The Sum of All Men

The Runelords, Book 1

By: David Farland

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 21 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

David Farland's acclaimed Runelords series introduces a world where the social structure is based upon the magical exchange of "endowments" such as stamina, grace, and wit. The Runelords are those who receive these endowments from their vassals, becoming superhuman in exchange for the responsibility of caring for those they have deprived of strength, or beauty, or sight.

Young Prince Gaborn of Mystarria is traveling in disguise on a journey to ask for the hand of the lovely Princess Iome of Sylvarresta. Armed with his gifts of strength and perception, the prince and his bodyguard stop at a local tavern, where they spot a pair of assassins who have their sights set on Princess Iome's father. As they race to warn the king, they realize that more than the royal family is at risk—the very fate of the Earth is in jeopardy.

©1998 David Farland (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Excellent Fantasy Series!

Exceptionally good book! Magic, romance, and characters that you love and others that love to hate.

It has been awhile for me to find a new series that is similar to and as good as the "Wheel of Time series" by Robert Jordan. Like the "Wheel of Time series", I am totally engrossed, sitting on the edge-of-my-seat listening. The plot is very interesting. Also, the book is up-beat (most of the time anyway). But, like George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series there are some tragedies.

NARRATION: The narrator reads the Prolog in a way that seems too overacting, but after that his style of reading changes and I enjoyed listening.

At this point, I have commited to purchasing books 2 thru 4. Book two, I downloaded. Books 3 and 4 are not available on Audible(at this time), so I ordered them 'used' from Amazon.

Great beginning of an epic

It was so show to start but once it picked up, it was hard to put down.

A Deep Tapestry of High Adventure

Where does The Sum of All Men rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the better productions I have listened to. The material makes this a great saga of escapism adventure.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Sum of All Men?

When Gaborn is spurned by the lovely Princess Iome

What about Ray Porter’s performance did you like?

Ray Porter does an excellent job of cadence and bringing the characters to life. The recording is of high quality and the voice characterization is fairly consistent.

Any additional comments?

The deep history of the land combined with believable characters makes this an amazing Epic tale. I am happy there are more books in this series.

Characters

Took I few to connect to charter to over all a good listing. Good narrative I would recommend

So repetitive, stop explaining over & over.

I love the world crafted but they keep explaining the same thing over and over. I get how forcibles work and its a miral problem.
Give us some credit we have more memory than a gnat.
Book 6 and they repeat all the things again and again.

I didn't like it at first

what can I say I really didn't like it at first but it grew on me
the whole endowment thing really started to wear on me especially explaining what each one does over and over again but as that dropped away and it started getting to the point the story really started to grow on me by the end I found myself already adding the other books in the series to my library and rushing off to within wifi range at work to download the rest . starts off rough but it really did grow on me.

Finally A Fantasy Worth Reading

Although admittedly this story was written a while ago, and I could sense that a better editing job would of improved the pace, this is the first fantasy I have come across that is worth recommending.
The style of writing is full and descriptive without (usually) being repetitive. Many of the fantasy books I've attempted the last few years have been SO very simplistic, as if the authors were writing for an intended target group of middle graders and teenagers that I have literally been disappointed with every fantasy after R. Martins Game of Thrones. and David Gemmel (just to name 2 of my favorites)I do not think that this book is on the same level as those 2, but it came close enough that I read the whole book and I found it worth finishing, which as mentioned, hasn't happened in a long time. It made me hopeful fand excited or the genre again and I will be going on to the 2nd book in this series.
I would recommend this book with the afore mentioned after thoughts.

Very enjoyable. Clean but violent.

There are many characters to keep straight, but not difficult to do so. It has some adult sexual content but does not explore it. GREATLY APPRECIATED THE AUTHOR FOR THIS! Lot's of violence so if you don't like that, this is not for you. The magic is well thought out and comes at an ethical cost which takes this book to the next level and higher thinking, which I really loved. Warfare also includes some ethical decisions that have cost and gain and add another layer of complexity to the story. Character development is well done. Characters have faults and qualities that make them relatable and likeable OR disdainful. This is a long series. I am interested to see how it progresses, but the first book, I certainly recommend. I did not notice any bad language. HUGE Thanks to this author. We need better story telling such as this without having length of bad language or raunchy scenes! I LOVE meaty stories that don't dive into the gross depths of humanity or even the privacy of love relationships. This story lets you know without having to go there.

What’s with the characters names in this book LOL

It’s a decent book, character development is piss poor but it makes up for it in over indulging word play making every scene seem more important than the last. But if I have to hear the name Gabourn or raj atten one more time I’m gonna blast myself holy crap in the last hour I’ve hear those names probably 200-300 times

A King is Coming, Greater than the Earth itself.

I marvel at the penmanship of this author, his vivid imagination, his way with words. And the narrator, how he brings these heroic characters to life, as if they leap from the page.