The Far Kingdoms

The Far Kingdoms, Book 1

By: Allan Cole, Chris Bunch

Narrated by: John Hough

Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

The Far Kingdoms...a place of bright sunlight surrounded by dark, deadly wilderness. A place where the princes and magicians were kind and wise beyond all imagination. A place where wine and song were always sweet, every purse was fat with gold, and every heart at ease. The Far Kingdoms... said to lie in the distant east, across the straits of the Narrow Sea, beyond the benighted Pepper Coast, in uncharted territory. The Far Kingdoms... a place no one could reach even if it were real - which surely it wasn't.

Young, pampered Amalric Antero cared only for real places and possible dreams. The time had come to Find His Tradewind, to make the traditional journey seeking out new lands, new riches, new customers as his merchant father, and his father's father, had done before him. He meant only to do as all young traders did: travel to the known lands in the west and return home having proved himself able to deal well with his father's customers. Nothing more was expected. But then he met Janos Greycloak, a dashing soldier who dabbled in forbidden magic and who carried on him proof of riches and mysteries beyond imagination. And suddenly Amalric found himself setting out on the adventure of a lifetime, a daring and perilous quest through unknown lands peopled by nightmares, to seek the ultimate in fables... The Far Kingdoms!

©1993 Allan Cole, Chris Bunch (P)2010 Books In Motion

Critic reviews

"Thoughtful and well-crafted epic fantasy." ( Publishers Weekly)

The Far Kingdoms

I never write bad reviews because I have enjoyed many books that had poor reviews overall. I also think comments on narrarators are very much tied to a particular listeners taste. However this audiobook requires a warning to all. The narrarator does a poor job. I could not put my finger on what was wrong for a while and then it hit me. This narrarator pauses in the middle of sentences where he shouldn't. I'm not talking about pauses for effect. I'm talking about wierd disconnects and it happens often. Things like "I turned *2 second pause* around to look, and saw it was not truely *3 second pause* there. I have over 400 titles in my library and am proud to say I have finished all but a handful. But this is the first book that I had to turn off, not because the content was bad, but because I couldn't take the narrarator any longer. The storyline is fine. It's not going to blow you away, but for listeners like me that are waiting for the next Wheel of Time or GRRM book and have exhausted every recommended title on audible it is ok. But the *3 second pause* narraration is stunted and unlistenable.

The Far Kingdoms

I think this is the first review I've written on here. I have a ton of Audible books, and I listen to audiobooks all day long...so I look for the longest running books I can find. This book is probably just fine if you read it yourself...but the narration is HORRIBLE on this audiobook. The narrator has a very strange reading pace, he puts the emphasis on the wrong words, and pauses mid sentence. I couldn't finish this book...it is still sitting there in my library, waiting for me to run out of everything else so I need to go back to it.Save your credits..don't download this.

Fire John Hough

How could the performance have been better?

Choose a different narrator or better sound editor! I've never heard anyone speak at such an unnatural pace with so many unnecessary pauses. I had to speed up the playback just to get through it. We shouldn't have to be tortured like this - a decent sound editor could have fixed all of this before the book was sent out. I've done this with my own voice over files many times.

Any additional comments?

The first book book was decent but the second book was really good. Now that I'm ready to listen to the third book and I see that Hough is the narrator again, I'm not sure I can take it. I will think twice before purchasing more books that he has worked on. He really needs some coaching. I work for a professional theater company so I'm not just saying this!

the World's Worst Narrator

The most unpleasant combo of nasally and gravely voice I've EVER heard. Like he is suffering a FATAL cold. Far TOO difficult to listen to for long. Chalk full of strange pauses and mispronounced words, two thumbs down from me. Can't believe he got paid for this job. Buy the paperback, you WILL enjoy this book if you read it yourself.