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.

Ray Porter's interpretation of The Sum Of All Men

Very good writing.
Perhaps great writing... but it's little hard to tell.

It's been a long time since I found a book any where near as good as J. R. R. Tolkien's masterpiece(s) -
Tolkien's books are so good they were instant hits as soon as they were published, and they have continued to sell well ever since. Tolkien's writing craft is so great that his novels created the whole trilogy /series fantasy novel genre, as well as started the whole role playing game universe, as well as 'Cos-play'. Tolkien's work effected popular culture ever since it saw the book shelf. It's great fiction.

OK, this is not as professorial as LOTR, yet it comes satisfyingly close enough.

"The Sum Of All Men" is endlessly creative with-out becoming outlandish or ridicules. This book is thoughtful and frightening and beautiful. Thank you David Farland.

Unfortunately, it is read by Ray Porter.
I'm not a fan of the way Ray Porter feels the need to 'act' out a book instead of just doing a good read.
Only a very-extremely-amazingly-Oscar winningly-kinda' talented actor could 'act out' every character's dialogue in an enormously populated book as vast and sprawling as this one.

Ray's a decent narrator, but he's not a good actor. Thus, we are left to listening to Ray over act, badly act, and blunder through delicate emotions on lines that, while written well, sound awkward & wrong when so badly 'acted'.
Few narrators can do a male and a female voice convincingly, and Ray is sadly one of them. His women sound weird. This becomes especially noticeable when he throws his thin 'acting-chops' into their dialogue.

Every time someone spoke, especially a woman, it knocked me out of the story.

This is a book I really like. Perhaps, I might even love this book.
Unfortunately, this is not the book.
This is the audio-play of "Ray Porter's interpretation of The Sum Of All Men."

I suggest you buy the book.

Enjoyed reading and listening

I really enjoyed reading the Runelord series. I wasn't sure if I'd like listening to it since I had already read it but I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed it just as much as if I had never read it before hand.

Riveting absolutely a must read series.

OK this series is amazing. High fantasy with a depth of universe building that made the work feel full. This is a series that I could not put down. There are unique aspects to the fantasy in these books that I found amazing.

Okay story, Poor delivery.

Although I felt the story was good, Ray Porter's
delivery and inflection on certain words such as "voice" throughout the story was laboring to the point of being tedious at times. There are also noticeable audio differences at multiple breaks throughout the story, these things distract and lessen the experience.

Lay down your self-help books

Lay down your self-help books long enough to, instead, read this high fantasy series. Learn about the true nature of love, service, sacrifice, true happiness, repentance, and healing of seemingly incurable wounds (both physical and emotional). The fantasy of the world completely disguises these Christian principles, in a story of wonder, awe, and excellent character development.

In-between the lines his fantastic and magical world, it is obvious to me that the author has a much better understanding of how real life works than at least 99% of every other author on Earth.

The only flaw of this series is that he doesn't describe what the main monster of the series looks like well enough, until book 3. Know that a reaver looks like fat grey praying mantis larger than an elephant with pink worm-like tentacles hanging off of the bottom of its eye-less spade-like head. It has many rows of large christaline teeth, and prefers human flesh.

Slow but worth it

worth it. slow but steady. sone reviews were miss leading. I can't wait to read the next book

fantastic

Great book slow to start but worth every minute.
I do believe I will start book two this every night

Beautiful writing

The language in this book is phenomenal, the flow of the entire book was so smooth. The characters are so well developed as is the rune lord world, I highly recommend this book.

great book

great book
it has been a favorite for years
glad to be able to listen while I work

A Masterpiece

The only thing I can say against this book is that it is full of word echoes, perhaps by intent to give it more of an "old world" feel. perhaps due to lazy editing. I'll leave that for you to decide. This is one of those books that makes you wonder how you've never heard of it and leads you to telling your story loving friends it should be at the top of their reading list. The best aspects are it's fascinating lore, one of the greatest villains I've ever seen, the simplicity of it's world building, the ease of it's narration, and the interesting nature of each character. Imagine if the stories of King Arthur were a page turning thriller and you're on the right track. Read it now. NOW.