The Dark Angel

De: Mika Waltari

Narrado por: Charlton Griffin

Duración: 13 h y 53 m

Resumen del Editor

Ancient Constantinople, the glorious capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over 1,000 years, and the jewel of Christendom, is the setting for this incredible historical novel.

No other city in the world could compare with it in grandeur, splendor, and wealth. And when it fell to the Turks in 1453, it must have seemed like the end of the world to Christians. Famed author Mika Waltari takes us into the last months of this dying city as revealed in the diary of John Angelos, a strange man hopelessly in love with the daughter of an eminent Byzantine official. In this powerful novel which closely follows actual historical events and personalities, Waltari explores the passions and follies of a civilization on the brink of disaster. With shrewd psychological insight, Waltari provides us with an unbelievable tapestry of false hopes, dogged determination, and fanatic religious faith as seen through the eyes of the 15th century Greeks and Italians who valiantly defended the city to the bitter end.

With chaos and despair deepening into a pall of gloom, the sultan's huge army surrounds Constantinople and assaults its massive walls. We peer over the shoulder of John Angelos as he dons his armor and plunges into the tumultuous events taking place amid smoldering suspicions of betrayal and assassination. But as always, the beautiful Anna Notaras lingers in his imagination…Listeners will gain even greater enjoyment by perusing the Wikipedia article "Fall of Constantinople", as well as availing themselves of the accompanying maps.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1952 Estate of Mika Waltari (P)2014 Audio Connoisseur

beautifully written with a top notch narration

I loved this book. the writing coupled with the narrator resulted in a wonderful experience for me. I have since listened to other offerings from this pair and I am yet to be disappointed.

I Strongly Recomend, History Class!

I Love Waltari books, great learn and wisdon. I think Charlton Griffin perform very well his characters also. I'm really happy to see those books on audio and I wish everybody could know that autor.

Same protagonist in every book

The first Mika Waltari book I read was The Secret of the Kingdom which I thoroughly enjoyed but having gone through several of his books now they al are basically the same character in every one. A solitary man-a loner- who falls in love and behaves quite stupidly some times- set into a historical setting. This book covers the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1423. in all of Waltari's novels a reader learns an immense amount of actual history and you will find yourself looking up several of the historical characters. In that aspect the book is outstanding. But the actual plot of his storyline really drags along and is predictable. Also the end of the book is very abrupt and anticlimactic.

Great until the end

It's a great story, but the audiobook abruptly ends in the middle of the last couple chapters. I don't know why the end of the story isn't there, and I had to search up and down for the physical copy so I could find out what happens.

Historical story is great, romance story is awful

I found the description of the last days of Constantinople immersive and, even if fictional, enlightening. In that respect the book was very enjoyable and I wish for more like this.

The description of the love relationship involving perpetual simpering and groveling, alternating with temper tantrums and manipulative tears, with repeated long rumination on “plucking the flower” is more commonly found in “bodice-ripping” romance novels, which I do not enjoy at all. I very nearly abandoned the book after one chapter of that. The narrator made it even worse, with a cracking falsetto voicing of the woman. I was only able to finish the book at all by keeping one finger on the skip button to get past that, which comprised about half of the novel. I wish I would never be subjected to anything like that again.

I realize the book was written a long time ago and the story took place far in the past, involving relationship mores and practices very different from ours today. That does not justify the horrible writing of the romance. I can’t imagine the author’s thought process as anything other than self-indulgent adolescent fantasizing. For that the performance was perfectly appropriate in a thoroughly sarcastic treatment of the text.

Entrancing Tale of the Lost City of Constaninople

Mika Waltari is a historical novelist par excellence. In the final months before the city on Constantinople was thrown down by warlords, traitors, and heathens, Waltari brilliantly explores the crowded, nervous streets through the eyes of one man, John Angelos. John's journey of faith and fire leads him to the point of decision: belief, or unbelief? An invigorating story filled with characters so lively, one can see their faces wrought in pain, elation, fury, and despair. Constantinople lives on in the story of John Angelos, the Dark Angel.

the book is not complete.

great book and great performance, but the book is not complete. It is missing the last chapter and the epilogue