Silk Road

By: Colin Falconer

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Holy Land, 1260.

Josseran Sarrazini is chosen to escort the Pope's emissary on an embassy to the all-conquering Mongol horde in an effort to save all Christendom from destruction. But although he serves as a Templar warrior, Josseran is not all that he appears to be - and he despises the Pope's man on sight.   

Now they have to spend nine months in each other's company on the most dangerous and most inhospitable journey on the earth - across the legendary deserts of Persia, through the horrific black hurricanes of the Taklimakan, along the entire spider's web of the Silk Road to Khubilai Khan's legendary capital at Xanadu. When he sets out, Josseran cannot know then that he will never see Christendom again.

Meanwhile, somewhere near the Roof of the World, a Tatar princess possessing a gift for prophecy, defies her father's attempts to marry her off to the sons of other tribal chiefs. She does not belong in her world any more than Josseran belongs in his.

Now fate will bring their paths on a collision course somewhere on the Silk Road and change the course of her life, and Josseran's, forever.

From the Storehouse of Winds to the Palace of Myriad Tranquillities, from the Pamirs and Hindu Kush to the legendary Xanadu and the dazzling court of Khubilai Khan, this is romance and adventure on a breathtaking scale.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Colin Falconer (P)2018 Tantor

Could be better

It is a good story with the exception of a rushed ending that leaves you hanging. The main characters elicit strong feelings in the reader. Just as it should be. My biggest complaint with this book was the audio quality. Emily Woo Zeller has a beautiful voice when doing the narrative. However, her vocal characterizations of male characters are terrible. Some are mildly believable and others are oafish charicatures of humans. But, by far, the greatest flaw in this recording is the audio levels. The narrarive is beautifully done, but barely a whisper. If you turn it up to hear that clearly, most dialog is a relative shouting match, even when not justified by the story. As in, so loud it hurts, sending you to the volume control. This book could be made much better by remastering the original recording with much more audio level compression.

Excellent story

Really enjoyed the story although it was difficult to follow or track where they really were as they traveled. But overall it was very compelling. However as there were so many male characters I felt that the storyteller should have been a man

Strong Characters

I love historical fiction. The Silk Road by Colin Falconer ia a very entertaining story. It's not only dramatic but also very well researched and quite frankly I leaned more about the Silk Roads than listening to a Non-Fiction narrative.
If you are looking for a great story while also getting a higher reality about living on the Silk Roads in the 12th century, this book is it.
After listening to this book, I added Mr. Falconer to my staple list of authors.

Fantastic book

I couldn’t stop listening. Compelling and beautifully written! Well researched. One of the best books I’ve ever read!!

Really good book I enjoyed it wished it was a set

this is a Really good book it sweeps you away as all good novels shoud and lets you for a time to ride with the Mongol hordes

Who is Truly the Barbarian?

You get to the end of this novel and you don't want it to end and start searching for a follow-on to this lovely & tragic story. The richness comes in the background and cultural descriptions interweaved with historical events & figures. West meets East... who is truly the barbarian?

Great story. Inconsistent sound

I enjoyed the story and for the most part the performance was great. The only issue I had was with sound levels. It would either be really loud or too soft to hear. Sometimes the audio would be really low and I’d crank up the volume only to get slammed with ear shattering audio in the next portion.

Silk Road is a rocky ride

I had a very hard time getting into this story. Once in, I found it a chore to read some parts. That being said, I mostly liked the book. A crusader and a priest travel from the holy land to the court of Kublai Khan in Cathay. there are lots of gory parts, as this was a very brutal time in history. At one point I doubted a method of execution, looked it up, and found it was actually used. I did not attach myself to either of the two lead characters, though I liked one and disliked the other. Further reading did not change this view, so I am assuming that was the author's intent. I liked the book more as a lesson in the barbarity of human kind than anything else. I believe the story is very well planned, and it did keep me reading past the parts I found distasteful due to violence. (Like I said, it was a violent time period.)

Many people recommended this series, so I will read the next book in the series before deciding if I want to spend additional money and time on the later books.

this is actually book 1 of a 7 book series

so why isn't the rest of this series in audible? I know myself and others would have grabbed more

Unusually good

Brilliant, intriguing and intense historical story of pain, heartache and adventure.
Also with fantastic narration too.
Wish there were more like this.