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The Cold Commands

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The Cold Commands

By: Richard Morgan
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

Ringil Eskiath, scarred wielder of the kiriath-forged broadsword Ravensfriend, is a man on the run - from his past and the family who have disowned him, from the slave trade magnates of Trelayne who want him dead, and apparently from the dark gods themselves, who are taking an interest but making no more sense than they ever have.

Outlawed and exiled from his ancestral home in the north, Ringil has only one place left to turn - Yhelteth, city heart of the southern Empire, where perhaps he can seek asylum with the kiriath half-breed Archeth Indamaninarmal, former war comrade and now high-up advisor to the Emperor Jhiral Khimran II.

But Archeth Indamaninarmal has problems of her own to contend with, as does her house guest, bodyguard and one time steppe nomad Egar the Dragonbane. And far from gaining the respite he is seeks, Ringil will instead find himself implicated in fresh schemes and doubtful allegiances no safer than those he has left behind. Old enemies are stirring, the old order is rotted through and crumbling, and though no-one yet knows it, the city of Yhelteth is about to explode....

©2011 Richard Morgan (P)2011 Tantor Media Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction
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Another great book from Richard Morgan! really funny seriously outrageous characters and a great story with an imaginative world of heroes and bad guys!

Sex Death and Gods

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Enjoying the series but there were a few inconsistencies from the first book to this one. Not the place to say too much about it here but it was a bit clunky how he suddenly picked up new magic powers in this book that were completely absent in the first but it's written as if they were there all along.

Enjoying the series

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Performance is on point but there's just not enough happen for my taste. Though there is action and some snappy dialog, its benefit is buried by the fact of finishing the book and having to ask "what actually happened?".

Good performance but just ok story

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Putting aside the never ending 'fuck, fuckity, fuck' prose, the story goes nowhere, it's all over the place. I have a book to go...ho hum. Simon Vance is a decent narrator, but this isn't his genre

Dull, disconneted

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Would have been alot better story without alot of the extra pointless sex scenes. Sometimes I think the story is written by a horney biseaxual teen. Good fights and story just so much filler. And a crappy ending really wants to sell a 2nd book. Was 3 star or 2.5 till that ending

Good story buried under a stupid amount of porn

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So, firstly, the VA talent is resoundingly average. he seems to only have about two accents and five voices all up and barely emotes or pitches his voice as you'd expect. Definitely not a high quality narrator.

The story itself is also boring with no legitimate sense of danger to the main characters - they're watched over by gods afterall and thus cannot die, in a better written book this might not be an issue but by now there is not much left.

Beyond this? The world building is shallow and boring, there's no compelling characters and the plot isn't engaging, touching or clever.

if you just want something to listen to while you do chores it might barely suffice, but beyond that I'd say it's a hard pass. Read Joe Abercrombie or Brandon Sanderson instead.

(points for representation given or else I'd rank it even lower)

Continued mediocrity

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