King of Ashes cover art

King of Ashes

Firemane, Book 1

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King of Ashes

By: Raymond E. Feist
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

The first volume in legendary master and New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist’s epic heroic fantasy series, The Firemane Saga – an electrifying tale of two young men whose choices will determine a world’s destiny.

The world of Garn once boasted five great kingdoms, until the King of Ithrace was defeated and every member of his family executed by Lodavico, the ruthless King of Sandura, a man with ambitions to rule the world.

Ithrace's ruling family were the legendary Firemanes, and represented a great danger to the other kings. Now four great kingdoms remain, on the brink of war. But rumour has it that the newborn son of the last king of Ithrace survived, carried off during battle and sequestered by the Quelli Nacosti, a secret society whose members are trained to infiltrate and spy upon the rich and powerful throughout Garn. Terrified that this may be true, and that the child will grow to maturity with bloody revenge in his heart, the four kings have placed a huge bounty on the child's head.

In the small village of Oncon, Declan is apprenticed to a master blacksmith, learning the secrets of producing the mythical king's steel. Oncon is situated in the Covenant, a neutral region lying between two warring kingdoms. Since the Covenant was declared, the region has existed in peace, until violence explodes as slavers descend upon the village to capture young men to press as soldiers for Sandura.

Declan must escape, to take his priceless knowledge to Baron Daylon Dumarch, ruler of Marquensas, perhaps the only man who can defeat Lodavico of Sandura, who has now allied himself with the fanatical Church of the One, which is marching across the continent, imposing its extreme form of religion upon the population and burning unbelievers as they go.

Meanwhile, on the island of Coaltachin, the secret domain of the Quelli Nacosti, three friends are being schooled in the deadly arts of espionage and assassination: Donte, son of one of the most powerful masters of the order; Hava, a serious girl with fighting abilities that can set any opponent on their back; and Hatu, a strange, conflicted lad in whom fury and calm war constantly, whose hair is a bright and fiery shade of red…

©2018 Raymond E. Feist (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Dark Fantasy Epic Epic Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Royalty King Fantasy Heartfelt Village Espionage

Critic Reviews

‘This is a knockout.’
Publisher’s Weekly (praise for Queen of Storms)

What listeners say about King of Ashes

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Love

I absolutely loved this book! It kept me wanting more and I’m looking forward to reading the next book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic adventure!

I didn’t want this story to end, I was so caught up in the adventure. I can’t wait for the next book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Some issues with performance

Some of the performance really didn't flow especially the narrative bits. Character performance however was good

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Narrator good for men, meh for women

narrator could do with not changing his voice for female characters as it doesn't feel right.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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awesome book

i liked the book and would highly recommend it to all feist readers now im on to book 2

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I am waiting for the next book...

Delving into Mr Feist new book, world, characters and lore. Two things I can say about this book is that it is nothing like his massive Riftwar saga, and when will the next one be out!

I felt that this was a book of introduction and world building. Meeting the main characters, exploring their personalities and their goals at this moment in time. The world building was remarkable, and I couldn't help comparing it with my ideas (I will be writing a blog about that at a later date).

Did I enjoy the book, oh my yes! With a Captial HELL YEAH! King of Ashes is indeed a first of three as the pace and style scream that. Characters have flaws and strengths with strong motivations. The plot hasn't revealed itself, but I can see there are more surprises in future books.

As much as I like it, the drawback of it was the restraint and too much concentrating on the introduction of this series. Which was only a small qualm of mine, it still didn't detract from me losing myself in the story and the need to know more.

I would suggest buying the book but wait until the second comes out as you find out the 'need to read now!' feeling.

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8 people found this helpful

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Hoping this is another cult classic series

loved it! slow to start but I am hoping it's like the Magician in that it led you slowly into this deep, other world, slowly and before you know it your snared in the magic. looking forward to the next novel!

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fantastic

Raymond has built another world for me to get lost in..thankyou for this amazing tale

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Seems good so far

After having taken a break from feist for a while, this is pretty good to come back to. Definitely feels like it’s setting up the rest of the series as not much actually happened in this book. Was tempted to give it 3 stars just to water down those 5 star reviews that this book doesn’t deserve. Narration is decent

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4 stars

the fantasy scottish accent made me want to kill myself but otherwise the performance was good, though the female voices left something to be desired

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