The Ember Blade Audiobook By Chris Wooding cover art

The Ember Blade

The Darkwater Legacy, Book 1

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The Ember Blade

By: Chris Wooding
Narrated by: Simon Bubb
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About this listen

A land under occupation. A legendary sword. A young man's journey to find his destiny.

Aren has lived by the rules all his life. He's never questioned it; that's just the way things are. But then his father is executed for treason, and he and his best friend, Cade, are thrown into a prison mine, doomed to work until they drop. Unless they can somehow break free....

But what lies beyond the prison walls is more terrifying still. Rescued by a man who hates him yet is oath-bound to protect him, pursued by inhuman forces, Aren slowly accepts that everything he knew about his world was a lie. The rules are not there to protect him or his people but to enslave them. A revolution is brewing, and Aren is being drawn into it, whether he likes it or not.

The key to the revolution is the Ember Blade. The sword of kings, the Excalibur of his people. Only with the Ember Blade in hand can their people be inspired to rise up...but it's locked in an impenetrable vault in the most heavily guarded fortress in the land.

All they have to do now is steal it....

©2018 Chris Wooding (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group
Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy
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Critic reviews

"The Ember Blade is hands down the best fantasy novel I've ever read." (Grimdark Magazine)

What listeners say about The Ember Blade

Highly rated for:

Engaging Story Compelling Characters Unexpected Twists Rich World-building Epic Adventure Consistent Accents
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    5 out of 5 stars

My new favorite book.

Before spending a credit on this book I read a review from a fellow audiobook enthusiast who said that they were anticipating the 2nd book in the series more so than the 3rd installation of the Kingkiller Chronicles. I was very skeptical as Kvothe was my favorite fantasy character of all time. Notice that I said "was". Grubb is my new hero of choice. As I have just finished The Ember Blade, I am still exalting in its greatness. The storyline was fantastic, characters are believable, and the plotline wasn't as predictable as the summary outline made it out to be. I will be buying this book in Hard Cover to add to my already full bookshelf. I cannot praise this book enough. Please do yourself a favor and purchase this audiobook. My only regret is that I finished this 30 hour title in 3 days, I couldn't stop listening. As far as the narration goes, it is not bad. I have finished books with worse voice acting and worse story lines. He is no Michael Kramer but he is a burgeoning talent that will no doubt continue to improve as the series goes on.

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33 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed this!

Excellent character development, can't wait for the next one. Just a great listen, what should have felt like an old theme didn't, it was intriguing and different.

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it's the set up for an epic adventure!!!

this book out competes most of it's genre. we will see where the author takes this l. better start then the wheel of Time series.

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Excellent Story!

I couldn't stop listening to this wonderfully narrated book. The plot is terrific, the characters are very well developed. I enjoyed every bit of it the only bad thing is waiting for the next one.

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Awesome

A great adventure that's clean! I appreciate it when an author didn't depend on sex, vulgarity, and hyper violence to sell a story. The ember blade has some of the best characters I have read in a long time. Grubb will be your favorite.

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incredible

love it, a must read. I'm looking forward to the second book in the Amber Blade saga.

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Great writing, solid story, great characters

This book overall was pretty good. The narrator I was at first concerned about but turned out to be great. I was at 1.25 reading speed. That being said this book is not as kid friendly and would be at a pg-13 level. I commend the well thought out writing and amazing characters.

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well done!

The character Grub is at once repulsive and endearing. Complex characters are a mark of good writing. Narrator: Superb!

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  • Overall
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good but not great. Certainly worth a listen.

Nothing incredibly original here, but it was certainly worth a read. I was very pleased with the length and enjoyed the world building process. The narrator was also very pleasant, however at times it could have been better. There are times when you can tell he was further away from his microphone / recorder than normal or you can hear noise from what seems like the turning on a page as he reads. Really not a big deal and the performance was still great, but it certainly wasn't the best.

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Good listen

I was not a fan of the characters overall, but sometimes they aren't meant to be liked. not that they were 1 dimensional or badly written. I just had no fondness for them. that did not effect my enjoyment however.
you can see aspects of fantasy works that came before within. they are not reused but given homage to.
overall I recommend

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