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

"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!

the book is great. the narrator is not.

I loved the story, the narrator's delivery left much to be desired. without doubt the weakest narration of the series thus far.

A childhood friend.

Loved remembering Characters from my teenage years of reading. I hope they put all of them on audio..

superbly written

I have truly truly enjoyed all Mr Feist's works. he is by far my favorite author

Overall good

I’ve been a fan of the Riftwar series for many years and even after reading and rereading the books, I wanted to listen to the unabridged audiobooks.

The narrator for the 1st series of books was very good with various inflections and differing voices for the characters. This narrator is less skilled and many of the voices are very similar or the supposed accent seems fake. And most problematic is he, IMO, mispronounces one of the main character names throughout the entire book. He pronounces “Arutha” as “Aruta”, dropping the “h”.

Unfortunately he doesn’t compare to the prior narrator. If it wasn’t for liking the series so much, I’d probably not purchase the remaining titles using this narrator but I’m going to give the next one in the series a chance - just because Audible allows for a return

Terrible Narrator

I love the book, but I cannot even get through the first chapter with this narrator. I wish I read the reviews first. His enunciation of names and other things is AWFUL!!!

story naration

i loved it all the whole story it seemed too short . Definitely recommend the book and good narrator.

great story

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

Great Book, Terrible Reader

I don't understand where these name pronunciations come from. Every time he said Aruta instead of Arutha it was like getting stabbed in the ear.

Great Story

Loved the story and performance, only flaw was pernunciation of names changed between books.