The Fall of the Kings Audiobook By Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman cover art

The Fall of the Kings

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Fall of the Kings

By: Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman
Narrated by: Ellen Kushner, Nick Sullivan, Neil Gaiman, Simon Jones, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Richard Ferrone, Tim Jerome
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Audie Award Finalist, Multi-Voiced Performance, 2014

Audie Award Finalist, Audio Drama, 2014

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on The Fall of the Kings: "In the Riverside chronology of events, The Fall of the Kings takes place a generation after Swordspoint. If you are new to the world of Riverside, I hope the richness of this book will surprise and delight you, with multi-voiced scenes set like jewels in the gold of Ellen Kushner's narration…."

In this stunning follow-up to Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword and the Audie-award winning Swordspoint, co-author Delia Sherman (The Freedom Maze) joins Ellen to return to that world of labyrinthine intrigue, where sharp swords and even sharper wits rule. This time, they explore the city's University, where a troubled young nobleman and his scholar lover find themselves playing out an ancient drama destined to explode their society's smug view of itself.

In a city grown decadent, myth and magic begin to seep through the ancient stones. Generations ago the last king fell. But the blood of kings runs deep in the land - and the key may be Theron Campion of Tremontaine, a louche beauty of questionable morals seeking to escape his family heritage in the University lecture halls. When he and renegade scholar Basil St. Cloud come together, they discover that the price of uncovering ancient history may be to be forced to repeat it....

Sue Zizza of SueMedia Productions creates some truly stunning sound elements, including a full score of original music by composer Nathanael Tronerud commissioned for this series... with a full supporting cast who bring to life the rich tapestry of passionate University scholars, noblemen in brothels and Riverside lowlifes, in the sophisticated urban setting that Kushner's many fans have come to love.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on The Fall of the Kings, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©2003 Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman (P)2013 SueMedia Productions Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Royalty Magic

Critic reviews

"The authors tap into fantasy's genuine source of drama, its ability to haunt, appall, transform. A powerful fantasy that rises above the crowd with a vivid setting, complex characters, and elegant prose." ( Locus) "[W]itty dialogue, prose as precise as a blow to the heart... magic with a true aura of numinous danger, thrilling fights, thrilling scholarly debates, old books, swashbuckling aunts, exquisite clothing, ancient rituals, hot chocolate, female pirates, erotic paintings.... [I]t leaves one with much to consider after the book is closed." (Rachel Manija Brown, Green Man Review) "A virtual treat for all the senses! For those who like their fantasy soaked in intrigue, history and romance . . . one of the bawdiest and most intellectually stimulating novels of the year!" (Gavin Grant, BookPage)

People who viewed this also viewed...

Swordspoint Audiobook By Ellen Kushner cover art
Swordspoint By: Ellen Kushner
All stars
Most relevant  
I have become a fan of Riverside over the years and found this book in the true spirit of the Kushner/Sherman world. A little period, a little erotic, a little intrigue, a lot of the history of that paaartiiicilarrrr time (Swords Point Joke, Sorry). A person who likes Riverside and its surrounding world may like a wider lens of that world. If eroticism or homoeroticism are not your thing, there will opportunities for disappointment in this book for you. Though not very explicit, ubiquitous in this novel. Enjoy!

Imaginative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I feel other reviews tried but ultimately failed to warn or prepare one with their comments that this book is about wizards fucking, so I will now attempt to clear that up for you.

