The Ancient

By: R. A. Salvatore

Narrated by: Erik Singer

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Searching for his long-lost father, Bransen Garibond is tricked into journeying across the Gulf of Corona to the wild lands of Vanguard, where he is pressed into service in a desperate war against the brutal Samhaist, Ancient Badden.

On an Alpinadoran lake, just below Ancient Badden's magical ice castle, several societies, caught in the web of their own conflicts, are oblivious to Ancient Badden's devastating plans to destroy them.

Branson becomes the link between the wars, and if he fails, all who live on the lake will perish, and all of northern Honce will fall under the shadow of the merciless and vengeful Samhaists.

The Ancient is part of the Saga of the First King, a four-book series that chronicles the early days of Corona, the same world explored in Salvatore's best-selling Demon Wars saga.

©2008 R. A. Salvatore (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Salvatore excels in world-building and creating complex, introspective characters who triumph through wit and determination as well as skill in open combat." ( Library Journal)

The Ancient (Unabridged)

R.A. Salvatore is a master of his craft, he is the Stephen King fanstay writing. This book shows how he weaves a story around several characters each with their own interesting tale to bring it all together to form a great story. As a reader of Forgotten Realms books for over a decade this audio book was a joy to listen to and I hated to hear this story end. If you are a lover of fantasy books this is a must have in your collection.

My only objection is that once you finish the book there are no more Salvatore books on Audible to listen to.

Another Great Book From Mr. RA

I have been a big fan of RA Salvatore since the first time I picked up Forgotten Realms : Icewind Dale trilogy. With the few titles from Salvatore to choose from, as I am not a Star Wars fan, The Ancient was a no brainier choice. I was also excited to meet up again with Bransen "the highwayman" and his new adventures. I was not disappointed.

This is my first audible pick that I have not previously read. So while unlike my many other audible titles, I started listening without any idea of the story line or without the ability of knowing what would happen next.

The narrator, Erik Singer, did an good job. While I have to admit the sottish/english accents were not my favorite, they did allow me to follow the story and connect with the characters with a deeper degree. I really enjoyed Erik's delivery of the story.

I hope that audible will add more of RA Salvatore's great line up.

The Ancient

If you like and enjoy good Fantasy here's one to get.
A vary fine work with a good pace. The adventure of the Highway man or the Stork keeps you wondering who or whats next. well worth the listen.

The Ancient

Salvatore is one of my favorite authors, this book is good but not as good as some of his previous work like the stories of Drizzzt, still once you get past this book slow start it is very entertaining and would recommend it. I would listen to its sequel when it comes out. Overall, a good listen.

good story

the story is good and in line with the highway man a great tale to further the legend. but the narration is not to par as if Tim Gerard Reynolds would have been the reader. some mispronounced words and names take away from this story as it would be better to read and imagine Tim telling the tale than to hear it from another.

truly disappointed

to write this garb after all the dark elf books.
from the fighting and unknown to this blah blah blah .
a complete let down.

Couldn't enjoy it

So in the first book, a young crippled man overcomes his weakness through magic and force of will, becoming the swashbuckling Highwayman! I picked up this sequel wanting to see more of that guy. Instead, the book starts by talking about some new evil character we don't know or care about in some new land that we don't know or care about. Then it jumps back to the main character, where it goes into great detail about their walk down the road. Then after a great deal of nothing happening, it jumps back to the random new land that I still don't care about and continues droning on about the events happening there.

I assume the goal was to establish this place and this great evil brewing just as the main character approaches but especially in this fantasy setting, it feels like its just throwing made up name after made up name at me, it becomes hard to follow when they introduce so many new characters and places without the main character being anywhere near interacting with them. Maybe it gets better later in, but so far I have listened to three chapters of what feels like filler waiting for the story to start and I've run out of patience.

And then the performance isn't great either. For one he pronounces the name of every single character and location differently than the first book, which makes it that much more difficult to follow. And for second he reads the swashbuckling Highwayman kind of just... apathetically, to contrast with the bombastic swashbuckler we hear in the first book, and kind of expect based on the actions of the character. Maybe its just a personal pet peeve but it always annoys me when a new voice actor takes over and clearly hasn't listened to any of the previous material.

Blah

Going from tim Gerard to Erik zinger was unfortunate. The dude sucks at story telling, it was very disappointing. RA Salvatore is fantastic, but the story didn’t even start to make sense until the last like 75 minutes. 3/10 for Salvatore

A truly villainous villain, but the narrator butchers character names!

I want anyone who reads this review to understand that I think the book is great! The story is classically heroic in the fashion that R.A. Salvatore has been well loved for.

Yet,Erik Singer... is no Tim Gerard Reynolds. I say that to say Mr. Reynolds is one of my favorite narrators so far in my few years of audiobook listening. Mr. Singer does solid voice work, but clearly never listened to the recording of The Highwayman. Every name that he butchered Tim had already pronounced flawlessly. I don’t dislike the performance overall, but I’m a man looking for consistency in my narration.

I can’t always get the same narrator, but I expect at least name pronunciation to be consistent from book to book with the same characters. Erik Singer didn’t give me that. Yet, he gave a solid performance otherwise.

Still, the book is great and I’m excited for The Dame.

damn good book

i really liked this book. i thought it was nice to see more of the dwarves. They seemed less than straight up monsters born evil but maybe creatures raised in an evil society. i also thought the villain was really interesting.