The Tangled Lands

By: Paolo Bacigalupi, Tobias S. Buckell

Narrated by: Kate Reading, Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

From award-winning and New York Times best-selling authors Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell comes a fantasy novel told in four parts about a land crippled by the use of magic and a tyrant who is trying to rebuild an empire - unless the people find a way to resist.

Khaim, The Blue City, is the last remaining city in a crumbled empire that overly relied upon magic until it became toxic. It is run by a tyrant known as The Jolly Mayor and his devious right hand, the last archmage in the world. Together they try to collect all the magic for themselves so they can control the citizens of the city. But when their decadence reaches new heights and begins to destroy the environment, the people stage an uprising to stop them.

In four interrelated parts, The Tangled Lands is an evocative and epic story of resistance and heroic sacrifice in the twisted remains surrounding the last great city of Khaim. Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell have created a fantasy for our times about a decadent and rotting empire facing environmental collapse from within - and yet hope emerges from unlikely places with women warriors and alchemical solutions.

©2010, 2018 Paolo Bacigalupi, Tobias S. Buckell (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Two unequal authors writing two unequal stories

This book is not so much a collaboration as two authors taking turns to write different short stories set in the same world.

Paolo Bacigalupi's stories are, as always very immersive with great world building and a narrative that kept me engrossed. I am sorry to say that Buckell's were less good in my view. Simplistic writing with some words repeated so that they grated. For example ending a sentence with Father, then putting the same word near the start of the next sentence. It happened a few times. So I skipped Buckell's entirely and enjoyed the rest of the book.

The performances are decent although I preferred Tim Gerard Reynolds, but that might have reflected my preference for the writer. Both are experience fantasy narrators and do a good job.