The Sworn

The Fallen Kings Cycle, Book 1

By: Gail Z. Martin

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

As plague and famine scourge the Winter Kingdoms, a vast invasion force is mustering from beyond the northern seas. And at its heart, a dark spirit mage wields the blood magic of ancient, vanquished gods. Summoner-King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Neighboring lands reel toward anarchy while plague decimates their leaders. Drayke must seek new allies from among the living - and the dead - as an untested generation of rulers face their first battle.

Then someone disturbs the legendary Dread as they rest in a millennia-long slumber beneath sacred barrows. Their warrior guardians, the Sworn, know the Dread could be pivotal as a force for great good or evil. But if it's the latter, could even the Summoner-King's sorcery prevail?

©2010 Gail Z. Martin (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Fans of Martin's previous series as well as those who enjoy the large-scale fantasy of George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan should enjoy this series opener." ( Library Journal)

Endless inconsequencial filler content

Props: Gail Z. Martin's writing was well done and Kirby Heyborne's narration performance was quite good considering the material he was charged with reciting. I should mention that I've found Gail Z. Martin's Ascendant Kingdoms series compelling and quite entertaining.

One of the first novel I've purchased that had so many factions vying for time and word space and therein reveals the major fault line of the story. The character ensemble includes zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, ghost whores, black robes, kings, queens, oracles, gods, mercenaries and more. Then there are the many factions that make up the empire seeming created to repeat the same rumors, lamentations and fears as the others, weighting down the novel with repetitive drivel adding nothing to advance the story and, instead, presents the listener with the impression of an empire whose leadership does entirely too much commiserating, ruminating, reminiscing and very little action.

Except for the black robes, all of the factions above live more or less in harmony and stand in defense of the empire. The antagonists are the black robes and a traitor by the name of Alvior who escapes and plots rebellion against the empire with a constant foreboding rumor of an over-powerful dark summoning mage.

I stopped listening after three fourths of the novel when neither Alvoir nor the dark mage had made their appearance.

Above average book with a poor narrator

First, I've listened to the last 3 books in the series. All were wonderful in the previous orator's voice.

Why ms Martin went to Kirby to read her continuation of the series is have no idea, but I have been sorely disappointed by the readers performance. Where the previous reader made the story lively, Kirby has fell flat. Where Peter (the previous reader) made character like john-mark brave, Kirby has made them sound whining. Where Peter made the women in the book sound romantic and feminine, Kirby makes them sound bored and boyish.

Great book, poor reading.

The Best!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Sworn to be better than the print version?

No

What did you like best about this story?

Everything! Great story, the best characters! It has castles, magic, all kinds of magic! All kinds of supes!

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

No, but he was great!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

How the ghosts help the living

Any additional comments?

This series is the best I've ever read

Great Read poor Reader

I don't really comment on these types of things but I would like to warn anybody who has listened to the other books by Gail Z. Martin that this reader is horrible absolutely horrible. He has changed the way that some words were pronounced and has made the stronger caracters like Tris and John Marc sound like weaklings that were whining about things instead of trying to solve them.

Worst voice over I’ve ever heard.

I cannot even finish the story because of the reader. His mispronunciations of words is just the start. His “voices” are almost all so similar it’s hard to follow the plot. His lack of inflection in “exciting” parts will put you too sleep. Such a shame. I love the story of Tris.