Quillifer the Knight
Quillifer, Book 2
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Narrated by:
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Ralph Lister
About this listen
"Williams knows exactly what to do with Quillifer, and it's hugely entertaining." (Locus)
"Walter Jon Williams is always fun, but this may be his best yet, a delight from start to finish, witty, colorful, exciting and amusing by turns, exquisitely written." (George R. R. Martin)
"Chock full of derring-do, blood and thunder, swashbuckling, and other good stuff evocative of Rafael Sabatini, Sir Walter Scott, and the penny-bloods." (Paul Di Filippo, author of The Big Get-Even)
Quillifer - now a member of the nobility - finds himself further immersed in court politics as the outcast princess Floria is suddenly in a position of power with a rebellion stoked by a certain brilliant tactician, in this thrilling sequel to Quillifer.
Rogue. Joker. Lover. Reluctant conspirator.
The ambitious young Quillifer was been knighted for services to the crown, but was then banished from court by a queen who finds him obnoxious. Now, after a two-year voyage to improve his fortunes, Quillifer returns to court and is plunged immediately into a maelstrom of intrigue that triggers duels, plots, amours, and rollicking adventure. Bounding back and forth from the high councils of state to the warm bed of his mistress, Quillifer must exert every ounce of seductive charm and low cunning in order to survive.
Queen Berlauda’s foreign husband brings war in his wake, along with a clutch of officials who enforce the royal will with violence, torture, and judicial murder. A dragon menaces the realm, and political conspiracy threatens the life of Quillifer’s young patroness, Princess Floria. It’s the traditional job of a knight to fight dragons and rescue princesses, but Quillifer is hardly a traditional knight, and he brings to the job an array of unorthodox skills that dazzles his swarm of rivals, seduces their wives, and threatens the realm.
But there’s a greater menace to Quillifer than deadly political intrigue, for once again he finds himself hunted by the cruel, beautiful, and vengeful goddess Orlanda.
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Kit Brightling, rescued as a foundling and raised in a home for talented girls, has worked hard to rise through the ranks of the Isles' Crown Command and become one of the few female captains in Queen Charlotte's fleet. Her ship is small, but she's fast - in part because of Kit's magical affinity to the sea. But the waters become perilous when the queen sends Kit on a special mission with a partner she never asked for. Rian Grant, Viscount Queenscliffe, may be a veteran of the Continental war, but Kit doesn't know him or his motives....
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It's really good, but not quite great
- By Mariya Joldzic on 11-29-20
By: Chloe Neill
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The Dragon Waiting
- By: John M. Ford
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In a snowbound inn high in the Alps, four people meet who will alter fate. A noble Byzantine mercenary.... A female Florentine physician.... An ageless Welsh wizard.... And Sforza, the uncanny duke. Together they will wage an intrigue-filled campaign against the might of Byzantium to secure the English throne for Richard, Duke of Gloucester - and make him Richard III.
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Read not listen.
- By Anna Marie on 08-08-21
By: John M. Ford
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The Black Rose
- By: Thomas B. Costain
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Walter of Gurnie, bastard son of an English peer, is forced to flee from Oxford for his part in the university riots of 1273. Inspired by Friar Bacon, he determines to travel to China. With his friend Tristam, he fights his way to the heart of the fabulous Mongol Empire and returns famous, to find that he must choose between the first love he thought lost and the exotic flower that he found in the East.
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Great Book
- By Jean on 03-09-13
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The Queen's Bastard
- A Novel of Elizabeth I and Arthur Dudley
- By: Robin Maxwell
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Historians have long whispered that Elizabeth "the Virgin Queen's" passionate, lifelong affair with Robin Dudley, Earl of Leicester, may have led to the birth of a son, Arthur Dudley. In this exquisite sequel to The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell fashions a stunning fictional account of the child switched at birth by a lady-in-waiting who foresaw the deleterious political consequences of a royal bastard.
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Story? what Story?
- By A User on 06-08-13
By: Robin Maxwell
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The Wild Child
- By: Mary Jo Putney
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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More pagan than lady, Meriel spends her days running barefoot through her English estate, cultivating her flowers and her mystical connection to nature. She is mute and, according to most people, mad. But handsome Dominic Renbourne, who has been sent by his twin to court her, senses in Meriel a kindred spirit. He manages to inspire her trust, and against his better judgement, her passion.
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Where is China Bride, the 2nd book?
- By KaitlynRAH on 10-24-18
By: Mary Jo Putney
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Servant of the Crown
- Heir to the Crown, Book 1
- By: Paul J Bennett
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Tragedy tears Gerald's world apart, and only his unwavering loyalty to the Baron of Bodden saves him. After serving as a soldier for years, a single act of self-sacrifice thrusts his future into the world of politics. Cut off from all he knows, he becomes no more than a pawn to those in command. Banished with little more than the clothes on his back, he seeks a new purpose, for what is a warrior who has nothing left to fight for?
