The Great Ordeal
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Orton
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By:
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R. Scott Bakker
About this listen
The much-anticipated third installment of R. Scott Bakker's acclaimed series, The Aspect-Emperor.
Praised by fans and critics worldwide, R. Scott Bakker has become one of the most celebrated voices in fantasy literature. With The Great Ordeal, Bakker presents the long-anticipated third volume of The Aspect-Emperor, a series that stands with the finest in the genre for its grandiose scope, rich detail, and thrilling story.
As Fanim war drums beat just outside the city, Empress Anasurimbor Esmenet searches frantically throughout the palace for her missing son, Kelmomas. Meanwhile, and many miles away, Esmenet's husband's Great Ordeal continues its epic march farther north. But in light of dwindling supplies, the Aspect-Emperor's decision to allow his men to consume the flesh of fallen Sranc could have consequences even he couldn't have foreseen. And deep in Ishual, the wizard Achamian grapples with his fear that his unspeakably long journey might be ending in emptiness, no closer to the truth than when he set out.
The Aspect-Emperor series follows Bakker's Prince of Nothing saga, returning to the same world 20 years later. The Great Ordeal follows The Judging Eye and The White-Luck Warrior and delivers the first half of the conclusion to this epic story. Returning to Bakker's richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery, The Aspect-Emperor continues to set the bar for the fantasy genre, reaching new heights of intricacy and meaning.
©2016 R. Scott Bakker (P)2016 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- Blood War Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Tim Marquitz
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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For hundreds of years, the bestial Grol have clawed at the walls of Lathah without success. Now armed with O'hra, mystical weapons of great power, they have returned, to conquer. Witness to the Grol advance, Arrin can abide his exile no longer. He returns to Lathah, in defiance of death, with hopes to save his beloved princess and the child born of their illicit affair. He finds her unwilling to abandon her people.
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A sprawling Epic fantasy in the best sense!
- By The Bookwyrm Speaks on 09-03-15
By: Tim Marquitz
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Cthonia's Reckoning
- The Horus Heresy
- By: John French, Michael F. Haspil, Gary Kloster, and others
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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After seven long years of conflict, the Horus Heresy nears its end. But now, as the Warmaster Horus marches on Terra to rip his father from the Throne, the seat of the arch-traitor’s power lies empty. Cthonia, a world once dominated by brutal murder-gangs, is occupied by the Emperor’s praetorians—the indomitable Imperial Fists. For the Sons of Horus, this outrage demands a reckoning.
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Created to sell toys.
- By Lowlight on 06-30-22
By: John French, and others
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Flesh and Spirit
- Lighthouse, Book 1
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society - and his family - have ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his doom in water, blood, and ice. Her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen in a rainy wilderness half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure, and possessing only a stolen book of maps.
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FIGHTING TO ADD MORE WORDS TO THIS COLLECTION
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-13-14
By: Carol Berg
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The Gates of Azyr: Age of Sigmar
- Realmgate Wars, Book 1
- By: Chris Wraight
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The war is over, and the Mortal Realms have all but fallen to Chaos.... Korghos Khul rampages across the fiery Realm of Aqshy, hunting down mortal kind to slaughter or subjugate to Khorne. His Goretide have crushed all resistance...until the storm. From the heavens hurtle paladins clad in gold. Sent by Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals have come to liberate all the realms from the yoke of Chaos.
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A Short Intro into Age of Sigmar
- By Bryan N on 08-06-18
By: Chris Wraight
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God's Last Breath
- By: Sam Sykes
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 25 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The great demon Khoth-Kapira has broken free of his prison and taken his first step upon the mortal world. And he owes it all to Lenk. Believing that the demon will heal a broken world that the gods have abandoned, Lenk serves as reluctant champion to Khoth-Kapira's cause. But as the desperate and fearful flock to Khoth-Kapira's banner, begging for salvation, Lenk begins to doubt his patron's great designs.
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Fantastic Finish
- By Casey on 07-18-18
By: Sam Sykes
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The Empire of the Dead
- By: Phil Tucker
- Narrated by: Paul Guyet
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Acharsis has always loved long shots. But even with a perfect scheme and a handpicked squad of godsblooded grifters and fighters, breaking into the undead lord's Akkodaisis' ziggurat is suicidally impossible. Good thing Archarsis is a fallen demigod with more than one trick up his sleeve....
