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)

Just can't get into it

I bought this because I'm a fan of Dick Hill from other novels, but I just couldn't get into this book. I couldn't care about the characters, the world, or the events. People come into the story, and then they die, and I just didn't care about them. I got about halfway through the book on my first listen, then realized I had no idea who these characters were, so I rewound and tried again, and... nothing. It's just not interesting enough of a story.

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.

Acadia

Thoroughly enjoyed, very imaginative.

Bad End

What would have made The War with the Mein better?

This was an ok book, but the audio version messes up at the end and I have never been able to hear how it ends,

Would you ever listen to anything by David Anthony Durham again?

If the audio is better quality.

What didn’t you like about Dick Hill’s performance?

I like Dick Hill. The recording messed up at the end and I never got to hear the end of the story.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The War with the Mein?

none

Any additional comments?

Please fix the messed up end of the recording and let me know when I can redownload.

Less than promised

As a long time afficiando of the fantasy genre, I found this book to be a big dissappointment. The character development is wooden and predictable; the plot pedestrian and the descriptions unexceptional. It is not the time, place or action that makes these books good listening but the characters and their development. I had just finished George RR Martin's books and although they are far from without flaws, they excel in comparison to this one. So if it's fantasy and imagination you are after, you would do better to go with Terry Brooks or , if you have lots of time and can stand drawn out plots,there is always Robert Jordan.

Bood of discriptions and not a story

I'm a big fan of epic fantacy and Often listen to them over and over. But this book seem to care more about the discriptions then the actual story. Maybe my pallet is not as developed as some readers are but I could not stand this book. To care more for the details instead of the story was a new experience for me and well did not bode well. If you like to fall asleep listening to a book then I would strongly suggest this one.

Couldn't get through book because of narrator.

I read similar reviews, but thought they were exaggerating. I was wrong, and I couldn't get more than a few hours in before I couldn't take it.

Betrayal of the reader

If you want to waste hours listening to a work that devalues honor in its characters, promulgates the fact that everyone is mostly evil, implies that truly evil people can always be justified, and kills off the only admirable characters without compunction, then go for this one. I can just hear the author replying something like, "I wanted to show the reality of the human condition" or something similar. What a waste of a potentially good story line. The narrator is excellent however.