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Well written and interesting
- By Kevin Potter on 05-24-19
By: Paul J Bennett
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The Memoirs of Mary, Queen of Scots
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: Rebekah Germain
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Born Queen of Scotland, married as a young girl to the invalid young King of France, Mary took the reins of the unruly kingdom of Scotland as a young widow and fought to keep her throne. A second marriage to her handsome but dissolute cousin Lord Darnley ended in murder and scandal, while a third marriage to the dashing, commanding Lord Bothwell, the love of her life, gave her joy but widened the scandal and surrounded her with enduring ill repute.
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Fiction being the key word
- By Bonnie-Ann B on 09-25-09
By: Carolly Erickson
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The Three Musketeers (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Alexandre Dumas, William Robson - translator
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Young nobleman d’Artagnan has arrived in Paris intent on joining the guardians of King Louis XIII. He befriends the regiment’s most formidable musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and together they unite in their commitment to uphold justice. Soon, a royal indiscretion thrusts them into an audacious escapade of courtly intrigue, thwarted romance, and daring rescue. But it’s the Machiavellian schemes of a powerful enemy and the wicked seductions of an ingenious female spy that will be their greatest challenges.
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terrible narrator. every comma is a 3 second pause
- By Anonymous User on 09-21-21
By: Alexandre Dumas, and others
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Captured
- A Novel
- By: Beverly Jenkins
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Dominic LeVeq, the most notorious privateer ever to command the high seas, has just captured a coveted prize: a British frigate. On a dangerous mission against the Crown, Dominic should be thinking only of his ship's safety. But the rebel captain is utterly entranced by Clare Sullivan, the stunning slave on board. Consumed by desire, desperate to have her, Dominic offers Clare her freedom in exchange for a forbidden night in his bed - a night he assures her will be most pleasurable indeed.
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The start of family LeVeq!
- By Angela Davis on 10-24-21
By: Beverly Jenkins
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Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
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Choice of Narrators
- By Frank R. Adams on 04-23-10
By: Patrick O'Brian
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In the Name of the Family
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Dunant
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1502, and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womanizer and master of political corruption, is now on the papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, age 22 - already three times married and a pawn in her father's plans - is discovering her own power. And then there is his son Cesare Borgia, brilliant, ruthless, and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with Machiavelli that gives the Florentine diplomat a master class in the dark arts of power and politics.
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One of the best historical fiction novels
- By GrandmaNurseHeather on 04-13-17
By: Sarah Dunant
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The Tudor Crown
- By: Joanna Hickson
- Narrated by: Karen Cass, Oliver J. Hembrough
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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When Edward of York takes back the English crown, the Wars of the Roses scatter the Lancastrian nobility, and young Henry Tudor, with a strong claim to the throne, is forced into exile. Recently widowed and vulnerable, his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, forges an uncomfortable alliance with Edward’s Queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Swearing an oath of allegiance to York, Margaret agrees to marry the King’s shrewdest courtier, Lord Stanley. But can she tread the precarious line between duty to her husband, loyalty to her son, and her obligation to God and the King?
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Another excellent book by Ms. Hickson
- By C. Abbott on 09-26-18
By: Joanna Hickson
What listeners say about Quillifer the Knight
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Harvey
- 05-03-20
Our Hero and the Goddess l
I enjoyed listening this book by Walter Jon Williams. Once I became used to the narrator speaking in the language of true English, it was exciting to listen. The book is interesting and pleasure to listen to. The Narrator is gifted with his talent and held my interest from cover to cover.
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- Ron G.
- 07-23-21
WJW does it again
I’ve read nearly everything this author has published, and am continually amazed at his inventiveness and skill. This is a great story, presented in prose that accentuates the narrative. Sailing, ink making, swordplay, clothing, dining and travel across the countryside are all described in vivid, minute detail that gives the reader a sense of what it was like to live in the 17th century.
Can’t rave enough.
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- redwolf
- 10-07-23
Amazing twist
The author does it again the story is amazing and has the best twist I have even heard
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- SulaFan
- 05-16-20
Lots of fun!
Quillifer fights a dragon, rescues a princess, and invents ink. What more could you ask for?
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- Jefferson
- 06-18-24
“Quillifer, You are singular, like your name.”