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Incredibly imaginative
- By RyRy on 09-08-17
By: Phil Tucker
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Vinas Solamnus
- Dragonlance: Lost Legends, Book 1
- By: J. Robert King
- Narrated by: Liam O'Brien
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Vinas Solamnus: soldier, nobleman, priest. Vinas Solamnus: rebel, commander, conqueror. Vinas Solamnus: author of The Oath and the measure and founder of the Solamnic Knights. No knight was ever nobler, more spiritual, more idealistic than Vinas Solamnus...but he wasn't always that way. The story of his early years, his education, and his crucible is truly one of the most famous....
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more please
- By Kyle Teach on 08-29-16
By: J. Robert King
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The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
- By: Robert E. Howard
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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With Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century---he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan was not the first archetypal adventurer to spring from Howard's fertile imagination.
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Just as real and absorbing as I remember.
- By Stephen P. Suelzle on 09-07-13
By: Robert E. Howard
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Songs on Bronze
- The Greek Myths Made Real
- By: Nigel Spivey
- Narrated by: Yuri Rasovsky
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Songs on Bronze is the first major retelling of Greek mythology in half a century; a set of lively, racy, dramatic versions of the great myths, which, in a multicultural society, are recognized more than ever as stories without equal.
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Wonderful
- By Ceectee on 07-13-07
By: Nigel Spivey
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Child of Vengeance
- A Novel
- By: David Kirk
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
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Japan in the late 16th century was a land in turmoil. Lords of the great clans schemed against one another, served by aristocratic samurai bound to them by a rigid code of honor. Bennosuke is a high-born but lonely teenager living in his ancestral village. His mother died when he was a young boy, and his powerful warrior father Munisai has abandoned him for a life of service to his Lord, Shinmei. Bennosuke has been raised by his uncle Dorinbo, a Buddhist monk who urges the boy to forgo the violence of the samurai and embrace the contemplative life.
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Clever weaving of history and fiction.
- By JW Crummett on 02-25-16
By: David Kirk
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Night of Knives
- Novels of the Malazan Empire, Book 1
- By: Ian C. Esslemont
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The small island of Malaz and its city gave the great empire its name, but now it is little more than a sleepy, backwater port. Tonight, however, things are different. Tonight the city is on edge, a hive of hurried, sometimes violent activity; its citizens bustle about, barring doors, shuttering windows, avoiding any stranger's stare. Because tonight there is to be a convergence, the once-in-a-generation appearance of a Shadow Moon - an occasion that threatens the good people of Malaz with demon hounds and other, darker things....
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Worth the wait
- By Aran on 06-20-16
By: Ian C. Esslemont
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Amber Magic
- Haven Series, Book 1
- By: B. V. Larson
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The humans have no magic and are hunted for sport, but that is about to change. War is coming.... The Sun Dragon spawned nine lesser dragons which devoured their parent for the power the elder possessed. These young dragons fought for choice bits of the Sun Dragon, but each only managed to eat a portion, thus giving them specific powers. Over time, these foul dragons were hunted down and slain by heroes of old.
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Not Undying Mercenaries Thats for sure
- By John on 10-21-15
By: B. V. Larson
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Sons of the Emperor: An Anthology
- The Horus Heresy Primarchs
- By: John French, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Nick Kyme, and others
- Narrated by: Christopher Tester
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The primarchs, nigh-immortal sons of the Emperor of Mankind, take the stage in a series of short stories showcasing some of their great deeds and hideous acts from across the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.
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Amazing Performance
- By Jayna Winter Rubich on 02-05-24
By: John French, and others
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The Bloody Crown of Conan
- By: Robert E. Howard
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery - and brought to life one of fantasy's boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerian, reaver, slayer, barbarian, king. This volume gathers together three of Howard's longest and most famous Conan stories.
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If you only own one Conan audiobook, this is it!
- By John on 11-19-10
By: Robert E. Howard
What listeners say about The Great Ordeal
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ernest P
- 09-17-16
Narrator sucks
Bakker's series is out of this world. But this new narrator isn't even trying. Shame.
