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  • Death's Mistress

  • Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles, Book 1
  • Written by: Terry Goodkind
  • Narrated by: Christina Traister
  • Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (106 ratings)

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Death's Mistress

Written by: Terry Goodkind
Narrated by: Christina Traister
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Publisher's Summary

Onetime lieutenant of the evil Emperor Jagang, known as "Death's Mistress" and the "Slave Queen", the deadly Nicci captured Richard Rahl in order to convince him that the Imperial Order stood for the greater good. But it was Richard who converted Nicci instead, and for years thereafter she served Richard and Kahlan as one of their closest friends - and one of their most lethal defenders.

Now, with the reign of Richard and Kahlan finally stabilized, Nicci has set out on her own for new adventures. Her first job being to keep the unworldly prophet Nathan out of trouble...

Death's Mistress: Sister of Darkness will launch The Nicci Chronicles, Terry Goodkind's entirely new series with a cast of characters centered on one of his best-loved characters in the now-concluded Sword of Truth.

©2017 Terry Goodkind (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

What listeners say about Death's Mistress

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very badly read

The story was great as always, but the actor reading it seemed to be reading it for the very first time during recording. Words misread such as Additive magic spoken as Addictive magic...her male voice used to speak for Nikki at times. The male characters all sound either pompous yet monotone, or of extremely low intelligence. I was disappointed, I generally prefer hearing a woman read a story, but this was nearly unbearable.

8 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator, are you kidding me?

After seeing all of the horrible reviews about this narrator, they used her again for the next book.... how is that possible? I absolutely will not get the 2nd book, because she is unbearable. So unfortunate.

7 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Struggled to finish

Other than this being the most boring story lacking anything new from the author, the narrator interfered with the enjoyment of audio presentation. Do editors not demand that the story be read or at least reviewed before committing to digital? Mispronunciations, breathing control, character voice selection, intonation all contributed to a very poorly executed performance. I won't get the second volume, which to me is strange as I usually select audio books by the author, and Goodkind was one of my favourites.

1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not the same without Richard

I had some trouble with this one. It's just not as enthralling without Richard as the main character. It had some good moments but I found myself easily distracted away from listening to it so it took a long time to finish. I actually stopped at one point and listened to a whole other book before continuing. I'm kinda sorry I've already bought the other two books in this series. I'll give them a go and hope it gets better.

1 person found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Poor performance

A decent book with an interesting storyline, but the narrator has very awkward phrasing and there were several very obvious mistakes that spoiled the performance.

1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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How could things get worse? Read on

In the Sword of Truth series, and its sequels, each brilliant solution leads to a more serious problem, until personal problems escalate to threaten the fate of the multiverse. For the most part, these escalations occur as readers transit from one novel to the next.

In this series, problems get worse from one chapter to the next. This is not a good sign. This follows the pattern of the song, "I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly."

As well, the protagonists, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon, lack the strong moral foundation of Richard and Kahlan. They've already made questionable decisions, and unnecessary tragedies have occurred.

I'm still going to read the rest of the books.

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Great continuation of stories and characters

Nicci was one of the most intriguing characters from the Sword of Truth books and now we get to see where she goes after those stories and has adventures of her own.

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Not recommended

I am convinced that this isn’t actually Terry Goodking writing and is instead the work of some amature ghost writer. The story offers no insight into morality or other issues of humanity and is a straightforward adventure with simple problems, simple solutions, simple characters, and a simple plot.

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wondrous

A perfect continuation of the world of the sword of truth. Filled with magic, wonder, beauty & sadness and heart

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Pulled Me Back In

I am not one for writing long reviews. I was a big Terry Goodkind fan back in the day, and I decided to purchase this one on a whim just to see if I could get back into this world again. I was presently surprised at how often I wanted to listen to this recording when I was driving or doing a light work out or going for walks. It defiantly pulled me back in and made me run out and get the next book in the series as soon as I was finished.

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  • TheRabidWookiee
  • 2017-01-24

This person needs to stop narrating

I'm just getting this out there, I have not finished and I assume the story is good, but I can't possibly know because this reader IS SO BAD. Her rhythm, pronunciation of characters and other thing in the world of SoT is just cringe worthy. I can't focus on this book at all. I already ordered the hard back copy so I can read it when I ever get the time. It's a shame, really looking forward to this but the narrative makes it impossible for me to get into.

116 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Robyn
  • 2017-01-26

can't finish because of the narration!

I'm into the story but I cannot handle this narrator!
she's the same one that narrated the first Confessor.
I had no problem with her on that book, but she sounds completely different narrating this book.
her inflection at the end of each sentence sounds like she wants to say DUH! so very irritating! as a huge fan of the sword of truth series it's very annoying how she pronounces the characters and places that we are so familiar with.
I'm a little over halfway finished and have decided to stop. I would rather read the book myself, which stinks because I don't have the time to read like I have the time to listen.
plus that means I have to buy the book again because I really do like the story.