This book is *about* wizards fucking. wizards fucking is the plot of this book. How often did wizards fuck? WHO did wizards fuck? Who was the top or bottom in the wizards fucking arrangement? were the wizards into bondage? were the evil wizards fucking the cuck virgin kings? the POINT of this book is, in every way, wizards fucking. wizards fucking is what this book is about.

to be fair to this book, I will say that it only began to read as ridiculous when the author tries her level best to make the mating habits of wizards very serious and hotly debated by scholars and people in government, where it was very clear, at least to me, the author was desperately trying to convince the reader that wizards fucking wasn't silly and was in fact politically and emotionally interesting. (I personally do think wizards fucking is a wonderful subject, but the author relentlessly begging me to take it seriously made the whole thing cheap and annoying.)

do with this review what you will! happy hunting.

to clarify other reviews

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
i was so wrapped up in the climax of the story i drove right past my exit.

enthralling!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Kushner's style is very very very dialogue heavy, I know that. This book was even more so. The story went nowhere and it went there very slowly. This story felt like a soap opera, all smut and no substance. The characters that were engaging were rare and had small parts. Then suddenly all the action happens at the end and no one really talks about anything. It's like the writers had a deadline to finish the book.

The performances of the readers are the only reason to listen to the audio. Even with such great readers, you'll find yourself struggling to stay until the end.

Story goes nowhere, slowly and without purpose

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Highly thought through and worked, but overly complicated, too many characters too many personalities, too much complexity. Everything well worked, but it’s like having 1000 complicated dishes, set at the dining table. And knowing you can’t appreciate each one and ending up, feeling overwhelmed and a bit unwell! Don’t feel like the Story arc was entirely well balanced, and a bit frustrating not to be able to appreciate each dish because another one arrives too quickly…

world building, characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
the ending was sad, so I feel like I can't give it 5 stars lol but a fantastic book!

really great but the ending upset me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very pleasurable listen while working. Light enough to do other things at the same time and at the same time captivating!

surprisingly good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's no secret that I absolutely adore Ellen Kushner's "Riverside" series, and "The Fall of the Kings" is perhaps the deepest and richest of the three. Co-written with Delia Sherman, "The Fall of the Kings" depicts the fine lines between history and legend, science and magic, obsession and love.

Theron Campion, elegant young nobleman-about-town, has recovered from his unhappy love affair with a scandalous artist, and is ready to indulge in a new romance with the idealistic young magister of history, Basil St Cloud. But St Cloud has an obsession of his own: the study of the ancient kings, their wizards, and their magic. But such a study is forbidden in the City, and Basil and Theron's passionate affair has dangerous ramifications neither could imagine.

The story in itself is glorious – I've never wanted so desperately to visit the City as I do now that the University district has come alive in such richness and vivid detail. As often as I've read and reread the Riverside books, it's always a treat to hear Ellen Kushner reading them! She knows just where to put the emphasis, and her narration is alternately gentle, amused, dreamlike, and sensual. (The romance here is between two men, so if that is something that might bother you, be forewarned.)

Ms Kushner has described the aesthetics of the "illumination" as, "You're listening to me read you the story, and then you start to dream it, that it's come to life...", and that's a perfect description. Nick Sullivan, whom I loved to hate as the villain in the other "Riverside" books ("Swordspoint" and "The Privilege of the Sword") is eminently swoonworthy as the idealistic Basil St Cloud, while Ryan McCabe conveys Theron's peculiarly innocent qualitities perfectly. The Student's Ensemble made me laugh out loud – they got it so very right! And Nate Tronerud's fabulous music adds so much depth and color to the tapestry. I think this has got to be my favorite of his three "Riverside" scores.

Listening to this audiobook was like a happy dream, but one which I'll get to enjoy over and over. Thank you, Ellen and Delia, for writing this book, and thank you, Neil Gaiman, for adding it to your Audible series! It will be a joy for years to come.

Rich, lush, sensual historical fantasy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this story was an fantastic mix of victorian age like intrigued and the world building of master craftsman that had me ingrossed in to a point I didn't want to stop .

loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ellen Kusher has written a series of books full of some of the most human characters I've ever run into in fantasy literature. I am not certain I've ever run across the mannerpunk subgenre before running across the Neil Gaiman Presents collection of audiobooks. By his endorsement alone I would have tried the series, but then I realized I'd run across one of her short stories in an anthology. After giving it a listen I was completely hooked. The world of Swordspoint is charming, addicting, and most especially, so very very viscerally human. 10/10 highly recommend every last one of them.

wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews