The Desert and the Blade

A Novel of the Change

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 26 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Reiko, empress of Japan, has allied herself with Princess Órlaith, heir to the High Kingdom of Montival, to find the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword, a legendary treasure of an ancient dynasty that confers valor and victory to its bearer. Órlaith understands all too well the power it signifies. Her own inherited blade, the Sword of the Lady, was both a burden and a danger to her father, Rudi Mackenzie, as it failed to save the king from being assassinated. But the fabled sword lies deep with the Valley of Death, and the search will be far from easy. And war is building in Montival and far beyond.

As Órlaith and Reiko encounter danger and wonder, Órlaith's mother, Queen Matildha, believes her daughter's alliance and quest has endangered the entire realm. There are factions both within and without Montival whose loyalty died with the king, and whispers of treachery and war grow ever louder. And the Malevolence that underlies the enemy will bend all its forces to destroy them.

©2015 S. M. Stirling (P)2015 Recorded Books

Many good voices, great story

Great job narrating all of the different accents and languages by the narrator. Another awesome installment in the Change novels!

Outstanding! The BEST of the series!

Exceptionally well written, wonderfully narrated and beautifully framed on a world that manages to be alien, familiar and so very exciting all at the same time. Frankly it is OMHO the best installment of this epic series. Crown Princess Orlaith and Empress Reiko characters are masterfully developed and are rapidly becoming my favorites on the saga. The only minor issue I have with the book is that the last chapter felt rushed and provided little to explain Reiko's brother miraculous re-appearance with the mortal enemies of her people. Thank you Mr. Stirling and Mr. McLaren for another great work!

Loved it!

Great, this new installment redeemed the series. new generation of characters and new locations to explore!

A great culmination of the previous stories!

Great narration, feathering in old story lines, and new character accents on the previous characters and story lines!

problems with sound quality

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

My only problem with this book is with the sound quality. While the narrator, Todd McLaren is excellent, when he speaks in the character's interior voices he whispers & it is difficult to hear, especially when listening in the car. I found myself constantly adjusting the volume when he switched between the modes of voice.

Continues the story

To begin I've read all the books in this series as well as the "Nantucket" series before that, so obviously I enjoy his style and storytelling. But ,and I too hate when someone is full of praise for something and then drops a "but", for all of that there are times that the premise that for the good of mankind a "higher" power wipes out 99% of the world's population and leaves those remaining forever in a state feudal agrarianism, or at least until the next asteroid can be a little grating.

Good yarn

Narrator should learn place name pronounciation. those from the west coast and especially the NW are cringing!

Another Good One

Another amazeing edition to the series. Picked up right where the last one before conclufed.

Retard of Rudy/Artos life

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

Artos has died and his daughter is now the bearer of the Sword. Let her avenge her Father. She deceives her mother (cool) but is so SSLLOOWW to get to battle the evil force. WTH???

What was most disappointing about S. M. Stirling’s story?

Keeps going back to Rudy's legacy. This was explained numerous times in books One through Ten.

Which character – as performed by Todd McLaren – was your favorite?

Todd is an awesome narrator. Can always tell who is speaking. GREAT JOB

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Desert and the Blade?

All the play back scenes for Rudy, lets go on.

Hopscotch through a long story

Long book with major sections cut out so it wasn't two books.
First part of the book flowed normally building up to a major battle with different side stories involved.
Then it's like he realized "I've got to finish the rest of the story in XXX pages. " and they suddenly start skipping from scene to scene to be able to finish the book without splitting it into another volume.
Each cut scene will stop and have some meat to it and then jump to another scene.
Love his books. But I'd like to have the missing sections of this one back.
Good story, but the ending is FLAT after all the buildup. It was like a Star Trek episode where the director is told, "BTW, you've got 3 mins to wrap this story up." And that's about how long it took to wrap up a 21hr audiobook. Which is a disgrace to the reader.