96 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Jim "The Impatient"
  • 2017-10-01

PROPHECY WAS NEARLY ALWAYS MISs INTERPRETTED

SWEET SEA MONSTER
This plot had so many holes, I fell through. A young man is a naïve farm boy, yet he was raised by an abusive father. His robbers are killed, but it never occurs to him to get his money from the corpses. Pearl divers wear weights to go down deep, stay 10 minutes and do it again and again for hours. Where are all these weights coming from?

RULER OF A FREE COUNTRY
I don't know what happened to Goodkind. I loved the first three books of his Sword of Truth series, but nothing since than even seems readable. Did he write those books or pay someone else to. Did he blow his wad on those and now he is washed up. It is just sad.

57 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Sydney R. Colyott
  • 2017-01-27

Narration is Extremely Subpar

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the story and the characters. It would have been better with a different narrator.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The pacing is horrific. The narrator's voice isn't bad, but the flow of the book is choppy--whether from bad narration or shoddy audio editing, I'm not sure--and it's often difficult to tell who's speaking and to whom at any given time because there is no pausing between character dialogues.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I could only handle so much of the narration.

51 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Cake Lady
  • 2017-01-25

Great but...

Goodkind's great work as usual but the narrator mispronounces words and names. Very irritating. They should have used the same narrator from the Sword of Truth series.

40 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Matt M
  • 2017-04-25

great book, narrator sucks, won't get more with he

this is a great continuation of the sword of truth world, told from Nicci's perspective. loved the book, but hated the narrator. she had know clue of names or places from previous books. almost stopped so many times because her horrible narration, but told myself it was for the story and was able to finish. if Sam Tsoutsouvas would re- narrate this book i would buy it again just to hear him do it. some people might be tired of Terry explaining things but he does that for new readers/listeners and to set the scene. i love it. it let's my mind be more engaged in the story. since i drive truck it's even more encompassing to get involved in the story and let the miles go by. can't wait for the next book. thank you so much Terry for the journey to the land that started in your mind and is now in all of ours. wish i could tell you mine. i hope i can get my kids to listen when they are old enough. please keep writing!

31 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Venom13
  • 2018-03-14

Don't Waste Your Time

I wish I read the reviews before buying this. I was such a huge Sword of Truth fan but this is not even close to those works, well at least the earlier books. There are not only huge holes in the story line but, forgotten reasons for certain things (like the fact Nicci is barren because that was the price for aquiring because magic not her choice to not have children). Also, there is no character development, the plot is stale (yay another book where someone can't use their gift, huge surprise), the characters are flat and so many repeated lines that I felt as though I was reading a book meant for people with short term memory loss. Not to mention that Nicci is supposed to be this all powerful sorceresses and just melting a wall fatigues her and she has no substance at all. I hope others have a different view but, this was a huge disappoinment for me.

23 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Heather
  • 2017-01-29

Great story wrought with mispronounciations.

All I ask is a little preproduction research. When you're reading a book spun off a 20 plus book series, please listen to a book or ask the author how to pronounce names of people, places etc. Also it's additive magic. It's simple but important. Overall the story and performance is excellent. it's just very distracting with so many mispronounciations.

Again excellent story, excellent voice, great inflections. Would have been perfect with a few hours of research.

23 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • scottdl51
  • 2017-01-27

Why Can't these Readers Check Pronunciation Before

What did you like best about this story?

It's a continuation of a familiar tale.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Christina Traister?

Allyson Johnson but then just about anyone else would have been better.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I hope these actors are better than the one who provided narration for the audio book.

Any additional comments?

Is the author to blame for not providing then insisting these readers use a name pronunciation guide? Or is it the arrogance of the reader for feeling their way is proper regardless of the usage in most of the previous books in this universe? Whatever the cause it seriously detracts from my enjoyment of this book.

22 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Nikolai Sitz
  • 2017-02-08

Not what I'd hoped for.

Deaths mistress was one of my favorite characters throughout the sword of truth series. I was left disappointed when what could have been an epic tale turned out to be a scooby doo montage of bad monsters and villains.
Will I read the next book in this quest if there is another? Yes, I probably would :/
As for Christina Traister... she speaks with an upward inflection like she's always asking a question. Maddening when it's deaths mistress who sounds like a high school girl. She changes the names of characters and places and overall sounds unfamiliar with the genre or story line due to the way she mentions things like wizards fire or other story specific terms.
End rant.

20 people found this helpful