The Torrid Zone
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The Torrid Zone
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Narrated by:
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Timothy Bond
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By:
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Alaric Bond
About this listen
A tired ship with a worn-out crew, HMS Scylla has one more trip to make before her much postponed re-fit. Bound for St. Helena, she is to deliver the island's next governor: a simple enough mission and, as peace looks likely to be declared, no one is expecting difficulties. Except, perhaps, the commander of a powerful French battle squadron, who has other ideas.
With conflict and intrigue at sea and ashore, The Torrid Zone is filled to the gunnels with action, excitement, and fascinating historical detail; a truly engaging listen.
©2014 Alaric Bond (P)2019 Timothy BondListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,723
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,707
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
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5 out of 5 stars
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First rate historical fiction
- By Jason on 04-30-17
By: C. S. Forester
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Midshipman Bolitho
- By: Alexander Kent
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 316
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 268
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 269
October 1772, Portsmouth. Sixteen-year-old Richard Bolitho waits to join the Gorgon, ordered to sail to the west coast of Africa and to destroy those who challenge the King's Navy. For Bolitho, and for many of the crew, it is a severe and testing initiation into the game of seamanship.
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3 out of 5 stars
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This is *not* the book advertised.
- By Robert Bolin on 08-26-16
By: Alexander Kent
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Mutiny on the Bounty
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 966
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 844
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Story5 out of 5 stars 840
The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.
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5 out of 5 stars
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You don't know the whole story.
- By Justin Sluyter on 05-01-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
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Badge of Glory
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
It was an age of empire, an age of contrast, and an age of dramatic change - and one which would determine the destinies of nations as well as of men. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal Marines rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, in August of 1850, anxious to get back into action. "Per Mare - Per Terram" is the marines' motto. In the torturous heat of Africa, where they are sent to stamp out the remaining strongholds of slavery, and later, in the bitter war of the Crimea, Philip Blackwood and his men learn to obey it without question.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good story
- By Thomas Crawford on 05-29-23
By: Douglas Reeman
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Batavia
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 560
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 491
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 490
The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in the middle of the night.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Disaster, Mutiny, Murder, Survival
- By Todd on 02-07-13
By: Peter FitzSimons
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The King's Coat
- By: Dewey Lambdin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 735
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 630
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 623
It is 1780, and 17-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash, rebellious young libertine. So much so that his callous father believes a bit of naval discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding - rather unexpectedly - that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise.
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5 out of 5 stars
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"Sex, Swords, Sailing Ships"
- By Andrew on 05-16-10
By: Dewey Lambdin
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The House of the Four Winds
- One Dozen Daughters, Book 1
- By: Mercedes Lackey, James Mallory
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 357
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 318
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Story4 out of 5 stars 319
The rulers of tiny, impoverished Swansgaard have twelve daughters and one son. While the prince’s future is assured, his twelve sisters must find their own fortunes. Disguising herself as Clarence, Princess Clarice intends to sail to the New World. When the crew rebels, Clarice/Clarence, an expert with rapier and dagger, sides with the handsome navigator, Dominick, and kills the cruel captain. Dominick leads the now - outlawed crew in search of treasure in the secret pirate haven known as The House of the Four Winds.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Solid story, but this one is popcorn
- By Phillip on 09-19-14
By: Mercedes Lackey, and others
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A Beautiful Blue Death
- Charles Lenox Mysteries Series #1
- By: Charles Finch
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,291
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,144
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,143
Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery. Prudence Smith, one of Jane's former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I like cozy
- By Sheryl on 05-21-12
By: Charles Finch
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Into the Storm
- Destroyermen, Book 1
- By: Taylor Anderson
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,339
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,347
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,345
Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker---a Great-War vintage "four-stacker" destroyer---finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits. In desperation, he heads Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover---and emerges somewhere else.
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3 out of 5 stars
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It just never grabbed me.
- By Lore on 05-01-12
By: Taylor Anderson
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Absolution by Murder
- A Sister Fidelma Mystery
- By: Peter Tremayne
- Narrated by: Caroline Lennon
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 619
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 527
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Story4 out of 5 stars 527
In AD 664 King Oswy of Northumbria has convened a synod at Whitby to hear debate between the Roman and Celtic Christian Churches and decide which shall be granted primacy in his kingdom. At stake is much more than a few disputed points of ritual; Oswy's decision could affect the survival of either Church in the Saxon kingdoms. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered, suspicion falls upon the Roman faction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Interesting new (for me) series & great narrator!
- By Yvette on 02-27-15
By: Peter Tremayne
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Burning Bright
- Extraordinaries Series, Book 1
- By: Melissa McShane
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 206
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 203
Elinor is an Extraordinary and the only one in England capable of wielding fire in over 100 years. As an Extraordinary she is respected and feared, but to her father she represents power and prestige for himself. Mr. Pembroke, having spent his life studying magic, is determined to control Elinor and her talent by forcing her to marry whom he chooses, a marriage that will produce even more powerful offspring.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story and narration!
- By sweetliks on 07-06-17
By: Melissa McShane
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Treasure Island
- By: Robert Louis Stevenson
- Narrated by: Benjamin Luxon
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story4 out of 5 stars 8
Perhaps the greatest story of piracy and the search for a fabulous buried treasure ever penned. Meet this cast of extraordinary characters brought vividly to life by the voice and interpretive skill of Benjamin Luxon: once one of Britain's leading international singers, now turning his considerable talents to the spoken word.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Worst narration ever.
- By EvelynL on 05-26-20
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His Majesty's Dragon
- Temeraire, Book 1
- By: Naomi Novik
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,859
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,802
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,802
When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo - an unhatched dragon egg - fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent AU period fantasy
- By Melanie on 07-08-10
By: Naomi Novik
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The Bright and Breaking Sea
- Kit Brightling Series, Book 1
- By: Chloe Neill
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Kit Brightling, rescued as a foundling and raised in a home for talented girls, has worked hard to rise through the ranks of the Isles' Crown Command and become one of the few female captains in Queen Charlotte's fleet. Her ship is small, but she's fast - in part because of Kit's magical affinity to the sea. But the waters become perilous when the queen sends Kit on a special mission with a partner she never asked for. Rian Grant, Viscount Queenscliffe, may be a veteran of the Continental war, but Kit doesn't know him or his motives....
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4 out of 5 stars
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It's really good, but not quite great
- By Mariya Joldzic on 11-29-20
By: Chloe Neill
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Sacred Hunger
- By: Barry Unsworth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
In this Booker Prize-winning work, Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son, who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew, who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain's drastic response provokes a mutiny.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wise, Perceptive, Heart-breaking
- By S. Coldsmith on 04-16-16
By: Barry Unsworth