the characters had the same tonation, and sounds. they all sounded like they were the natives, but had been also taken over by robots.

Bring back Sam!

This is my favorite series. I've read the entire series and have been listening to it on audible. Sam set the bar pretty high for narrating this series with Wizards First Rule. This man didn't even get off hia couch to reach for it. Siri would be a better narrator than this man.

Extremely horrible Narrator, good book though.

What did you love best about Stone of Tears?

Considering the narrator sounds like a Speak-n-Spell. I loved the part where they said "we hope you have enjoyed this audio production" the best.

What didn’t you like about Jim Bond’s performance?

His voice(mechanical in a way that reminds me of nails on a chalkboard) and the way he sometimes does like a 5 second pause for a comma and yet doesn't even slow for the end of a paragraph or sentence. His "voices" make me want to punch someone in the face.

Any additional comments?

I do love the story and I am a Terry Goodkind fan, I love all his books (even the ones others call preachy) but I absolutely detest Jim Bond as narrator of his books. I sometimes wonder if the folks at Audible really dislike Goodkind and just enjoy ruining his books by having Jim Bond narrate them.

Horrid narration gets better.

After completing the story I have to say that my previous review still stands, as regards the early narration. Once Jim Bond finally hits his stride and corrects the atrocious cadence he uses in the beginning, until somewhere around the middle, the narration works just fine. The story is great and I really enjoyed it.

Like the Narration

Would you consider the audio edition of Stone of Tears to be better than the print version?

Yes

What other book might you compare Stone of Tears to and why?

N/A

Have you listened to any of Jim Bond’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

The book was very interesting, I like the Narrator, the tone and pace of the words, and consistent voice of characters.

narrator bad

narrator was very robotic in his storytelling. would have been more fun with someone else

Terrible narrator

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jim Bond?

It's always unfortunate when the a poor narrator ruins a good story. I have been listening to audiobooks for over 20 years, and I think this may be the worst narrator I've ever encountered. I wish they'd kept the same narrator from the first book (Wizard's First Rule), but I'm gratified to see that they got a new narrator for the third book.

not my favorite reader.

He is skilled but not my first choice. Some of his voices while expressing emotional situations weren't convincing.

Nothing is wrong with Jim Bond

I don't get all the Jim Bond hate. He's a bit computer-y sometimes, but so is the narrator from the first book. He does voices really well and very often I knew who someone in the book was by Bond's tone of voice or pitch. Maybe all the Bond hate is coming from people mad that the first guy didn't read this one top?