• The Staff and the Blade

  • Irin Chronicles, Book Four
  • By: Elizabeth Hunter
  • Narrated by: Jay Britton
  • Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (344 ratings)

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The Staff and the Blade  By  cover art

The Staff and the Blade

By: Elizabeth Hunter
Narrated by: Jay Britton
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Publisher's summary

Warriors. Lovers. Enemies. Legends.

Their union became pivotal in Irin history, but to understand Damien and Sari's ending, you must go back to their beginning. Four hundred years ago, a young singer and a hardened warrior met and loved each other, but their life was torn apart by violence.

But no matter how much pain and anger stain their lives, bonds in the Irin race cannot be abandoned. Damien and Sari will never truly leave each other, because those who are destined cannot be ignored.

The Staff and the Blade is the fourth book in the Irin Chronicles.

©2016 Elizabeth Hunter (P)2018 Elizabeth Hunter

What listeners say about The Staff and the Blade

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love the book but hate the audiobook

I enjoyed the reader from the first few books in the series but this guy lacks warmth and almost sounds robotic. I would not recommend this recording at all, just buy the book and read it for yourself.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love and time!

The Staff and The Blade is Damien and Sari’s story. The book takes you back to the beginning of their relationship, the reason for their separation and hurt feelings, through Ava’s meeting the fabled Irina, and Damien’s family. The story is an extraordinary tale of guilt, love, happiness, battles, pain, revenge, and joy. The characters are believable. You’ll laugh and cry. Jay Britton did a good job. I turned the speed of the audiobook to 1.25x since the pauses between each sentence wasn’t to my liking (personal preference not to be used to dissuade other buyers) I wish however that since Zachary Webber started the series he could have narrated this book too. I’m a listener who devours series and when narrators change halfway through with different voices for the same characters in previous books it’s very annoying and dissatisfying.

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16 people found this helpful

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

Stilted narration, bad editing....

I'm not sure how much to blame on the narration or the editor. There were long pauses between phrases and in the middle of conversations or actions. There were at least 3 times that phrases repeated themselves. If I didn't like the 1st books in this series I wouldn't have plowed through to the end of this one.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible narration

I really loved this series until this book. The voices were all different, he pronounced key character names differently from the entire series, the series was about the Irina which he now pronounces completely different. Confusing for the storyline and the narration was just boring. Totally ruined the book for me.

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7 people found this helpful

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

Beautiful love story of Damien and Sari..

Although, I was bummed the fourth story was not continued using narrator Zachary Webber, Jay did a really good job. I was glad to get the history on the lives of Damien and Sari. Heartbreaking at times, but hopeful for love separated... In the first three books, the reader was aware that there was a long, sad history between the two. Glad to understand it now. These chronicles can shed light on many different stories, emphasis on the fallen angel lives, greggory defectors etc. I'm excited to see what Elizabeth Hunter has up her sleeves, in future books of the Irin chronicles! I'll be waiting 😀

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Challenging to teach the end

I was super surprised this is the same writer as the scribe serious. I don’t think it was a Boeing as I thought but the narrator made it so much worse. It was Ike a PowerPoint meeting. I skipped multiple chapters many times. The strange or pronunciation of the allele Voland and Jarron was like scratching a chalk board. So so so disappointing they didn’t not keep Zach Webber for the narration. Would have been much more bearable to get to the end. I enjoyed the overlap of the scribe story, but damn the narrator killed AVA as well. I would not waste a credit on this book . Good to hear about the rendering but that’s all that it was worth.

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3 people found this helpful

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

A powerful love story BUT read the prior 3 books first

It boggles my mind that this book is being marketed as a standalone. There is no way to truly appreciate this book without the journey of Ava/Malachi as well as Damien and Sari's interactions in the prior 3 books. This book makes the way they relate to each other make more sense and give their love story more meat.
I have always enjoyed Damien...even more so than Sari but their past was painful. There was great pain, loss and later forgiveness.

This story and series is very well done. It's creative, emotional and really engaging. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered from the prior books. I want to catch up on the rest of the books now.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book just as much as the previous books!

I Really enjoyed this narrator! I wasn’t sure if I’d like this story since we already knew the outcome of Damien and Sari from the previous book but I absolutely loved it! I am addicted to this series and hope the other books are made very soon. I’m not sure if I can wait for the audios or if I will just read them instead.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

FANTASTIC

Best I’ve listened to in a long time by far was the best so far out of the series.! Couldn’t get myself to stop listening. This is a must have in anyone’s library!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Amazing

Elizabeth Hunter continues to do an amazing job! I loved the many aspects of the story. Jay Britton was more than amazing! I am super picky about narrators, but he was 100% perfect.

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1 person found this helpful