The War with the Mein

Book One of the Acacia Trilogy

By: David Anthony Durham

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Leodan Akaran, ruler of the Known World, has inherited generations of apparent peace and prosperity, won ages ago by his ancestors. A widower of high intelligence, he presides over an empire called Acacia, named after the idyllic island from which he rules. He dotes on his four children and hides from them the dark realities of traffic in drugs and human lives on which their prosperity depends.

Leodan hopes that he might change this, but powerful forces stand in his way. A deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan in the heart of Acacia while the Mein also unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to his separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire, this time on the basis of universal freedom.

Acacia is a thrilling work of literary imagination that creates an all-enveloping and mythic world that will carry readers away. It is a timeless tale of heroism and betrayal, of treachery and revenge, of primal wrongs and ultimate redemption. David Durham has reimagined the epic narrative for our time.

©2007 David Anthony Durham (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Enthralling, literate and increasingly suspenseful." (Kirkus)
"Sprawling and vividly imagined....Durham has created a richly detailed alternate reality leavened with a dollop of magic." (Publishers Weekly)

Diverse Characters

As a long-time reader of sci-fi and now, fantasy, I’ve come to feel some sort of way about how, in the overwhelming majority of the stories, almost all the characters tend to be European, as if all the other ethnic groups fail to make it into the future or into the worlds of magic. That this book didn’t follow that script was a bonus for me. My favorite kinds of stories are those that present ethical, psychological dilemmas. This book delves into the minds of myriad complex characters with traits that I both admired and abhorred. I loved it, but had to get used to the reader and played it at 1.2 speed.

Great writing... MUST listen

The writing and story are FANTASTIC!

I really like the narrator!
Put the playback speed on 1.20 and enjoy the performance!

Gave up after two tries

Based on previous reviews, I was looking forward to listening to this book. I first tried listening to it almost 2 years ago, and only got through the first 1-1/2 hours. Recently I decided to give it another go, and made it through three hours, when I realized that

I. JUST. DIDN'T. CARE.

This book just didn't draw me in. Maybe there's more character development further on, but I'll never know. Each chapter just jumped around to a different main character, never building any one of them up enough to keep my interest.

I've been an Audible customer for over two years, and have listened to nearly 100 audiobooks. Of all of these, this is only the third I've given up on.

Waste of time

Listening to this book all the way through was a monumental waste of my time. It had just enough promise to lure me into continuing to listen. I found certain elements of the book horribly contrived. Whole sections of the book could have been edited out with no effect on the story. The end of the book made the struggles of the characters totally futile. A hurried wrap up, tying loose ends into messy knots.

This was...BOOOOOORIIIIIING. Ohh my goodness.

Okay nothing against the writer as I am sure some found this a gripping read, but for someone spoiled by authors ranging from Tolkien, RR Martin, Salvatore, Grisham and many other, this book just did nothing for me, and the narrator couldn't be more boring if he tried. several hours in and it seemed so pointless and uninteresting I stopped and came back to audible to read through the reviews that encouraged me to get this book to be sure I had not looked at the wrong thing. I endured "the magicians" despite its childlike story because the narration was at least a bit engaged, but this was plainly (if not painfully) prosaic. The character development was slow and clumsy, and the story was just...slow.

If someone figures out what the point of this story, and its character are please post it here. I for one know I wont be.

Better than your typical sleeping pill.

I really, really wanted to read this. I first picked it up in Powells as a paper back, but could not get past the first 100 pages. So I thought I'd try listening to it while I did some work around the house but I couldn't! It's just too boring! Nothing seems to happen and when things do happen, it's still boring. If you think this is going to be a thrilling book full of political intrigue and fantastic battle scenes, you're dead wrong.

A good book ruined by the reader

Would you try another book from David Anthony Durham and/or Dick Hill?

I would get another David Durham book as long as Dick Hill doesn't narrate it. I got it because Brandon Sanderson said he was reading it and enjoyed it. Maybe I'll retry this book in paper form.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dick Hill?

Michael Kramer is an excellent narrator and would have been a much better choice. He does Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson books with Kate Reading. They both do a great job.

Any additional comments?

I had a very hard time following the book because I got distracted and irritated by the narrator chopping up the sentences for no reason. He loves pausing before the last word in the sentence like he's searching for just the right... word. He does it much too... often. It was very frustrating and... distracting. Just read the darn sentence, it's not poetry and it's not... Shakespeare. I read a lot of reviews and there were a lot of positive comments about the reader, I guess the reviewers haven't listened to too many audio books before. I've been purchasing Audible books for about 9 or 10 years now and Dick Hill is one of my absolute least favorite narrators, along with John Lee. They both add unwanted pauses to sentences, making it very unnatural and hard to follow.

I cant listen to Dick Hill

This is the second time I am unable to complete a book due to narration. Dick Hill is been the narrator on both occasions. I don???t think that I will be purchasing any books narrated by Dick Hill. He is very melodramatic, and it is something that really bothers me.

Audible will not let me provide feedback only on narrator, so giving 3 stars to story.

First time responder

I started listening to books to overcome the boredom of the commute to work. This book brought the boredom back.
I loved the narration but the story line was difficult to follow and the depth of descriptions made me want to hit the fast forward.
The first book I have purchased that I will not finish!

Couldn't get past the narrator

What disappointed you about The War with the Mein?

I tried several times to listen to this book but could never make it past the first few hours. The narrator's voice just seemed to be monotone and I always found myself drifting off and thinking about something else.

Would you be willing to try another one of Dick Hill’s performances?

I really like Dick Hill in his performances of Jack Reacher, in the Black Cross, and other books. But I did not enjoy his performance in this book.