The Death of Nnanji

By: Dave Duncan

Narrated by: Victor Bevine

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

Those who read and enjoyed the original three-volume series, The Seventh Sword, will remember that the original trilogy presents a series of surprising endings, especially in the third volume. In order to avoid spoilers, the author has chosen to skirt some issues central to those volumes in the description for this new, original and additional volume which follows the original series publications by well over a decade. New readers may wish to start with The Reluctant Swordsman, The Seventh Sword 1; The Coming of Wisdom, The Seventh Sword 2 and The Destiny of the Sword, The Seventh Sword 3, before starting on this brand-new adventure set in the world of The Seventh Sword.

The Reluctant General

For 15 years the truce has held. Swordsmen of the Tryst of Casr have kept the peace and extended the rule of law over half the World, but now sorcerers have started killing swordsmen again, and swordsmen traitors are aiding them. Shonsu-who was Wallie Smith before he became a swordsman of the seventh rank and liege lord of the Tryst-must once more gird on the seventh sword of Chioxin, and this time he rides out to fight the war that he hoped would never come. As he leads his army forth, its two most junior members are Vixini, son of Shonsu, and Addis, son of Nnanji, who has an oath of vengeance to fulfill. Their failure or success will determine the fate of the World for the next thousand years.

©2012 Dave Duncan (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

good story, horrible narrator

all I can say is this narrator was horrible. he didn't pronounce any of the names correctly and that just annoyed me throughout the whole book. As for the story it was great to get to see the future of Wally, Nnanji and Jja. And the continuation of their story. but I'd buy this book again if they got a new narrator, so I can listen without yelling out the correct names each time. grrrrr

The return of old friends long gone.

I read the original seventh sword trilogy in the late 80's and thought it would be neat to listen again on audiobook. Then i discovered that a fourth book had been written and the excitement hit me hard! I enjoyed revisiting favorite characters from my youth and seeing how the world had progressed under Nnanji and Shonsu's leadership. The story was engaging and the ending poignant. However I found the change of narrator and the fact that he pronounced the names of major characters differently than in the previous audio books distracting at first.

Narrator voice irritating-story is good

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Different narrator; possibly having them not speak so close to the recording microphone. The Narrator has a pleasant voice, and I believe I would have enjoyed it, but the speakers in both my tablet and in my vehicle accentuate the high pitched "s" sounds he makes

What was most disappointing about Dave Duncan’s story?

I couldn't listen to it for more than 2 minutes. I loved the other books, both in print and in audio (all from Audible). But not this one - the Narrator is different from the other books, and this new Narrator's voice was impossible to listen to for any length of time.

How could the performance have been better?

The Narrator was either speaking too close to the microphone which caused the strident "s" sound to be accentuated, or his articulation causes this naturally.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Death of Nnanji?

I have no idea, as I only listened to 2 minutes of the production before having to cut it off.

Any additional comments?

I wish I had listened to a sample before buying it. I wish I had listened to it earlier and gotten a refund. As it is, I am stuck with a book I will never listen to since the audio is so irritating.

Good series ends here

I enjoyed this entire series for light reading on a mythical planet, told in 3rd person. This book is set about 15 years after book 3. The characters make the series. Recurring characters include Nnanji, his wife Thana, their son Addis, his brother Katanji, and Shonsu/ Wallie Smith, his wife Jja, their son Vixi (a baby in books 1-3), plus a few minor secondary characters.

Good read, but the ending left me disappointed somewhat, in that certain conspirators to mass murderer weren't punished, or not nearly enough.

New narrator. Bevine is good, but he didn't pronounce Nnanji and Jja correctly. The author's note (in previous book) explained that it's Na-nanji, and Ja-ja, as the prior narrator correctly pronounced.

should have stayed true

the performer of this novel should have stayed true to the original pronuciations of the names otherwise a very good story

Not like the rest

This book is not like the other three. If you loved the other three you will like “seeing” old friends, but the plot is weak, decisions of characters poor, and events so wishfully positive that you will wonder where the story went. The narrator would be awesome for sleepy stories—not bad, just not like the original, and he costs the author a step instead of adding a step. Just sad kind of wish they hadn’t made this. Maybe it was a different author who felt nostalgic for the characters? I didn’t hate it but unlike the other three, I’ll never listen to this one again.

Great book but the new reader is not my favorite.

Story still is great, but it's a new reader and hearing the characters I've gotten used to over the last 3 books with a different voice is really strange and off-putting. I wish they would release a version of this book by Donald Coran, I would buy it again to get him as the reader.

simple story

enjoyed it. agree with the others. the narrator wasn't the best choice for this story.

Wish it were 3 books

Another great book in the series! Wish it had been broken up into more books like the last ones. This plot could have supported far more detail. Would recommend this series to everyone.

Fantastic Ending to the Series!

Although the last book would have served well as an ending to the series (and it was actually meant to be), but this book really brought a wealth of meaning to the prophecies of the end of the third book. And it was all very well done!

However I do need to voice an objection to the changing of the reader. I will admit though that I slightly favor the reader of this book and would have preferred they had him read the previous three.

I think that I recommend this book above the other three! Very well done!!