A Land Divided

The Blood of Kings, Book 1

By: K. M. Ashman

Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

1081. William's bloody conquest is over and Britain is under Norman rule. But one bastion of resistance remains: Wales. A divided land where brother fights brother and kings battle for power. The English use this to further their own ends, and while one king is tempted by an offer he cannot resist, the others wage war over long-forgotten feuds.

Gruffydd Ap Cynan, true heir to the kingdom of Gwynedd, is in exile across the sea. When he hears of the betrayal of the Welsh people by the imposter in his throne, Gruffydd unites with Tewdwr, a monarch deposed by the traitors, and they forge an army from the ashes of their kingdoms. But Tewdwr's wife and daughter - the source of much of the allies' strength - are a weakness their enemies will exploit.

Betrayal, treachery, and war await, but both men know they must fight to the bitter end, when the sundered lands of Wales are drenched... in the blood of kings.

©2015 Kevin M. Ashman (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

A land Divided

it is so True. Never Trust an English Man. Napoleon Ryan is so talented and Fantastic, That his beautiful narration made the Story exciting and engaging.

Great Way to Breathe Life into History

I look forward to the sequel - loved listening to the accents and pronunciations. Marvelous

Entertaining historical fiction

This book was a pleasant surprise. It was a clear and informing historical narrative which took me to wind-swept Wales. Why worry about Game of Thrones when our own history has had plenty of intrigue, love and war?

While it was possible to get to know the characters from their actions and speech, I would have liked to delve deeper into them and explore them more. This wish is recurrent in the genre, and not only in this particular book.

I enjoyed the narrator, and even his feminine voices.

Narrators and foreign language pronunciations

What made the experience of listening to A Land Divided the most enjoyable?

I love the story and the reader's voice is resonant and skilled at changing voices for different characters. He even does female voices very well, avoiding the disagreeable falsetto many male readers adopt.

What did you like best about this story?

Well, I love Welsh history and this story is one covers a period with which until now I was unfamiliar. And I like that the author creates strong female characters.

What about Napoleon Ryan’s performance did you like?

I have listened to many books narrated by NR. I love everything about his voice. But in this book he makes a few unpardonable errors. Before reading a book with foreign words, he should either research correct pronunciation of places and names or be coached by a native speaker. Thank goodness there were not too many instances of words with the double L sound because he butchered it, pronouncing it with a kl sound. And the name Gruffydd is badly mispronounced. He pronounces the first syllable "gruff" where it should be like griff (as in griffin. Other than that I adore NR as a narrator. I have looked for books he narrated, just to hear his voice. But this time I often cringed.

If you could rename A Land Divided, what would you call it?

Game of Thrones

Any additional comments?

I think the penultimate question is irrelevant. Why would you want us to rename it?

A very entertaining story of Welsh history.

Knowing very little of medieval Welsh history and it's brief nationhood, I found Ashman's tale to be riveting for fans of historical fiction. Mr. Ryan's performance was outstanding and made the audible version come to life. Highly recommended for history buffs looking for a new era to read about.

Good Listen.

At first I didn't care for the narrator and didnt think Id care for the writing style .But it didnt take long and I was adjusted to the narrators voice and accents . He did a very good job with all the voices . The story is well told and enjoyable . I will listen to the whole series .

love the storyline

absolutely love it. thre story line is awesome & it is still a great book

good story, terrible narration

I was very interested in the subject matter of this book. however, the narrator read as if he were a parent doing over the top voices for a young child. despite the lack of humor in the subject material, the narrator sounded ironic and even mocking. I really want to know what happens next so I will probably get the next two books, but I'm not looking forward to more of this narration.

Game of Thrones knockoff

Literally cut and paste GoT characters and use different names. They even have a red wedding.

Poorly written - Aweful dialog

I listened to the whole thing just in case it got better, but it didn't. The dialog is simplistic and doesn't even remotely represent anything even close to what natural dialog would be in those situations.

Additionally the author doesn't have a good grasp of leadership or warfare. I would advise him to make a study of both topics. The leaders and warriors didn't talk or behave as leaders and warriors would. I can't speak to how things happened at that time in history, but I do have intimate knowledge of warfare and leading combat troops. Nothing in the story even came close to representing any real leadership style, nor any closer to expressing the motivation, or sentiments of warriors. It was all quite ridiculous and impossible to take seriously.. Many authors with no leadership or combat experience still are able to make things seem both plausible and real by researching both topics. The way we fight has changed, but combat leadership and war are still essentially the same. The traits that would make you a good warrior or leader then would still serve you now and vice versa. The aspects that have changed over the centuries are just technical.

I was really bummed out because from the description it seemed like a good story.