-
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
- Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
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Publisher's summary
Such is our task, and such lies before us all: Liberty or death.
In the summer of 1775, fleeing from a death sentence, Octavian and his tutor, Dr. Trefusis, escape through rising tides and pouring rain to find shelter in British-occupied Boston. Sundered from all he knows Octavian hopes to find safe harbor. But in the midst of war, no place is safe. The city of Boston itself is under siege. What follows is a tale of skirmish and flame, flight and fury, and battle on sea and land. Seeking both the truth of his past and some hope for his future, Octavian encounters generous thieves, pious carpenters, delicate lords, noble cowherds, bedazzled scientists, and murderous rebels - as this astonishing narrative escalates to its startling climax.
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Story
"Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him." This line was written by Ambrose Bierce in his short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Death by execution has historically been ritualized, perhaps to absolve those accomplishing the execution from guilt or blame.
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This has stuck with me since highschool.
- By Shane on 08-06-20
By: Ambrose Bierce
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Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
- By: Howard Pyle, Merle Johnson
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Merle Johnson has here gathered together in one volume all of the nineteenth-century author-artist's classic pirate stories that had been scattered through many magazines and books. Well researched and with richly drawn characters, Pyle's work will appeal to students of history and adventure lovers alike.
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Fascinating and wonderfully read
- By Fletch on 09-08-06
By: Howard Pyle, and others
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Mark Twain - The Complete Novels
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Lee Howard
- Length: 58 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Here you will find the complete novels of Mark Twain: 1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Starts at Chapter 1, 2. The Prince and the Pauper Starts at Chapter 37, 3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Starts at Chapter 70, 4. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Starts at Chapter 113, 5. The American Claimant Starts at Chapter 158, 6. Tom Sawyer Abroad Starts at Chapter 184, 7. Pudd'nhead Wilson Starts at Chapter 197, 8. Tom Sawyer, Detective Starts at Chapter 219, 9. A Horse's Tale Starts at Chapter 230, 10. The Mysterious Stranger Starts at Chapter 245.
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Content; GREAT! Performance.. .not so much😁
- By brian deis on 01-09-20
By: Mark Twain
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Recollections of Rifleman Harris
- By: Benjamin Harris, Henry Curling
- Narrated by: Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Rifleman Harris was a soldier in the elite 95th Rifles, one of Britains most prestigous infantry units during the Napoleonic wars. In this memoir, Harris relates his experiences in Denmark, the Peninsular, and at Walcheren. This is no history of grand plans and movements controlled by the lofty generals. Rather this relates the tale of a front line soldier who's concerns run much more with keeping shoes on his feet, a shirt on his back and, most importantly, food in his belly. Among other details, this book relates the horrors of the retreat to Corruna and the even more disasterous Walcheren expedition where an entire army was struck down by pestilence.
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Review
- By Mr.Grey on 02-01-22
By: Benjamin Harris, and others
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His Majesty's Dragon
- Temeraire, Book 1
- By: Naomi Novik
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo - an unhatched dragon egg - fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle.
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Excellent AU period fantasy
- By Melanie on 07-08-10
By: Naomi Novik
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Shardik
- By: Richard Adams
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Shardik is a fantasy of tragic character, centered on the long-awaited reincarnation of the gigantic bear Shardik and his appearance among the half-barbaric Ortelgan people. Mighty, ferocious, and unpredictable, Shardik changes the life of every person in the story. His advent commences a momentous chain of events.
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Overlooked, underappreciated and forgotten epic
- By "sharp31" on 08-06-18
By: Richard Adams
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Sacred Hunger
- By: Barry Unsworth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In this Booker Prize-winning work, Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son, who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew, who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain's drastic response provokes a mutiny.
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Wise, Perceptive, Heart-breaking
- By S. Coldsmith on 04-16-16
By: Barry Unsworth
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The Winthrop Woman
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 27 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1631 Elizabeth Winthrop, newly widowed with an infant daughter, set sail for the New World. Against a background of rigidity and conformity she dared to befriend Anne Hutchinson at the moment of her banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; dared to challenge a determined army captain bent on the massacre of her friends, the Siwanoy Indians; and, above all, dared to love a man as her heart and her whole being commanded.
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Historical Fiction that Aged Very Well
- By Lulu on 11-26-14
By: Anya Seton
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The Mark of the Beast
- By: Rudyard Kipling
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When a carousing Englishman disgraces the consecrated effigy of Hanuman, a leprous "Silver Man" marks him with a hideous curse. The ensuing night brings new terrors to the house of the doomed man.
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Must listen again
- By uffdasuzanne on 10-06-17
By: Rudyard Kipling
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The Speckled Monster
- A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox
- By: Jennifer Lee Carrell
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The Speckled Monster is both a hair-raising tale of courage in the face of the deadliest disease that has ever struck mankind, and a gripping account of the birth of modern immunology. Jennifer Lee Carrell's dramatic story follows two parents who, after barely surviving the agony of smallpox themselves, flouted 18th century European medical tradition by borrowing folk knowledge from African slaves and Eastern women in frantic bids to protect their children. Their heroic struggles gave rise to immunology.
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Wish it was another 19 hours long!
- By Book reader on 06-10-14
What listeners say about The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Ryan
- 09-20-10
wonderful series, what YA fiction should be
A fine sequel to the excellent first part of the trilogy. In this book, the teenage Octavian flees into the rebel-besieged Boston, hoping to find safety and champions of liberty for slaves among the British forces. As before, Anderson writes eloquently and with delicious detail, drawing us into 18th century America and its stew of intellectuals, gentry, commoners, soldiers, slaves, and runaway slaves, framed from the fish-out-of-water perspective of a highly educated black boy from a uniquely sheltered background. Through Octavian, we experience a fascinating, little-known substory of the Revolutionary War, and feel his jubilation at the hope of an end to slavery, even while he's fighting for America's "redcoat" enemy. Of course, the reader already knows from history that this hope can only be dashed for him, yet the bittersweet tale of how it unfolds is a riveting one.
As in Book One, Anderson slyly pokes fun at his characters, but isn't afraid to raise adult topics (including some tactful but honest references to sex of various kinds), framing challenging questions in terms of contemporary philosophy, religion, or science. What is freedom and what makes anyone entitled to it? What governs man's nature? What makes us like or different from one another? Is suffering caused by evil, or the mechanics of simple human indifference? These intellectual queries, blended expertly with the more visceral scenes in the book, give it a powerful resonance and re-readability. Though labeled as young adult fiction, this series shouldn't be overlooked by grown-up readers. Can't wait for the next one.
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