Woundhealer's Story

The First Book of Lost Swords

By: Fred Saberhagen

Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett

Returning to the milieu of his Swords trilogy, Saberhagen offers a new scenario. The gods have withdrawn from the human world and the 12 Swords of Power they had forged are now scattered, lost and hidden. The weapons are still coveted, though, by men like Baron Amintor, who has lost one kingdom and now sees them as the means to another. No scruples stop him from stealing the sword Woundhealer from the White Temple, where its powers were offered to cure all pilgrims. His bad luck, however, is to have crossed Prince Mark, who is desperate for Woundhealer's help in treating his blind, troubled son. The running battle between Mark and Amintor, their allies, their wizards, and their swords, is spun out in a light, pleasant adventure that benefits greatly from Saberhagen's narrative gifts as the various strands leapfrog forward, keeping the reader off balance but constantly intrigued.

©1986 Fred Saberhagen (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Woundhealer

Just started my experience with audible books, and really enjoyed this story. I have found that my enjoyment for this format really depends on the narrator.

Read it, don't listen

Would you try another book from Fred Saberhagen and/or Cynthia Barrett?

Cynthia Barrett ruined any hope of listening to the series within the first 30min of the book. Her narration is much like she is reading a picture book to a small child.

Would you be willing to try another one of Cynthia Barrett’s performances?

Absolutely not.

Incredible Story! Horrible Narrator!

I love the author's work! If the story hadn't been so gripping, the terrible narration would have killed it. The narrator read in a completely pedantic and menial fashion that made me feel like I was a child listening to an elementary school teacher doing a poor job at reading her class a story. She often times mispronounced names and would change them from time to time. Simply horrible! The story was great... What a shame...

I really enjoyed the original series. A step back

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was alright, yet definitely lacked the magic of the first series. I think part of the was a huge drop off in talent of the narrator.

If you’ve listened to books by Fred Saberhagen before, how does this one compare?

I did not enjoy it as much. The familiar characters were back and that was interesting as well as some new characters mainly the progeny of the originals. The focus on an individual sword was interesting, i suppose i was expecting more the history of the sword which i thought could have been more intriguing.

How could the performance have been better?

The original narrator from the trilogy was FAR superior.

Was Woundhealer's Story worth the listening time?

It was alright...although it did make me question rather i will buy any of the others in the series. Probably not if they feature the female narrator.

Any additional comments?

Its too bad. I really loved the originals but felt this was a step back in both performance and story.

loved it

great book. read the book of swords first however, makes it easier to identify the characters.