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  • EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged)

  • Written by: Conn Iggulden
  • Narrated by: Paul Blake
  • Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (46 ratings)

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EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged) cover art

EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged)

Written by: Conn Iggulden
Narrated by: Paul Blake
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Publisher's Summary

Julius Caesar has taken his legions north into mighty battles with the Gallic tribes. But as his successes mount, overwhelming ambition and new alliances begin to threaten his friendship with Marcus Brutus, brother-in-arms and fellow warrior. Although the conquest of Gaul has made Caesar a hero all over again, his victories on the battlefield cause still more rivalries at home. And ultimately Caesar and Brutus will have to choose whether to cross the Rubicon - together or singly - and to take the fight to Rome itself.
©2005 Conn Iggulden (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged)

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

Why change name pronunciations in the third book of the series?

Who makes the decision to change the pronunciation of the character's names in the third book of the series.I thought that a bunch of new characters were being introduced to the story, only to realize that the reader was pronouncing V's as W's. Really irritating and contrived! Why not keep the pronunciations as they were in the first two books???

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4 people found this helpful

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

Reader can’t pronounce the names right

The story is good and interesting but the reader is unable to pronounce any of the names properly, and it removes you from the story every time and make you wonder why they would have some one who can’t pronounce the names narrate it

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1 person found this helpful

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

Changed narrator !!!!!!

The change in narrator changes the pace, flow, names, and even the characters them selves! So disappointed with the change! Second narrator does not live up to Robert Glenister !

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1 person found this helpful

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

Best book worst narrator

The dude couldn’t even check the previous book for pronunciation of names drove me insane

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1 person found this helpful

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

Upper class twit narrator

Where did this upper class twit narrator come from? It makes otherwise good book unbearable.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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I see I'm not the only one

I see others have beat me to it in blasting the narrator's pronunciation. I almost stopped listening because of the narrator's inability to pronounce the letter V

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

BAD READER!!!!

Great story but very bad reader. He can’t pronounce any name correctly his voices are bad and why would you switch readers half way through a great series. I returned it becuase of this. Get a new reader and we can listen to this book again. You’ll get more sales.

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

Why?

WHY, WHY, WHY would you change the narrator half way through a series?? The guy can't even pronounce the character names correctly. Very difficult to follow when you are constantly trying to work out who is being referred to. I am struggling to make it through this book. The other 2 were INCREDIBLE. I looked forward to listening on the way to work and back. I will try to return the book. Seems like Audible has become rather petty when it comes to returns now (probably due to abuse) but I am a longstanding customer with well over 100 books in my library...

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

Another fantastic book. Starts slow.

It took me 3 attempts to get through the beginning of this book, after loving the first two in the series.

The combination of the narrator change and slow romance intro was disappointing. But once you get through it, a few hours in, the story picks right back up!!

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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

Amazing story, horrible narrator

I have read this series a couple times and wanted to listen while I drive to work but I’m having a very hard time listening to the Narrator pronounce Servilia is as sirwaleya and Octavian as Achtawiahn the sound quality is sub par too I will make sure to avoid Paul Blake narrations in the future.

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  • Danny
  • 2013-01-09

How To Ruin a Good Story

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Emperor?

The frustration at such appalling narration.

Would you be willing to try another one of Paul Blake’s performances?

Never.

Could you see Emperor being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Its been done.

Any additional comments?

I REALLY enjoyed the first two volumes of this series, narrated by the excellent Robert Glenister. Eagerly, I purchased volume 3, despite some minor concerns about the change of narrator. Quickly it became apparent that I should have listened more carefully to my intuition. I was prepared for the changes in character voices; how could it be otherwise? But it got worse.Blake is enragingly frustrating in his insistence to mispronounce accepted character names. Servilia becomes "Sir Whillia"; Pompey becomes "Pompeii"; Cato becomes "Carto"; Octavian, "Octarwhian" and Catiline becomes "Carterline and then, within the space of a single paragraph, "Carterleenie". Its astounding that Blake has not yet (I haven't managed to get to the end of the story) found bizarre and previously unheard pronunciations of Caesar and Brutus.Here's advice for future consumers who have the choice: listen to and love the first two volumes of this excellent series - thereafter, buy the books.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Colleen S. Wallace
  • 2012-04-10

Great story, annoying read

Would you listen to Emperor again? Why?

