Prince of the Blood

Riftwar Cycle: Krondor's Sons, Book 1

By: Raymond E. Feist

Narrated by: Peter Joyce

Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Prince of the Blood is a work that explores strength and weakness, hope and fear, and what it means to be a man - in a kingdom where peace is the most precious commodity of all. 

If there were two more impetuous and carefree men in the Kingdom of the Isles, they had yet to be found. Twins Borric and Erland wore that mantle proudly, much to the chagrin of their father, Prince Arutha of Krondor. But their blissful youth has come to an end. Their uncle, the King, has produced no male children. Bypassing himself, Arutha names Borric, the eldest twin by seconds, the Royal Heir. As his brother, Erland will have his own great responsibilities to shoulder. To drive home their future roles, Arutha sends them as ambassadors to Kesh, the most feared nation in the world. Borric and Erland will be presented to the Queen of Kesh - the single most powerful ruler in the known world - at her 75th Jubilee Anniversary. 

But they have not even left Krondor when an assassination attempt on Borric is thwarted. Aware that he is being provoked into war, Arutha does not rise to the bait. His sons' journey will not be deterred, for nothing less than peace is riding on it. Yet there is to be no peace for the young princes. When their traveling party is ambushed, Borric disappears and is presumed dead - sending Erland into spirals of rage and grief as he is forced to navigate alone the court intrigues at Kesh. But unbeknownst to anyone, Borric lives and has escaped his captors. In a strange land, with a price on his head, Borric must use all his wits and stamina to find his way back to his brother. 

On separate paths, the two men - one a fugitive and one a future king - make their journey toward maturity, honor, and duty. For every step they take could sway the fragile peace of the land, as those who crave war rally against them - and become ever more daring. 

©2017 Raymond Feist (P)2017 Random House Audio

Great book, bad narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Sure I would, but I would warn of the narrator. He sounds the same with all the characters..

What didn’t you like about Peter Joyce’s performance?

Wow, that you had this question must mean you know his performance was lacking. All his mature male chars sounded alike. The empress sounded like a man. The women sounds male. The young males sounds like they smoke and drink.

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

Poor Suli.

Any additional comments?

This is my first review... I think. Anyway, the performance bothered me enough that I had to say something.

The reader was horrible.

The reader was horrible. He chose to pronounce everything he own way. It was very disconnecting. Otherwise, Perfect like I remembered.

"th"=t?

Why would Arutha be read Aruta? That and other strange enunciating is my only issue with this one. Love your books Mr Feist! this is perhaps my 4th time going through them and I wish the series would never end!

Great story; abysmal narrator.

This is a great story, but unfortunately it is nearly impossible to listen to. The narrator is nothing short of dreadful, and that might be being generous. His pronunciation of names from the novels is so obnoxious that half the time you don’t know who he is talking to. I grew up reading these novels and just found them on audible. The other narrators of this series are fantastic. I will avoid purchasing books with this narrator in the future. It is truly a shame, because this is a great story.

narrator's pronunciation is off in a few areas

While some of the names were pronounced badly, AruTa instead of Arutha, his character voices were interesting.
Not the best reading I have heard, certainly not the worst.

great story

love the book. wish the rest available for audible. I also wish that the narrator would pronounce the names correctly

Great book not so great narrator.

loved the book but the narrator was a turn off. didn't ruin the experience but wasn't the best it could be.

Narration

Audio books are all about the narration.The book has already sold itself, just the presentation is in question. I adore Feist and almost everything he's ever written. I have in my collection most of his books. The audio versions I purchased so I could enjoy the exploits of the Kingdom of the Isles, while on the road. Nicholas Guy, who narrated the Rift War series was excellent. Peter Joyce on the other hand, not so much. His accent is a plus, the rigid dialog was awful. He made everyone sound like they were always angry. It does get better later in the series but the Prince was bad. Most notably, his inability to properly pronounce the names of the characters, really makes the books hard to listen to. Notably the primary characters, Arutha, (A-ru-tha), he pronounces (A-ru-ta), A few more examples: Lyam (lee-am) pronounced (lie-um), Carline (car-leen), pronounced (cor-o-line), Amos (a-mus), pronounced (a-moss). Lori (lo-ri), pronounced (Lau-rie). Let's not forget Tomas (tom-as) not (To-mas). I will continue to buy and listen to Feist's books because they are Feist's books, but the experience would be far more enjoyable if the narrators would preview previous versions to ensure they understand phonetics.

Alright

Narrator used bizarre pronunciations. Certain parts bored to a blur without impact to the plot.

The Story Is Great But The Narrator Is Bad.

I have been on a tear. Going through all they Riftwar and connected stories Audible has to offer. Having gone from Nicholas Guy Smith to Janny Wurts, each story is well told and the narrator just brings the story to life. This story is as good as any other from Raymond Feist. Serious, funny....more funny and back to serious.

Unfortunately, Mr. Joyce does not seem to extend an effort into separating the characters voices. Every time he voices James (Jimmy) he just grunts out the voice that makes him sound like a pirate with constipation. The complete lack of dialog change from character to character just rips me out of the story. I have well over 50 audiobooks and this is only the second one I have felt I needed to return. Here's hoping that Audible will make the same changes to this series as it did with the only other audiobook I returned, Brent Week's 'The Black Prism", voiced by some some California surfer dude. They re-issued the first book with a new narrator.