• Woundhealer's Story

  • The First Book of Lost Swords
  • By: Fred Saberhagen
  • Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett
  • Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (159 ratings)

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Woundhealer's Story  By  cover art

Woundhealer's Story

By: Fred Saberhagen
Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett
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Publisher's summary

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 The gods have withdrawn from the human world and the 12 Swords of Power they had forged are now scattered, lost and hidden.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.

What listeners say about Woundhealer's Story

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Choose Your Sword, And Step Forward Into Destiny!

Hmmm. Checking the calendar...Okay, Audible. This is quite unexpected. I've been so excited that we'd scored Saberhagen's Swords series, and I was convinced that we'd not see the Lost Swords series until after the first was completed.

But no complaining here!

This may be hard for those of you enjoying the first sword series, but this is the STRONGER of the two, as each of these book's focuses on a single sword and it's journey! Each tome is rife with high fantasy drama, rich magic, dark plot lines, nightmarish beasts, great characters and well...simply great writing.

Now, if you haven't started with Saberhagen's first swords series here at Audible, stop here and now, and go to my review of THAT series, and start there. The initial premise, concepts and details are there, and you want to start with that incredible series of audiobooks.

Okay, on to this series!

This series came about due to the sheer demand of the public, who had devoured the first series of the sword's journeys, and demanded more. A LOT more. Saberhagen gave his listeners what they wanted, and beyond.

What's so fantastic about this second series? Simple:

Audible listener, if you've read my reviews, you know that I'm extremely judicial. I demand good listens from fantasy authors. Otherwise, I am merciless when it comes to poorly-written fluff, spotted with clumsy characterizations, and weak, everyday plots.

Saberhagen delivers rich fantasy that's well worth listening.

First, Saberhagen crafts a unique fantastic literary sandbox for each sword, as he ties them all together, thus the reader will inevitably choose his or her favorite sword(s), and favorite story line(s). Rarely are they the same from reader to reader, yet each and every book is a VERY good read. When I first read the second series, I and other readers often discussed our favorites, and argued hotly why our chosen sword was better. It made for great discussions and enjoyable arguments.

Pay attention, Audible listener, THAT's the mark of a great series of books, and worthy of your reading/listening. Only when you've engaged with the author will this happen, and in this series, you'll experience that in abundance!

So, this, Woundhealer's story, is the first, and it doesn't disappoint. It lays the groundwork for the subsequent novels, and is a fantasy reader's literal trifecta: Deep magical plots that surprise, wonderful characters grafted into those plots, and rewarding action through a quality storyline. As usual, I don't dare discuss the story's details here, because it's such a good listen, that I will NOT ruin the experience with spoilers.

So, what WILL I tell you? I'll tell you this:

This book was so well conceived, so well written, so well-received by readers around the world, and Woundhealer's story so riveting and richly woven, that it spawned SEVEN other fantastic books in the series, each a phenomenal read/listen in their own unique way.

SEVEN. Yeah. I said seven.

Can you tell that I LOVE this series? I'm thinking yes.

So, now it's YOUR choice to enter a wonderful literary journey into high fantasy.

It begins. Choose your sword, and step forward into destiny!



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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worst narration performance ever

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narration performance of Cynthia Barrett is horrible, to say the least. More often than not I head to wince at the narration rather than to enjoy the story itself. Her reading is so sloooooooow, artificial and monotonous that I sometimes had to check if it isn't an automated speech program instead. Either Cynthia Barrett is the name of an automated reading programm, or it is a real human who has managed to stomp the audiobook into the ground.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Cynthia Barrett?

Darek Perkins (Cynthia Barrett can not even begin to compare)

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

the story is good. The narration is awful

Any additional comments?

Buy the book and read it yourself.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Weak plot, and too many holes...

Any additional comments?

I read SH original series, and thought this would be at least on the same level, perhaps a 3 out of 5. But no. It's a pretty poor effort and, for me, a waste of time. Plot is thin and predictable, characters are weak, and the story has so many holes it just gets annoying after a while.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Reader doesn't fit the subject matter

couldn't concentrate, the narration won't allow any submersion. 90 percent of the characters are male, and a woman reader that can't do voices doesn't work. will return if possible. it's sad, because I was really looking forward to it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great story, awful reader

I listened to the original Book of Swords trilogy and really liked it. The author was great, and he did a good job with the book, the concept and the names. It is too bad that neither the reader or the producer of the Lost Swords series could not take the time to listen to those before they approached this project. The reader, Cynthia Barrett, was AWFUL. She was overly dramatic when she did not need to be, her cadence and rhythms were disconcerting. In addition, she kept mispronouncing names of characters and places. At one point, she even changed the name of one of the characters by adding an R (Amintor to Armintor). If you want to change what the author wrote, go write your own book.

I wish that I had listened to this before I bought the rest of the books, because I would not have. I have a hard time getting past her voice and style to enjoy the book.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

This narrator needs a new job

I'm pretty sure somebody told Cynthia Barret that she was doing voice acting for a cartoon aimed at second graders.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Why change narrators?

Barrett reads like a preschool teacher, but Perkins was doing fantastic. Why the change?

It's especially jarring that they mispronounce the names so differently.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Male Narrator would've been better

Book had mostly Male Characters and would've been better Served with a Male Narrator... Although the Narrator did ok she Sounded as if reading to a Child in Kindergarten

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

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

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