The Initiate Brother
The Initiate Brother Series, Book 1
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The Initiate Brother
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Narrated by:
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Elijah Alexander
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By:
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Sean Russell
About this listen
Plague and warfare have swept across the Orient, ravaging the ancient kingdom of Wa, devastating the royal line, and leaving a new dynasty on the throne—a new emperor, Akantsu, filled with fear of all who might seek to wrest the empire from his grasp. Among those out of favor with the new liege is the Order of the Botahist Monks, whose mystical powers have enabled them to hold positions as spiritual advisors to the imperial court for nearly ten centuries. But Emperor Akantsu fears none so greatly as he does Lord Shonto, the brilliant leader of the most important of the old families, whose influence could rally the great houses against the throne and whose adopted daughter, the beautiful and talented Lady Nishima, is the last surviving member of the old royal family.
Sent to be military governor of a northern border province long threatened by barbarian invaders, Lord Shonto knows he is being lured to his death. But Akantsu has underestimated his foe, for not only is Lord Shonto the greatest military genius of the age but he has with him a spiritual advisor from the Botahist order—a young man gifted with extraordinary martial arts skills and magical abilities, Initiate Brother Shuyun. And even Lord Shonto does not realize the true potential of this young monk. Only time will reveal that Shuyun’s magical powers have not seen their equal in nearly a thousand years—not since the Perfect Master himself walked the paths of the empire.
©1991 Sean Russell (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Critic Reviews
What listeners say about The Initiate Brother
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kincade
- 28-08-2016
A unique tale of court Intrigue
Would you listen to The Initiate Brother again? Why?
No I already listened to it. Dumb question. Am I buying the sequel? Yes.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Unlike the Goblin Emperor or Imperial Radche where we fall in love with one character this was a nice balance of characters. Shu Lin is the most interesting for obvious reasons but he doesn't talk that much.
What does Elijah Alexander bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
This was a very high degree of difficulty audiobook. More then 50 Asian characters. Narrator did a good job of having the required 50 voicings and keeping the characters straight in my head. Not the *brilliant* performance of a Luke Daniels or Peter Kenny but a very good performance given the degree of difficulty. I was able to keep the characters straight in my head and was not frequently distracted by the narrator, which is "above average" to me.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Again this is a dumb question. It is a 17 hour audiobook so no. I finished it in 3 days and am buying the sequel. So I liked it. that's what you want to know right?
Any additional comments?
The narrator has clearly studied Chinese and Japanese dubbed movies. These are typically acted in a "broad" soap opera like manner, and that element is included here. This is not some sort of "culturally insensitive performance" WATCH a Chinese movie, this is what they sound like. So given the challenges in voicing 50 something Asian characters this was a good job.
Books with lots of characters and intrigue can be hard to follow in audiobook format. This story was big and complex enough that I had to engage my brain the whole time but not so big I was frequently confused. A sign of good writing was that any time I began to question a motivation or plot point, a character would soon ask the same question. If you like court intrigue "manners" and the like this was an interesting new setting and an enjoyable audiobook.
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