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  • EMPEROR: The Blood of Gods, Book 5 (Unabridged)

  • Written by: Conn Iggulden
  • Narrated by: Michael Healy
  • Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)

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EMPEROR: The Blood of Gods, Book 5 (Unabridged) cover art

EMPEROR: The Blood of Gods, Book 5 (Unabridged)

Written by: Conn Iggulden
Narrated by: Michael Healy
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Publisher's Summary

Julius Caesar has been assassinated. A nation is in mourning. Revenge will be bloody... Rome's great hero has been brutally murdered by his most trusted allies. While these self-appointed Liberatores seek refuge in the senate, they have underestimated one man: Caesar's adopted son Octavian, a man whose name will echo through history as Augustus Caesar.

Uniting with his great rival Mark Antony, Octavian will stop at nothing to seek retribution and avenge his father's death. His greatest hatred is reserved for Brutus, Caesar's childhood friend and greatest ally, now leader of the conspirators. As the people take to the streets of Rome, the Liberatores must face their fate. Some flee the city; others will not escape mob justice. Not a single one will die a natural death. And the reckoning will come for Brutus on the sweeping battlefield at Philippi.

The epic fifth novel in Conn Iggulden's bestselling 'Emperor' series.

©2013 Conn Iggulden (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about EMPEROR: The Blood of Gods, Book 5 (Unabridged)

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Horrible narrator! Great story

I have listened to every single Conn Iggulden book and they are all amazing with fantastic narration. In fact, I’ve listened to hundreds of audiobooks and this is the worst narrator I have ever experienced.

Such a great story but it’s so hard to get through with this bland uninterested voice and bizarre inflections that don’t fit the scenes. What a shame.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great author Horrible Narrator

The narrator was absolutely such a shame too because I was loving this series. I really like Conn Igguldens books and highly recommend the conqueror series its his best books imo

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

For a book to pick back up after years between, this book does a great job. At first I was not sure it would blend well after so long. It did so and was fluid and enjoyable to the end.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

absolurely amazing books

deffinatly will be rereading all of them. I listen to them at work and it gets me through my day.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Bored to death, Brutus and Cassius fall on swords

The first 4 books came alive with great narration. This last one was a great story numbed into submission by an indifferent narrator. Moving on to genghis khan.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story. Terrible narration.

As always, Conn Iggulden writes a fantastic historical fiction. Sadly the narrator butchers it and makes it hard to listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Intonation of any kind would help.

My great grandfather had a little box. His eyes weren't as good as they used to be. This little box was ingenious, when my great grandfather would push the button it would speak to him the time! This narrator reminds me of this little box ...only, I think the 1970's electronic box told the time with more emotion.

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  • Julian
  • 2013-08-30

Get a narrator who knows a little history

What a wooden narration! Made worse by an obvious complete lack of knowledge of the subject matter which led to annoying miss-pronunciation of names & places. Please, Mr Iggulden - a good narrator is almost as important as you! Try Humphrey Bower to see how it is really done.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Fredrik Pettersen
  • 2013-10-07

Terrible narrator made me wince

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'd recommend it to anyone who had read the previous books, or anyone wanting to jump in (as the death of Caesar makes a good starting point). However, I would NOT recommend this Audible version, as the narrator ruins the book completely.

What didn’t you like about Michael Healy’s performance?

Everything. It was terrible. But let me try to list my main objections:

- Healy has a strange lilt to his voice that is either an accent or terrible reading skills. The upshot is that every full stop, he lifts his voice the way you sometimes do when reading to young children.

- His reading pace hardly ever changes, meaning even in tense, action-packed moments, it's as if he's reading "My dog Spot" to a room of 5-year-olds.

- He doesn't differentiate between characters as far as I could tell, meaning that when one character interrupts another, it gets reeeeally confusing.

- I don't think he's read the book beforehand; Imagine how you'd say the sentence "I think I'd quite like a sandwich and a nice cup of tea". Now imagine Healy saying, in the exact same way "You're a disgrace to Rome!..." (the exclamation point silent), and then continuing, completely obliviously (and still just as ploddingly) "...shouted Octavian and slammed his fist into the table." The disconnect between how Iggulden claimed Octavian said it and how Healy reads it would be funny, if it wasn't ruining my book.

Any additional comments?

I had to finish this book in hard-copy. Worst narration I've experienced since "Rendezvous with Rama".

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Rollin
  • 2013-09-04

A terrible reader spoils a godd story

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Actually, the story IS interesting, although less enjoyable than the previous two volumes of this great series on Rome and Caesar.

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Healy’s performances?

No, not at all. He reads stiltingly, making pauses more appropriate for small children. I didn't finish listening to the book because of his irritating narration.

Any additional comments?

I wish I could listen to this book with a different narrator.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 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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  • Charles Goodlet
  • 2023-10-23

Terrible Narration

It was an absolute struggle to listen. What a dreadful narration. Wooden delivery and constant rising inflection at the end of sentences. It was like listening to a list, A list with numerous mispronunciations of common English words.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 2022-08-02

Disappointing

The story is a weak end to the series all in all. I loved and still love the Emperor series, but the book felt odd and slightly disconnected from the others.

Octavian spent a lot of time with many of the other characters in previous books, but that seems to have been forgotten in large part. But all in all I enjoy the story.

It must however be mentioned that the narrator sounds as if he wishes he could do anything but read the book. I almost didn’t finish the audiobook for that reason. It is unfortunate, he has a comfortable voice but I don’t think he was the right choice for this book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • mauricio seiti
  • 2016-11-16

why change the narrator?

this is the last book of the series...and with a new narrator? with a worst narrator...almost couldnt finish the book....but the story is great

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Chris
  • 2015-01-01

Not Bad

weakest of Iggulden's books on the period, but satisfactory wrap up to the series. Worth listening too

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • C. Ian Keay
  • 2014-12-30

Not Iggulden's best work

I am a fanatical historical fiction reader. And while the historical components were interesting, plot and character development were mediocre. I enjoyed the narrators' voice, but he wasn't much of a performer. The earlier Caesar were compelling and this one didn't measure up.

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