Speaks the Nightbird
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Narrated by:
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Edoardo Ballerini
About this listen
Audie Award Nominee, Fiction, 2013
Judgment of the Witch
The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe a witch has cursed their town with inexplicable tragedies - and they demand that beautiful widow Rachel Howarth be tried and executed for witchcraft. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Believing in Rachel's innocence, Matthew will soon confront the true evil at work in Fount Royal....
Evil Unveiled
After hearing damning testimony, magistrate Woodward sentences the accused witch to death by burning. Desperate to exonerate the woman he has come to love, Matthew begins his own investigation among the townspeople. Piecing together the truth, he has no choice but to vanquish a force more malevolent than witchcraft in order to save his beloved Rachel - and free Fount Royal from the menace claiming innocent lives.
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It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.
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An Addictive Series
- By Bibliophile1963 on 10-17-16
By: C. S. Harris
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The Oversight
- By: Charlie Fletcher
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Once there were hundreds of members of the Oversight, the brave souls who guard the borders between the mundane and the magic. Now there are only five. When a vagabond brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, she could answer their hopes for new recruit, or she could be the instrument of their downfall.
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Fantastic start to a fantasy series
- By jessica on 06-01-14
By: Charlie Fletcher
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Shaman's Crossing, Book One of the Soldier Son Trilogy
- By: Robin Hobb
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugo and Nebula Award finalist Robin Hobb crafts intricate fantasy tales featuring larger-than-life characters and exotic landscapes. Nevare Burvelle survives the King’s Cavalla Academy—where nepotism and corruption reign—to become a soldier in the Gernian king’s army. As he and his fellow soldiers are thrust onto the front lines of the king’s brutal territorial expansion campaign, they struggle against the Plainspeople—forest-dwellers who possess a powerful magic long dismissed by the Gernians.
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Sometimes Magic Isn't A Good Thing
- By Therese M. Woolley on 10-18-13
By: Robin Hobb
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Pirates
- By: Linda Lael Miller
- Narrated by: Jeanine Bartel
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Phoebe Turlow needs to get out of Seattle and forget about the man she just divorced, her dwindling finances, and the lonely nights that stretch ahead of her. But she can't foresee what awaits her on Paradise Island. Duncan Rourke is known to historians as "the pirate patriot". He's been dead for two centuries - or at least he's supposed to be, until Phoebe Turlow steps out of a van, into a run-down island hotel, and into his world.
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Narrator Spoiled An Interesting Story
- By twocats on 06-04-20
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The Taker
- By: Alma Katsu
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her...despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort.
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Too dark for my taste
- By Margaret on 05-04-14
By: Alma Katsu
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The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
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some stinkers mostly good
- By M.T. on 12-11-18
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
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The Scar
- By: Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko, Elinor Huntington - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Sergey and Marina Dyachenko mix dramatic scenes with romance, action and wit, in a style both direct and lyrical. Written with a sure artistic hand, The Scar is the story of a man driven by his own feverish demons to find redemption and the woman who just might save him. Egert is a brash, confident member of the elite guards and an egotistical philanderer. But after he kills an innocent student in a duel, a mysterious man known as “The Wanderer” challenges Egert and slashes his face with his sword, leaving Egert with a scar that comes to symbolize his cowardice.
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Highly, highly, Highly Recommended
- By Robert on 08-13-12
By: Sergey Dyachenko, and others
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Luck in the Shadows
- Nightrunner, Book 1
- By: Lynn Flewelling
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things, none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec's new mentor.
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Fantastic Series! Homophobes, shut up!
- By Ted on 09-23-11
By: Lynn Flewelling
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Too much violence for me.
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Father John has lived his whole life without knowing a woman's touch. Hard at first, his self-denial grew easier over time, as he learned to master his urges with a regimen of prayer, cold showers, and jigsaw puzzles. That changes the day that Debra Rocks enters his confessional. A rough-talking adult film actress, she has come to ask him to pray for a murdered costar.
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50/50 on the readers
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Back in the 1960s, Mary Terrell shot and killed a man. A former member of the fanatical Storm Front Brigade - a splinter group of the notorious Weathermen - Terrell has stayed one step ahead of the FBI for decades. Living with numerous identities and menial jobs, Terrell's only constants in life have been LSD, psychotic delusions of motherhood, and murderous rage.
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American Radical nightmare!
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It looked like another ordinary day in Los Angeles. Then night came...Evil as old as the centuries has descended upon the City of Angels - it comes as a kiss from the terrifying but seductive immortals. Slowly at first, then by the legions, the ravenous undead choke Los Angeles with bloodthirsty determination - and the hordes of monstrous victims steadily mount each night.
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50/50 on the readers
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Back in the 1960s, Mary Terrell shot and killed a man. A former member of the fanatical Storm Front Brigade - a splinter group of the notorious Weathermen - Terrell has stayed one step ahead of the FBI for decades. Living with numerous identities and menial jobs, Terrell's only constants in life have been LSD, psychotic delusions of motherhood, and murderous rage.
