The Dragon and the Raven

By: George Alfred Henty

Narrated by: Jim Hodges

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Bring history back to life through Jim Hodges' historically accurate, exciting, and edifying audio recordings.

The Saxons and Vikings fought many fierce battles in Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries. During the struggle, 23-year-old Alfred ascended the throne and temporarily beat back the pagan hordes and concluded a peace treaty. Following another war in 878, peace was again achieved; the Danish King Guthrum accepted Christianity and withdrew to East Anglia, and Alfred the Great fortified cities, built a navy, codified laws, and revived learning among the Saxons until his death in AD 900. The hero is a Saxon thane named Edmund who joins the forces of King Alfred, fighting the Danes on land and in their own element, the sea, in his ship The Dragon.

Carried by storms to the shores of Norway, he defeats Sweyn the Viking in single combat, takes part in the siege of Paris on behalf of the Franks, and tracks down his nemesis in order to rescue the Danish maiden he will later marry.

The Henty Historical Novel Collection, written by George Henty in the 1800s, covers many time periods in history throughout the world. In this collection, you will learn history, geography, and vocabulary while also discovering hero characters for your children to emulate.

©2006 Jim Hodges Productions (P)2006 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Edmond & King Arthur

An enjoyable tale of young Edmond, who lives during the reign of the legendary King Arthur. The story revolves around the historical conflict of the West Saxons (represented by the Dragon) and the Danes (whose standard is the Raven). It is clear that the author's sympathy lies with the English and with Christendom in general. Those looking for a storybook ending will not be disappointed as Edmond comes out victorious, and wins the hand of Frieda.

Great Historical Fiction

Excellent telling of the great escapades of King Alfred the Great as he and many brave saxons stood strong against the pagan invaders from the North. A must listen!!!

Not a good Henty book

I love the author, but this book was a serious disappointment., in contrast to his other novels.

Good for readers who want to learn more Medieval

The story helped me learn a lot while at the same time it was interesting. Not on-the-edge-of-your-seat interesting, it is more of the "quiet interesting" that many older books are. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anybody wanting to learn more Medieval history through a good story.

Good narrator, though not a lot of expression. But that was intentional.

Awesome book!

Great narrator I love these books the tell you a lot about history
They are very educational.

Fairly good book, terrible reader

This story is pretty good, and decently written, but the reader is horrible. I could listen to the narrated parts without being driven mad by his Philadelphia/Pennsylvania/Baltimore accent, but the combination of the accent and the utterly atrocious acting for the dialogue, was too much. He gives the characters silly voices, over-acts the parts like a dad reading a bedtime story to a three-year-old, and stresses words seemingly randomly. I had to give up after four chapters.

This is a great book!

Although the narrator's style isn't my favorite, the fact that this is historically accurate outweighs any objections. I'm sure I'll come back to this book and listen to it again within a year.