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The Piano Tuner
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
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Publisher's summary
An extraordinary first novel that tells the story of a British piano tuner sent deep into Burma in the 19th century.
In October 1886, Edgar Drake receives a strange request from the British War Office: he must leave his wife and his quiet life in London to travel to the jungles of Burma, where a rare Erard grand piano is in need of repair. The piano belongs to an army surgeon-major whose unorthodox peacemaking methods - poetry, medicine, and now music - have brought a tentative quiet to the southern Shan States but have elicited questions from his superiors.
On his journey through Europe, the Red Sea, India, and into Burma, Edgar meets soldiers, mystics, bandits, and tale-spinners, as well as an enchanting woman as elusive as the surgeon-major. And at the doctor’s fort on a remote Burmese river, Edgar encounters a world more mysterious and dangerous than he ever could have imagined.
Sensuous, lyrical, rich with passion and adventure, this is a hypnotic tale of myth, romance, and self-discovery: an unforgettable novel.
Critic reviews
"Richly imagined, The Piano Tuner winds like a lazy river, carrying the reader into the mythic land of Kipling and Conrad." (People)
"A novel for readers of literary and popular fiction alike; highly recommended." (Library Journal)
"Richard Matthews delivers an astonishing performance. His characters are as meticulously crafted as Burmese-carved ivory miniatures.... The dialogue soars. Mason’s plot fascinates and surprises, while Matthews’s performance is a tour de force." (AudioFile)
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What listeners say about The Piano Tuner
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- David
- 10-09-03
The absolute best in reading, a true classic!
I firmly believe that this young author's very first novel is, amazingly, one of the finest books that I have read in my fifty odd years of reading. It is already a best seller, and I am sure that,.. two hundred years hense, it will have become one of the first true classic works of our twenty-first century!
Be sure to read this unabridged rendering, as there is just too much to miss of this enchanting story!
If you are a musican, historian, beggerman, ...anything..leap into the wonderous debths of this majestic work!
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tim
- 05-31-04
Superlative novel ruined by a terrible narrator
I don't need to write much about the novel itself, the other reviewers have all done it justice. It is brilliantly written and wonderfully interwoven, full of fascinating characters and information, given authenticity by the fact that the author knows the places he is writing about and has taken the trouble to really do his homework on the history and technical information involved.
The problem is that the narrator is simply an amateur who is not even remotely up to the task of presenting this brilliant work. It sounds as though someone had been picked off the street in London at random and then recorded the book without any direction or correction. The reader only really has one voice -- uptight and strained -- and each attempt at a character's voice is worse than the last. A male character introduced as having a "stentorian baritone" speaks in a tortured and hoarse falsetto, all women sound like demented spinsters of at least seventy who are also suffering from croup, and the less said about the narrator's pitifully painful attempts at foreign accents the better. After the second chapter I found myself beginning to flinch whenever a new character was introduced, because I knew that in a moment I would be subjected to new depths of abominable dialect and miserable characterisation, and I was never disappointed.
If it were possible I would give the book eight stars and the narration zero or less than zero. Since this isn't possible I've decided to award the maximum possible rating because the book itself deserves it. Even so, I feel cheated because the abysmally bad narration almost completely ruined the experience of this wonderful book -- it is a tribute to the book's brilliance and power that I actually managed to listen through to the end. I am certainly going to make a note of this narrator's name and will never ever buy a book narrated by him again.
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17 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Rob
- 10-10-03
Beyond words
The artistry in writing style is so rich that you will find yourself listening to parts over and over again. It is a combination of history artfully presented with a perfectly executed fiction line colored with poetic writing. Absolutely wonderful; you won't be disappointed.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jane Mcdowell
- 09-17-03
Fantasy and History
The background information about the British presence in the far east was very interesting and informative. The plot is very unbelievable, but the action of the story carries the listener along.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Patricia B Tripoli
- 12-28-03
Good Story, Bad Ending
This story was absolutely fascinating to me. The information on Britain's presence in India, the art of piano tuning, and all the other details the author painstakingly included made it a learning experience as well as entertainment. The narrator did an excellent job telling the story.
