Waylander

Drenai Series

By: David Gemmell

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The Drenai King is dead - murdered by a ruthless assassin. Enemy troops swarm into Drenai lands. Their orders are simple - kill every man, woman and child. But there is hope.

Stalked by men who act like beasts and beasts that walk like men, the warrior Waylander must journey into the shadow-haunted lands of the Nadir to find the legendary Armour of Bronze. With this he can turn the tide. But can he be trusted? For he is Waylander the Slayer. The traitor who killed the King...

©2017 David Gemmell (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group

Finally, another fantasy narrator & series 2 love

Im a epic fantasy and audiobook addict but I can't seem to enjoy female narrators nor most American male readers, try as I might. Fortunately, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Simon Vance and Michael Kramer read a ton of fantasy sagas but Im down to slim pickens. i was delighted to stumble onto both the waylander series and Sean Barrett. i just finished brian lee durfees blackest heart which is amazing but about the goriest book ive every read. it is a nightmare yet i couldn't put it down. what do you read after a book like that??? well waylander was perfect! there is so much depth, intregue and magic- my favorite part of fantasy! i liked that as terrible as the characters were, they also haveb some good in them, often much to their own shagrin. i need that right now with our current state of the union. there was hopelessness but it wasn't angsty and infuriating! i never felt hatred because the good guys that while flawed and in pearel, had faith and that made me expect triumph. don't get me wrong, heroes will die, but none the less i found the story generally uplifting.
the narrator has such a conversational flare with dialogue and his voice is both soothing and authoritative. i loved listening to him! this is a wonderful book and I'm so glad their are many more to come! please forgive my typos and lack of capitalization. writing from my phone.

David Gemmell and Sean Barrett are great match!

Everything about this audiobook is perfect! Once in a lifetime author and a narrator that does the work justice!

timeless stories

I've probably listened to the entire book 10x at least. Never grows old or stale. Exciting story, memorable characters. If Gemmell was still alive would beg him to resurrect Waylander somehow to continue his adventures. Brilliant read by Barrett. So many voices and maintains the drama and suspense.

can't ever get enough of the drenai

great story, the narration is superb, a real joy to listen to. already downloaded the next book

Finally in audiobook

My favourite fantasy series and narrated incredibly well... I can't wait to hear the rest

the assassin

Another great book by Gemmell love waylander,'book moves well. Readed these years ago Against The Horde was my first,in the 80's now get to listen to them.Nice job Sean. wow!!!

Excellent story read excellently

I read this book about 20 years ago. I really enjoyed it then and many of the scenes replayed in my mind as I listened to the audio book as if though I just read them last month. The characters in the Drenai Saga are likable, even some of the unsavory ones...

Awesome!!

First Gemmell book I ever read, hooked me for life. This audio version really brings Waylander to life. I'm getting ALL of the audio books of David Gemmell, his books are top notch.

A magnificently narrated classic.

I like Gemmell because he wrote his stories in a very direct no bullshit language, with simple but very memorable characters and actually interesting villains and always showing how both sides in conflict had flagrant flaws (General Karnak in looking at you).

My favourite moment in the book is when Cadoras and Waylander have their final conversation and farewell. For some reason that moment of insight into the bad guy feelings, showing his most humane side struck very much since the first time I read it, years ago, to the point that made me more fascinated with Cadoras than Waylander at that point in the book.

As a negative aspect: never fancied much the moral turn Waylander experiments, from being some kind of Mad Max in a fantasy setting to rediscover love and wish for a better life. But even as it is its very well written so yeah. The book gives some moral lessons, criticizes human nature but it never does it in an overly pretentious or righteous way as one would expect in other fantasy franchises such as some of the first Salvatore´s Drizzt stories.

The narrator, Sean Barrett has a great voice and apart of the fact that overall love this book and the story, im giving it 5 stars to performance simply because of how well he tells us the story.

Unforgettable

If you could sum up Waylander in three words, what would they be?

Quite possibly the beginning of one the best trilogies in fantasy fiction. Waylander! What mystique. I had read this a while back and when I saw it pop up on audible and downloaded it immediately and was glad for it. I was reminded just awesome Gemmell crafted the character Waylander. "I was a lamb playing in a green field and then the wolves came..." WOW!

What other book might you compare Waylander to and why?

Other books by Gemmell has similar themes but this was the best in my opinion.

Which scene was your favorite?

Too many to say.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Needs to be a movie. A well-done movie.