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- Agusta Jacoba
- 01-15-22
Pronunciation is all over the place.
I love these books but please find someone who will at least stay consistent with how they pronounce the names, places etc. this guy changes how he says things between books and even between chapters. Just weird. Other than that good series.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Audible Customer
- 07-22-16
Meh
If you have read the others, read on. Cliffhanger finish. I will read on. Meh.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Reviews by L
- 08-03-16
Great book, lackluster narration
Would you listen to The Great Ordeal again? Why?
I think Bakker fairly demands it. This is not a book you will be able to absorb in one sitting.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Great Ordeal?
Sorweel's descent through Ishteribenth, the final confrontations, just everything with Dagliash... good stuff.
Did Kevin Orton do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
I suppose so. He obviously has an expressive voice and can bring real drama to the characters, but his inconsistent pronunciation of names was distracting. He definitely phoned this one in, which is odd, because he's narrated other books in the series. I certainly think the book would benefit from a better narrator, someone along the quality lines of Simon Vance or Michael Page.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
I would not. I mean, there's not a theater one that would touch it.
Any additional comments?
It's better if you read it, just because Kevin Orton cannot decide how he wants to pronounce names, sometimes within the same sentence.
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- Kat
- 10-28-24
Bakker's Storytelling On Full Display
Some of the most impactful moments in any series are in this book with moments that will require you take a break from your day to day life to consider existence. Don't miss out on this masterpiece of the fantasy (or any) genre.
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- Keith
- 01-25-17
Changing pronunciation!
Kevin Orton is a decent narrator, not as good as David DeVries, but after two book (40+ hours) suddenly many names are being pronounced differently. Not only are they different from the other two books he read but he changes during the book. It's super frustrating. Pick a thing!
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2 people found this helpful
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- ryan werling
- 09-11-18
Enthralling
an absolute adventure with phenomenal voice acting if you have read the previous books you wont be able to put this down
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- TimB
- 10-10-20
Narrator is not that bad
Many reviews cite poor pronunciation by the reader. This is a issue, but it isn't terrible. I could still easily follow the story.
This was my favorite in the series since the original trilogy. The "slog" sections of Books 4 and 5 started to feel like a slog. Here the story picks up rapidly. If you enjoyed the Prince of Nothing series, and the other Aspect Emperor books, you will like this. if you're like me and almost stopped at the White Luck Warrior due to the second series not being as good, and poor reviews of the narration, I would say go on. Once you adjust to the new pronunciations it flows fine and this boom has a lot of great moments. Baller's battle scenes are great and you get many. The disperate plots begin to unify. You get some cool philosophical issues.
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- Chester
- 09-11-21
Kevin Orton just keeps getting worse.
Orton is by far the worst narrator attached to such a great series. I've grown to love his voice, but his constant mispronunciation of basic English is grating to say the least. In this title, the third in this series (sixth in the grand scheme), he's also taken to mispronouncing character names he got right in the first two books, which makes it even more irritating. The mistakes in the opening credits alone were enough to make me stop listening and come vent about the professional reader being terrible at reading (this isn't my first time surviving the second apocalypse, but I'm not sure I can survive this narration again)
His voice is a gift, but he's bad at his job. I can't recall if it is this specific book, but as an example of how terrible Orton is: within the span of three sentences he pronounces a beloved main character's name two different ways.Consistency would be nice, as this is the third book and he's been familiarized with the names by now. I'm not sure if he's lazy, jaded, or just bad at reading. Perhaps he's a troll. I could probably suffer through him getting Bakker names wrong though, as Bakker writes some pretty wild names, but the addition of hearing Orton say words that are actual English words and thinking "I think he meant..." is just bloody aggravating. .
Bakker is great though. If you made it this far you don't need a review of the book itself. Listening to Orton butcher it is the slog of slogs though. Better off reading it yourself and pretending you're David DeVries.
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- Ryan
- 04-29-19
good book ruined by a terrible performance
Kevin Orton continually changes pronunciations and it's infuriating. The lack of diversity between the voices of the characters also takes away from the experience.
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2 people found this helpful