But as it was coming to a conclusion, I became nervous about how it was going to end. Few clues were given. When I did finish it, I understood why. A sad reality of writers is the difficulty of tying it all up in the end. Mr. Mason did not do this at all. It was an awful ending and left me frustrated. Why would this moral, innocent, and straight forward man do this? It did not fit.
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7 people found this helpful
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Performance
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Story
- dkarro
- 12-08-17
Ending fell apart
I enjoyed the story and the descriptions of Burma for about two thirds of the book, when I began to think the plot was getting pretty contrived. Still, it was a decent story until I got to the end. Not only did it fail to tie up loose ends already in existence, but created a host of new ones and left them dangling. Very unsatisfactory ending. I am sorry I invested the time in this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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Story
- Julie
- 08-06-12
Can't forget this one - sticks with you
I joined Audible in 2007. Piano Tuner was among the first books I heard. Today, 2012, I still think about this book. I consider it one of the best, most unique stories I've heard. The characters are well developed. The history and the fate of the piano turner are fascinating. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The story does start slow. The detail seems a little thick because you don't know the story is going, but then it comes together. And in the end, in some ineffable way, it doesn't leave you. I honestly don't know why I enjoyed this book so much. But five years later, I am still thinking about this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Carolyn
- 06-08-05
The Piano Tuner
I thought the concept was great but the writer is immature in his craft. The story was painfully slow. I would consider reading his next book as I think he has some talent but I would skip this one.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kevin
- 04-26-05
This is a good one
After first finishing this book I thought it pretty good. That was early in my Audible / audio book experience. Now that I've listened to a number of others I find myself reflecting on The Piano Tuner and realize how good it is. Descriptive writing and very good narration combined with a unique period story add up to a very good audio book. I recommend this one.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- David
- 04-04-05
Thrilling
This is a real tale that takes you through Jungles, full of interesting characters and twisting plots with interesting cultural information. I would have to say I savored this one like a good piece of cake. When it was over I was looking for more titles by this author. Enjoy!
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The Last King of Scotland
- By: Giles Foden
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his Maserati, has hit a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, obsessed with all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. So begins a fateful dalliance with the African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
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Worst Production Ever
- By James on 01-24-07
By: Giles Foden
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The Bell Messenger
- By: Robert Cornuke
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Adventurer and author Robert Cornuke delivers an archaeological thriller that crosses the globe and spans two centuries. With these hopeful words, a dying Confederate lad bequeaths his Bible to the Union soldier who just shot him: "Be God's messenger as I have been." And so begins the journey of Elijah Bell's cherished Bible as it travels the world, transforming hearts wherever it goes.
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Loved it!
- By Pamela on 12-26-10
By: Robert Cornuke
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Green City in the Sun
- By: Barbara Wood
- Narrated by: Edie Tusor
- Length: 27 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1917 Dr. Grace Treverton arrives in Kenya determined to bring modern medicine to the African natives. Her brother, Sir Valentine Treverton, has his own dream for the British protectorate: to establish an agricultural empire to rival any in England. The aspirations of the wealthy Trevertons collide with those of the Mathenge tribe, an African family that has lived on the land for years. Grace soon finds a deadly rival in Mama Wachera, an African medicine woman who fights to maintain native traditions against the encroaching whites.
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Sadly we haven’t change
- By hernando on 09-03-22
By: Barbara Wood
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The Glass Palace
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Set in Burma during the British invasion of 1885, this masterly novel by Amitav Ghosh tells the story of Rajkumar, a poor boy lifted on the tides of political and social chaos, who goes on to create an empire in the Burmese teak forest. When soldiers force the royal family out of the Glass Palace and into exile, Rajkumar befriends Dolly, a young woman in the court of the Burmese Queen, whose love will shape his life. He cannot forget her, and years later, as a rich man, he goes in search of her.
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I struggled to finish... enough said.
- By Ty on 05-02-10
By: Amitav Ghosh
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The Garden of Evening Mists
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp.
