The Coming of Wisdom

By: Dave Duncan

Narrated by: Donald Corren

Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Goddess had rescued Wallie Smith from certain death, endowed him with a magnificent new body, and gifted him with the legendary Sapphire Sword of Chioxin. She asked only one service in return.... So Wallie became the Goddess' champion - and promptly found himself on the losing side in a battle against magics far beyond any the priests of the Goddess could hope to summon.

After eons of exile, sorcerers walked the World again, claiming lands and souls for their Fire God. Wallie quickly found that swords were no match for spells - and how could mere mortals prevail against the powers of magic?

©1988 D.J. Duncan (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

One of my favorite series.

Loved this series when it first came out. Donald Corren does a fantastic job of breathing life into the characters.

Fun story continues!

Superb narration. This is a fun series, told in 3rd person. The pace moves faster in this book, compared to book 1, probably because the characters travel around. Much of this book is set on board a trading ship called the Sapphire, and in towns along The River (unnamed). This river is believed to be the goddess, a river that has no source apparently, and appears to loop around, reconfiguring itself like Chutes and Ladders.

Wonderful cast of characters! They grew on me in this book. Together, they must interpret the vague riddle from the goddess and accomplish her mission. I was constantly guessing the riddle, too. Surprising twists.

Seven ranks of swordsmen and the color of their kilt:
Level 1 is called a novice, wearing a white kilt.
Level 2 is called apprentice, wearing a yellow kilt.
Level 3 is called swordsman, wearing brown. (At this level, you can own things.)
Level 4 is called adept, wearing orange.
Level 5 is called master, wearing red.
Level 6 is called "honorable" wearing green.
Level 7 is called "lord" wearing blue.

Slaves, beggars, and the nameless wear black.

Pronunciation!

C’mon, it’s not hard. If you are going to say “in English it would be fo’csle”, say it! It’s only spelled forecastle. It’s pronunciation fox-ul. Also gun’l not gunwale. <shudder>.

Excellent Continuation of the Story

The second book in the series, greatly helped my estimation of where the story could go! Simply marvelous story telling!

The adventure begin in earnest!

The adventure begins in earnest now as Shonsu, Nnanji and Companions leave the temple at Hahn and take to the Goddess's river. In this second book of the seventh sword series Wally must attempt to meet the requirement set forth in the Goddess's riddle while trying to be what is expected of him as a swordsman of the seventh rank (and mostly failing) While Nnanji must adapt as he learns his romantic notions of honor, right, and wrong often mean very little in the harsh reality of the world.

Fantastic

Author is one of my faves. Narrator did great job, lots of inflection and emotion. Clear speech, no problems understanding over road noise.. Had high hopes for a great performance and they were surpassed far beyond what I was wishing for.

Good story with good narration

Although this is a good story it's a little bit obvious and one tends to think that the hero has been hit on the head once too often.
The narration is very good indeed.

Entertaining & Fun

Any additional comments?

The Coming of Wisdom is A fun fantasy romp, with adventures on the open water, honor and the warriors code.

Quay

quay
Pronounced /kiː/ not quay
noun
a stone or metal platform lying alongside or projecting into water for loading and unloading ships.