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American Radical nightmare!
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The Five features a rock band skirting the margins of success while touring the American Southwest. Life on the road, however, takes a strange turn when they encounter an Iraq War veteran. Soon thereafter, violence descends on the group, and their lives are tuned to a terrifying pitch.
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Reads like a trashy romance novel
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Remember when the Waltons made you feel good?
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Baal was Robert McCammon's first novel, a debut that would lead to some of the finest popular fiction of our time. This deluxe new audio edition from Subterranean Press will give McCammon's many fans both newcomers and longtime fans - the opportunity to trace the development of an extraordinarily talented man. The story begins with a horrific rape on the streets of New York City. Nine months after that violation, a most unusual child is born. His name is Jeffrey Harper Raines...
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Excellent Story
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Swan Song
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Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.
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Simply an Amazing Story
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The Night Boat, Robert McCammon's third published novel, first appeared as a paperback original in 1980. Following on the heels of Baal and Bethany's Sin, it offered further proof that a writer of great narrative power and limitless potential - a writer who would achieve a significant position in modern popular fiction--had arrived.
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Classic McCammon
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The West Texas desert towns of Inferno and Bordertown have been slowly dying. The Snake River isn’t the only thing that divides them. Racism and gang wars have turned the sun-scorched flatlands into a powder keg. If anything can unite them now, it’s the UFO that comes crashing through the clouds. It brings with it a young alien named Daufin, a fugitive who has taken human form. She knows the terror that awaits this planet—because it’s looking for her.
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Alien Invasion F-U-N!
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Father John has lived his whole life without knowing a woman’s touch. Hard at first, his self-denial grew easier over time, as he learned to master his urges with a regimen of prayer, cold showers, and jigsaw puzzles. That changes the day that Debra Rocks enters his confessional. A rough-talking adult film actress, she has come to ask him to pray for a murdered costar. Her cinnamon perfume infects Father John, and after she departs he becomes obsessed.
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excellent reading
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Pursued by police and bounty hunters, Dan Lambert flees south toward the Louisiana bayous. In the swamplands he meets Arden Halliday, a young woman who bears the vivid burdens of her own past and who is searching for a legendary faith healer called the Bright Girl. Looking for simple kindness in a world that rarely shows it, bound by a loyalty stronger than love, Dan and Arden set off on a journey of relentless suspense and impassioned discovery...over dark, twisting waterways into the mysterious depths of the human heart.
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Bethany's Sin is a tiny, picturesque village in rural Pennsylvania. Its tree-lined streets, beautiful houses, and manicured exteriors offer - or appear to offer - both peace and a place of refuge. Evan Reid, a man haunted by his memories of the Vietnam War and by a history of viscerally disturbing dreams, comes to the village with his wife and daughter, hoping to make a fresh start after a series of discouraging setbacks. At first, all goes as planned.
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IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO TALK, PERHAPS YOU WISH TO
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Yellowjacket Summer
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"Yellowjacket Summer”, a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in The Twilight Zone magazine, October 1986.
What listeners say about Speaks the Nightbird
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Margaret
- 09-25-12
This is how you start a series!
I read a lot of historical mysteries and I expect a lot. This book supplies it - accurate period detail, complex mystery, surprising twists and turns; but what made this stand out for me is the protagonist, Matthew Corbett. Robert McCammon actually put a heart and mind into Matthew Corbett, the "detective" of the story. He runs into his share of villains, but not every single person is rotten to the core (another one of my pet peeves. How can every single person be sick and twisted? Every single one?)
McCammon gave me every reason to keep rooting for Matthew, even when I thought he was making a terrible mistake. See what I mean? That's a protagonist.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Evelyn G. Webster
- 07-07-12
UNRELENTINGLY GRIM
Is there anything you would change about this book?
A WELL WRITTEN STORY, BUT UNRELENTINGLY DARK AND GRIM.
Would you recommend Speaks the Nightbird to your friends? Why or why not?
THOUGH WELL CRAFTED, THE STORY WAS TOO DARK AND DEPRESSING FOR ME, THEREFORE I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT TO OTHERS.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
THE NARRATOR DID A SUPERB JOB WITH THE MATERIAL.
Was Speaks the Nightbird worth the listening time?
NOT FOR ME.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Peg Kearney
- 07-09-12
Beware Anachronisms
Overall this is not a bad story, but if you are a historian of 17th century colonial America it may well drive you mad. It appears that everyone has matches (not invented in usable form until the 19th century), wears tricorn hats (exceedingly unlikely for backwoods Carolina and a 19th century word to boot), and are citizens, (a term not in general use until Revolutionary times). I eventually made a small game of find the historical anachronism. But if you don't care about accuracy of detail you may well enjoy this story.
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- Richard
- 09-19-12
It's A HIT!!
My first experience with McCammon was Swan Song and I was, quite frankly, amazed by it. When I saw that this was "historical" I spent some time reading reviews before I finally decided to download the first book. The word "historical" is usually a turnoff for me. I like my fiction totally fictional, but luckily the "history" in this book was so cunningly woven into the story and characters that it didn't distract me at all.