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The best
- By Susan Gardner Bowers on 03-11-13
By: Tan Twan Eng
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When the Lion Feeds
- The Courtneys, Book 1
- By: Wilbur Smith
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is the 1870s, and twin brothers Sean and Garrick Courtney are born into the wilds of Natal. They could not be more different, and fate, war and the jealous schemes of a woman are to drive them even further apart. But as history unfolds, a continent is awakening. And on the horizon is the promise of fortune, adventure, destiny and love.... When the Lion Feeds is the best-selling novel that launched Wilbur Smith's stellar career and the first in the riveting saga of the Courtney brothers.
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What did you do with John Lee?
- By SAM on 04-03-19
By: Wilbur Smith
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The Last King of Scotland
- By: Giles Foden
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his Maserati, has hit a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, obsessed with all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. So begins a fateful dalliance with the African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
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Worst Production Ever
- By James on 01-24-07
By: Giles Foden
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The Bell Messenger
- By: Robert Cornuke
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adventurer and author Robert Cornuke delivers an archaeological thriller that crosses the globe and spans two centuries. With these hopeful words, a dying Confederate lad bequeaths his Bible to the Union soldier who just shot him: "Be God's messenger as I have been." And so begins the journey of Elijah Bell's cherished Bible as it travels the world, transforming hearts wherever it goes.
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Loved it!
- By Pamela on 12-26-10
By: Robert Cornuke
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Green City in the Sun
- By: Barbara Wood
- Narrated by: Edie Tusor
- Length: 27 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
In 1917 Dr. Grace Treverton arrives in Kenya determined to bring modern medicine to the African natives. Her brother, Sir Valentine Treverton, has his own dream for the British protectorate: to establish an agricultural empire to rival any in England. The aspirations of the wealthy Trevertons collide with those of the Mathenge tribe, an African family that has lived on the land for years. Grace soon finds a deadly rival in Mama Wachera, an African medicine woman who fights to maintain native traditions against the encroaching whites.
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Sadly we haven’t change
- By hernando on 09-03-22
By: Barbara Wood
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Oil on Water
- By: Helon Habila
- Narrated by: Richard Allen
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, a British oil executive's wife has been kidnapped. Two journalists - a young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq - are sent to find her. In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense, Oil on Water explores the conflict between idealism and cynical disillusionment in a journey full of danger and unintended consequences.
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Entertaining and Timely
- By Lynn on 07-16-11
By: Helon Habila
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She Would Be King
- A Novel
- By: Wayétu Moore
- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
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Beautiful example of magical realism.
- By Danielle on 10-07-18
By: Wayétu Moore
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Legacy
- A Prequel to Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown.
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Barely related to Eon and Eternity
- By David A. Kingston on 02-21-15
By: Greg Bear
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The Samurai's Garden
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight.
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A Novel Painted with a Master's Brush
- By Bay Area Califa on 06-25-18
By: Gail Tsukiyama
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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
- A Novel
- By: Jan-Philipp Sendker
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be - until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the listener’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
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Basic Story Interesting, But...
- By Monica on 06-04-13
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Lamentation
- The Psalms of Isaak, Book 1
- By: Ken Scholes
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Scott Brick, William Dufris, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Lamentation, the first entry in the Psalm of Isaak series, an ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands. Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city—he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant. Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others' throats.
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Highly Enjoyable
- By RB on 05-15-09
By: Ken Scholes
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Walk In My Soul
- By: Lucia St. Clair Robson
- Narrated by: Laurie Klein
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Tiana was a Cherokee woman. She grew up learning the magic, spells, and nature religion of her people. Before Sam Houston became the father of Texas, he was a young man who had run away from his home in Tennessee to live among the Cherokee. He came to love Tiana. As the Cherokee would say, she walked in his soul. But Sam was a white man, and Tiana, a Cherokee. And the dreams each had for their land and their people were far apart.
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i honestly don't know what is going in this book
- By Bryntainia Holloway on 09-21-19
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What Elephants Know
- By: Eric Dinerstein
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Abandoned in the jungle of the Nepalese Borderlands, two-year-old Nandu is found living under the protective watch of a pack of wild dogs. From his mysterious beginnings, fate delivers him to the king's elephant stable, where he is raised by unlikely parents - the wise head of the stable, Subba-sahib, and Devi Kali, a fierce and affectionate female elephant. When the king's government threatens to close the stable, Nandu, now 12, searches for a way to save his family and community. A risky plan could be the answer.