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  • The Waking Fire

  • Book One of Draconis Memoria
  • By: Anthony Ryan
  • Narrated by: Steven Brand
  • Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (230 ratings)

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The Waking Fire cover art

The Waking Fire

By: Anthony Ryan
Narrated by: Steven Brand
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Publisher's Summary

The new star of British fantasy returns with The Waking Fire, book one of the Draconis Memoria series, a thrilling new epic fantasy of exploration and adventure, spies and assassins, explosive magic and the battle for empire.

For decades the lands of the Ironship Syndicate have been defended by the 'blood blessed' - men and women able to channel the powers contained in the potent blood of wild drakes. Elite spies and assassins, their loyalty has established the Syndicate's position as the greatest power in the known world.

Yet now a crisis looms. The drake bloodlines are weakening, and war with the Corvantine Empire seems inevitable. The Syndicate's only hope of survival lies with the myth of a legendary drake whose powerful blood might just turn the tide of the war - if it even exists.

The task of hunting down this fabled creature falls to Claydon Torcreek, a petty thief and unregistered blood blessed. He's handled many valuable things in his time (most of them illegal) but nothing as priceless as his nation's future.

©2016 Anthony Ryan (P)2016 Hachette Audio UK

Critic Reviews

"A major new talent." ( Buzzfeed)
"Anthony Ryan is a master storyteller." (Mark Lawrence)

What listeners say about The Waking Fire

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    128
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    7
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    65
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    9
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    130
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    3

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

Terrible delivery, awesome story.

Such a great story but delivered in a monotone voice that forced me to constantly go back and listen to what was said. Almost impossible to distinguish between different people speaking and changes in scenes.
Persisted because the story is great.

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6 people found this helpful

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

Actually a really great story

This was an interesting, action packed, and enjoyable story. The three main characters developed nicely and had lots of adventures. All in all a really well rounded novel.
The only thing that let it down was the narration by Steven Brand. He did an OK job but really did just read it without much characterisation. By no means as bad as some (Tim Gerard Reynolds anyone?) but he's no Rupert Degas. Hopefully the new narrator for the second book will lend some gusto that this series deserves!

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4 people found this helpful

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

Disappointed

I found this book disappointing unlike Anthony Ryan's other books of which I have enjoyed this one didn't do it for me.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Took a long time to get going.

Got good near the last third of the book. Corporate character is hard to like at all, despite being such a bad ass. Clay is underwhelming and hard to like or care about. The whole blood vial drinking is interesting. by the end I was cheering for the Bad guys to be honest. I prefer The Raven's Shadow series by far.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Amazing Story, performance is sub par

loved the book, the characters and pacing. A quasi steam punk world with unique magic which is foundational to the book. Audible version is very poorly read by Steven Brand, the monotone, zero character voices.. often had to rewind as dialogue was one big blue.. best thing is book 2 has new narrator

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1 person found this helpful

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

Great Story

Let down by sub par narration. Narrator doesn't change the rythmn of speaking between narrative text or dialog, also doesn't discern which character is speaking with different accents, like some narrators. Makes it hard to keep track of who is saying what.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Definitely Worth It

Really boring monotone narration and no character voices which made it had sometimes to follow who was talking but a gripping story and enjoyable characters.

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

Great book, story draws you in

I really enjoyed the book. Time to start book 2 and continue the saga.

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

Long and didn't keep me engaged

For me this book was hard to follow and the main plus was it was easy to fall asleep to (actually that was useful for me). I've liked the narrator with other books but the lack of character voice variation made it really hard to follow. I liked the idea but I certainly will not be looking for any other books from this author narrator combo

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

Pretty Good

Great narration matched by a great story. Worth a listen if you have some time and love a semi-modern fantasy set in what feels like an industrial revolution age or there abouts.

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