Who is Quillifer? A merchant adventurer (owning multiple ships carrying valuable cargo or playing privateer), a pricy jewel dealer (fabricating stories to match gems with their buyers), a knight errant (being called “a rampallian knight” by his betters), a monster slayer (dealing with dragons, iron birds, etc.), a self-promoter (paying a bard to sing a complimentary song about him at a court feast), a natural actor (donning the faces of choirboy, lawyer, country squire, etc.), a serial lover (advising young men to find a wife—another man’s wife), an inventor (creating mass-produced ink, savory cuisine, neologisms, etc.), a target of divine malevolence (suffering the machinations of Orlanda, a goddess who doesn’t take well to being rejected), and, he tells us from the start, a traitor to the crown in some way (working with his current lover on some great treason that will see them triumph or get executed). His constant curiosity, endless energy, and original intelligence kick into high gear whenever he faces a challenge or encounters a stultifying tradition. It’s amusing to watch the nobility scorn and insult Quillifer, only for him to get the better of them. And once he conceives a plan, he MUST put it into action no matter how dangerous it may be to the people around him or to himself.
And he’s not quite 22.
Quillifer lives and operates in an Elizabethan-esque fantasy world of swords and canons, a non-human humanoid species (the Aekoi) that produces pirates and prostitutes (their women can’t be made pregnant by human lovers), a region that spawns chimera and other monsters, and (so far) two dominant human cultures: longtime rivals Loretto (Italian-French-like culture) and Duisland (English-like culture and home of Quillifer).
When Quillifer (2017), Walter Jon Williams’ first novel about his protean young hero, ends, the butcher’s son has been made a knight after a big novel full of (mis)adventures including the massacre of his family and the sack of his home town by Aekoi pirates, capture by a bandit lord, a key role in foiling a rebellion, a knighting, and the first inimical attention of Orlanda.
When the second novel, Quillifer the Knight (2019), begins, Quillifer is narrating his story to his current lover, strategically withholding her identity from us while detonating foreshadowing bombs referring to their treason. He starts his account with his return from a long-distance trading voyage bearing a rich cargo when, not far from his home port, an terrific storm savages his ship.
In the rest of the novel, Quillifer conceives new projects, gets new married lovers, takes tennis and guitar lessons, hunts a dragon, races in a regatta, hires a manservant/bard, becomes court Warden (i.e., monster hunter), hangs out with his friends (the Duke and Duchess of Roundsilver, Blackwell the playwright, and Lipton the cannoneer), banters with Princess Floria (she and Quillifer are great together), duels enraged nobles (never let Quillifer choose the setting of a duel), not quite works for the scary dead-eyed royal spymaster Edevane, and so on.
We start suspecting that Quillifer and his lover are engaged in a little rebellion because of the increasing religious, economic, and political tyranny that Queen Berlauda’s husband from Loretto and his people are imposing on the hitherto independent Duisland.
The extended and detailed two-chapter sequence involving storm, shipwreck, and salvage that starts the novel is a bit too long, straining the bounds of credulity as to how anyone (even Quillifer’s lover) could sit still and listen to his monologue story without once reacting or interrupting.
In general, the conceit of Quillifer telling the whole novel to his lover stretches past the breaking point before it finally gets interesting in the resolution to the climax. I’d have preferred Williams to just have Quillifer tell his life story to undefined readers.
The novel is also a little too heteronormative for today’s world, compared to things like, say, Martha Wells’ Witch King, but it does feature some formidable female characters, like Lady Ransom (a brilliant astronomer), Countess Marcella (a mysterious Aekoi woman), Princess Floria (a petite, charismatic, careful, and clever young woman), and Orlanda (an apparently spiteful, malificent, and omniscient goddess).
There are moments of fine faux Elizabethan dialogue, like “You purpose to fight dragons now?” and
“I am charged to bear this message.”
“Do not then lose your bearings, for what you bear is beyond all bearing.”
There are also many fine, vivid descriptions, like this:
“The dragon lay in the sun on a tawny field spotted red and white with murdered sheep. It rested on the grass in shimmering, tumbled coils, and it seemed to gleam with shifting colors like a fire-opal. I had seen that scintillation before, in that great serpent that rode the storm earlier in the year, and I knew it was a sign of the supernatural power that animated the worm. The drake was difficult to look at, and I did not care to look at it directly, but only from the slant of my eye, and even then I felt uneasy, and there was an eddy in my thoughts at the touch of the extramundane.”
Ralph Lister reads it all with aplomb and a wry, almost insouciant manner that enhances Quillifer’s wit.
The large novel is mostly quite absorbing, and it features a great surprise revelation near the end of the climax, and I’m looking forward to the third book, Lord Quillifer (2022).
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2 people found this helpful
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- Scott
- 02-22-20
Worst choice of narrator
I loved the first Quillifer novel and thought an audio would be a great way to follow up on the sequel. Wrong. The narrator couldn't be worse for this novel. I'm sure there are many selections where he's a fine choice, but his voice is completely wrong for the smooth, whimsical, Errol-Flynn-type narrator you expect with Quillifer. I don't know how old the narrator is but he sounds like he's in his 70s.
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