First, the author is an astoundingly good writer. His descriptions really give great mental visuals. Even his description of clothing, which would normally bore me a bit, seem to really aid in the character development. His turns of phrase are quite clever as well, and although much of the book is very dark in character, there are moments where I laughed out loud.
Second, this book is all about characters. The plot, as one reviewer said, is to some extent predictable: young hotshot figures everything out and all the establishment figures don't, and saves the beuatiful woman at the end. But think of the plot as just a scaffold on which the author hangs his truly beautiful prose and his deeply developed characters.
Third, Matthew Corbett is just a very likeable young man. Supremely intelligent but not arrogant, confident without being overbearing. The other characters vary from bland to horrific.
Once you get past the rather grand-sounding name (no offense intended at all, it's just that one could go a lifetime without meeting anyone called Edoardo Ballerini) the narrator is extremely talented. His job is made more difficult by the fact that there are so many characters in this book that he must keep separated. He does women's and even children's voices in a convincing manner, but seems never to intrude into the story.
Now I don't see how I can avoid downloading all of the books. I can only hope that somewhere down the line he comes back to Fount Royal and sees what's become of Bidwell and Rachel and the other charcters. I can heartily recommend this book. I'll check back when I've listened to the second one.
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4 people found this helpful
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- txkimmers
- 07-05-12
A one-man Scooby Gang in doublet and hose
An incredibly enjoyable, if somewhat lengthy historical mystery novel (2 novels, actually) that introduces plucky magistrate's clerk Matthew Corbett. The novel is actually a coming-of-age tale for Matthew, who travels with his magistrate master to a remote town to try a woman accused of witchcraft. She's a total babe (natch) and before long, Matthew's attraction to her sublimates into a fanatical devotion to discovering "the truth" of what is really happening in Fount Royal.
The novel is crammed with historical facts about colonial life in 1699 that appear in the narrative as large as billboards, but are nevertheless totally fascinating. Aside from learning way too much about the scary ickiness of healthcare from that period, I learned that wasps nests were kept *inside* of houses to keep mosquitoes under control...a fact I have not been able to verify by googling, but seems too perfectly weird to be made up.
Matthew Corbett is a great character, a somewhat naive and bumbling nerd who becomes a kind of hyper-articulate and powerful agent of justice once armed with all the facts. I plan to check out his next three adventures asap. For some reason I can't get Elijah Wood out of my mind when I think of him.
A note on the narrator: Edoardo Ballerini, was absolutely fantastic. I plan to listen to, not read, the other entries in the series because he brings the story to life beautifully (and hilariously at times).
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- John Burrus
- 11-19-12
Well written but contrived
A good editor could have greatly improved this book by removing the various subplots inserted simply to throw the reader off the trail. Also, some of the characters' actions do not comport with normal human nature and motivation.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Vicki
- 06-20-12
Delightful Historical Whodunit
Edoardo Ballerini was perfect for this story that captivated me to the very end. History, detective work, mystery, witch trial, etc. What's not to like?
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4 people found this helpful
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- Thor, goT
- 05-31-15
Superb on every level
Excellent book set in the late 1600’s in British colonial America, which I would categorize as an historical fiction mystery thriller. A magistrate and his clerk are sent to a small town to investigate a charge of witchcraft, and soon they encounter several undercurrents to the charges (social, economic, corrupt, racial, and generational) that presents a more complex series of facts for them to investigate. None of these facts necessarily speaks to the accused’s innocence, merely to an undercurrent that takes things beyond a straightforward witch trial. The book is multi-layered, intelligently written and not the sort of cookie cutter crime thriller format in which you can predict the end far in advance.
I highly recommend this one.
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- Vira
- 06-26-13
The Prison Bars are on the Wrong Side!
Fount Royal has a totally corrupt society, yet the only innocent is behind bars facing a death sentence. With the whole bloodthirsty lot screaming hungrily for a taste of her blood. They should all be in prison, and not her.
How easy it was, at the beginning of the 17th Century to simply label someone a witch and kill her.
It makes you grateful for living in these times. Thank science for roads, medicine, and forensic investigations. It inspires gratitude for our modern juristic system, as imperfect as it seems at times.
The magistrate represents ‘age’, the past, set in his ways and rather willing to accept things as they are, and deal with them in the time-honoured manner. His clerk is ‘youth’ and the future, curious, questioning, searching for answers and a better way. Every sanctimonious citizen has a guilty secret or something to hide, yet all are pointing fingers at the witch, their scapegoat.
An interesting and well-read book, on the whole. There are some great gaps in the latter part. We’re here, and then suddenly we’re there, with no idea how we got there. In the interim the problem got solved, and we’re still wondering how, after the fact. But there’s not much of it, and that would be my only real criticism, in 30 hours.
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- Sleepless in Frisco
- 03-23-21
Outstanding in every regard!
At the risk of being repetitive, all of the reviews that heralded this period piece for writing and narration were spot on. Wonderfully woven tale told by a master reader. Highly recommended!
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