• King of Sword and Sky

  • Tairen Soul, Book 3
  • By: C. L. Wilson
  • Narrated by: Emily Durante
  • Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (450 ratings)

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King of Sword and Sky  By  cover art

King of Sword and Sky

By: C. L. Wilson
Narrated by: Emily Durante
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Publisher's summary

Rain, the proud and haunted Fey King, risked everything to follow his heart and his destiny to Ellysetta - his truemate, his love, the woodcarver's daughter who possessed miraculous gifts she did not understand. He defied the nobles of Celieria to claim her, battled demons and Elden mages to wed her. And now he must protect her - and his imperiled kingdom - with magic, steel, and scorching flame. For his soul-kin, the magical tairen, are dying, and only the Fey King's bride can save them... if Rain can help his beloved embrace the magic within her and forge the unbreakable bond of passion and power necessary to save her soul.

Enchanted? Listen to another book in the Tairen Soul series.
©2008 C.L. Wilson (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

What listeners say about King of Sword and Sky

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    312
  • 4 Stars
    91
  • 3 Stars
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    8
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    86
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    39
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    23
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    300
  • 4 Stars
    70
  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful tale with poor choice for narrator

This is the third book in the Tairen Soul series and the third different narrator. I thought that a new narrator (and a consistent one) for the last three books had to be an improvement over the first two narrators (numerous mispronunciations, poor timing, with no break between chapters or scene changes, etc.).

Well, I was wrong. By what logic would anyone chose a narrator with a lisp to read an audiobook? Early in the reading, Ms Durante sounded like someone reading to children at storytime. As the book progressed, the reading improved somewhat, but young girl voice with the lisp is consistent throughout.

Most audiobook readers, male or female, are able to use their voices to convey different characters/genders, but that is poorly done in this case. What should be strong male voices are still sing-songy and lispy. On the up side, there are few, if any, mistakes in pronunciation.

It is a shame, because I love this series and had really looked forward to listening to the entire series on audiobook. I'm not sure I can keep going with this narrator, as she is so irritating to listen to that I'm distracted from the story.

I can fully recommend the Tairen Soul series though. The books are delightful!

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Book, HORRID Narrator

What made the experience of listening to King of Sword and Sky the most enjoyable?

It was not enjoyable, listening was awful. So distracting in fact, I had to download the rest of the series on my Kindle to truly enjoy the experience of the story. I can only hope that audible re-records the last several books. Emily Durante may be a great narrator of other stories, but in this story of young warriors - she made them all sound like sick and decrepit warriors in their eighties, suffering from COPD and emphysema. I loved the story, absolutely disliked the voice Emily used for the men of the story.

How could the performance have been better?

Again, it was difficult to get past the male voices. I highly recommend listening to the first two books in the series on audible, however, move on to kindle or hard copy books after the first two in the series.

Any additional comments?

Please audible, consider taping the last 3 books over again with a new narrator. Emily Durante destroyed the Fey male voices.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Story But I Miss the Old Narrator

I didn't realize when I bought this that it was a different narrator, but I was so used to the one from Books 1 & 2, that the differences in pronunciations are jarring. I really hope they get the other narrator back to record book 4

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So Sad...

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narrator butchered this book. I LOVED the narrators for the first two books. I had a hard time stomaching this book and opted to read, rather than listen to, the last two books. Why, when the two previous narrators were good, would they decide to keep Emily Durante???? Terrible.

What was one of the most memorable moments of King of Sword and Sky?

Nothing...I could barely get past how horrible the narrator was.

Would you be willing to try another one of Emily Durante’s performances?

Fantasy is NOT her genre. Maybe a different genre.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Terrible, terrible disappointment.

Any additional comments?

I hope they redo these last 3 books with a new narrator.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I just could not stomach the narrator...

The narrator is so bad, that I don’t even know if the reason for this is boring story… I struggled for three hours and sadly, I am turning the audio book off. I did not decide yet if I am getting ebook. I might start listening some other books before I consider buying ebooks for Tairen Soul series. I wish Amy Cardy (a second narrator) continued, she is not the best for these series either, but Amy Cardy was tolerable for me. I did not care for the first narrator either. I found Emily Durante to be worse than Stephanie Riggio, though I see that a lot of people have a different opinion. Oh well… I was looking forward so much to these series.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just Don't Get It. . .

By far, this is one of the most well written and uniquely engaging series this genre has to offer, but reading it in print will be the only way to appreciate this story. It's not so much a matter of good vs. bad narration, as Durante has been doing this long enough to have the credentials needed. This choice for these particular books is wrong. Not erroneous or unfortunate, wrong. Yes, that means, "unable to finish as headache from multiple eye rolls becomes problematic" kind of wrong. We all have opinions on favorite narrators or connecting voices with how we interpret those characters. Not so in this case. It is just wrong, and that makes it just sad.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Who Chooses these narrators?!

Would you consider the audio edition of King of Sword and Sky to be better than the print version?

Not with this narrator~

What does Emily Durante bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She sounds like my grandma! OMG! the characters sound like senior citizens not young men and women in the prime of their life!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It makes me mad that the publishers do not look into their narrators before they decide to sign them up to read the book! It's not worth listening to! Get the books and might as well read them yourself!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • ER
  • 03-16-12

The Series Fabulous, This Narration - Not Good

What did you like best about King of Sword and Sky? What did you like least?

The story is good, the world detailed. The narration grates.

What didn’t you like about Emily Durante’s performance?

Her Lisp. Rain sounds like an ancient doddering old man with a lisp. Vadim Maur is always hissing and lisping and his speech pattern is something between Yoda and an angry Chinese man. This is better than the first book done by Stephanie Riggio, but not by much.

Was King of Sword and Sky worth the listening time?

The book yes, but the lisp and the character voices she comes up with make it hard to hear the story through the lisping noise.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A series worth listening to!

This is a nice continuation of the series as it moves from the human world to the fay. Lots of new mythology, especially regarding the Tairen, and an ending that leaves you waiting for the next installment. I don't dislike Emily Durante as narrator, but think this series deserves better.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story, but…

The storyline is wonderful as usually but the narrator keeps you from enjoying the storyline. I really enjoyed narrator from the first two audio books so I heard this one I couldn’t help hearing Karen from Will & Grace & it really distracts from the story and that’s a shame.

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1 person found this helpful