Yes, the story is good

What didn’t you like about Paul Blake’s performance?

I HATED the narrator's performance. He has an annoying habit of mispronouncing certain of the character's names; for instance, Octavian becomes Oc-tay-wee-un, Servililia becomes Ser-will-ee-ah, Cicero becomes Kickero. At first I thought he had a lisp until I noticed he could pronounce the V in victory. By his logic, Caesar sould have been pronounced Keeser but he did not pronounce it that way. What gives? It was very jarring and even in the last few minutes of the book I was still fuming at each mispronounciation, wondering why the producer did not correct this in the beginning.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 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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  • Carlyn
  • 2011-12-03

Where's the consistency?

Would you try another book from Conn Iggulden and/or Paul Blake?

I'm a big fan of Conn Iggulden, but this is the second series of his (Genghis Khan is the other) that I've abandoned after a narrator change. Paul Blake may be a great narrator, but the lack of consistency between books 1-2 and 3 (and apparently 4) is unbelievably jarring. Blake, when reading dialogue, is bearable; his overracting during text is unreal.

Would you be willing to try another one of Paul Blake’s performances?

At this point, probably not.

Was Emperor worth the listening time?

The series itself is wonderful, and the first two books were performed very well. I'll just be going paperback for the last two.

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9 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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  • Kristin
  • 2016-07-06

Overacting

Would you try another book from Conn Iggulden and/or Paul Blake?

I will never listen to another book from this narrator

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narration was terrible. It was so distracting. There was so much overacting and emphasis on words that did not need to be emphasized. It sounded like like someone was doing a parody of a Reading. Also he could not pronounce the characters' names properly. It Is Servilia not sewilia and Octavian not Octawian. I stopped listening after an hour because I couldn't take it anymore.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jennifer
  • 2013-01-23

The reader is horrible.

Loved book one and two and the reader. Book threes reader makes me was to go insane.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Nicholas Smith
  • 2015-04-08

Why? Why? Why?

Why?! Why?! Why?? Why does this happen every time in Conn's books? For the first few books there is a speaker who you get used too and like, and then by the third or fourth book the narrator changes! This narrator did a fine job, but he pronounced names differently then the original narrator, and in some cases different then any pronunciation I've ever heard.

This story is excellent (if not exactly historical) and I can't wait to listen to the next one. My only complaint is the changing of narrators.

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5 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jarrod T.
  • 2017-08-19

Narrator terrible

Dear Paul Blake,

You ruined this series for me.

Not Very Respectfully,
Annoyed Reader

P.s. **** you

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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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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Steve
  • 2015-04-11

Awful Performance

What did you like best about EMPEROR: The Field of Swords, Book 3 (Unabridged)? What did you like least?

I enjoyed the continuation of the story from Books 1 and 2, the characters and plot are interesting and captivating. The new Narrator failed to listed the the previous book and came across like a pompous jerk while pronouncing "v" as "w" and many s-sounding "c"s as hard "k" sounds. It was distracting from the entire plot as I had to figure out who he was actually talking about.

How could the performance have been better?

Listen the previous readings so names are pronounced uniformly through the series.

Any additional comments?

I am dreading the performance of Book 4 by the same narrator, but I like the story.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jim
  • 2011-10-09

Great tale and great reader

I'm not sure what all the caterwauling is about Paul Blake as narrator. He's a great actor and his pronunciation, while it may be difficult for some listeners, is technically correct since he pronounces Vs like Ws and Cs like Ks. I agree that a publisher switching from one narrator to another is a bad idea in a series like this. Nonetheless, Paul Blake is very capable and brings these fun, if not historically accurate, tales to life. A 5 star read (listen) all around.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jim
  • 2019-03-10

ridiculous narrator. ruins great story.

the story is captivating but the person reading it on audible manages to make every word grate on my ears. he also pronounced "V" with the "W" sound. for example Octavian was read "octa-wee-an". this was especially terrible because this is the 3rd book in the series so as readers we already know how the characters names should sound. please re-record this book with the same narrator as book 2!

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3 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2022-10-24

Former reader was better

This one sounds presumptuous and quite a bit irritating
The humane feelings are not transmitted at all by this one

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