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The King's Justice

Written by: Stephen R. Donaldson
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Kevin Orton
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Publisher's Summary

Two new, original novellas - Donaldson's first publication since finishing the Thomas Covenant series - are a sure cause for celebration among his many fans.

In The King's Justice, a stranger dressed in black arrives in the village of Settle's Crossways, following the scent of a terrible crime. He even calls himself "Black", though almost certainly that is not his name. The people of the village discover that they have a surprising urge to cooperate with this stranger, though the desire of inhabitants of quiet villages to cooperate with strangers is not common in their land, or most lands. But this gift will not save him as he discovers the nature of the evil concealed in Settle's Crossways.

The Augur's Gambit is a daring plan created by Mayhew Gordian, hieronomer to the queen of Indemnie, a plan to save his queen and his country. Gordian is a reader of entrails. In the bodies of chickens, lambs, piglets, and one stillborn infant he sees the same message: The island nation of Indemnie is doomed. But even in the face of certain destruction a man may fight, and the Hieronomer is utterly loyal to his beautiful queen - and to her only daughter. The Augur's Gambit is his mad attempt to save a kingdom.

©2015 Stephen R. Donaldson (P)2015 Recorded Books

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Wonderful world-building

The first novella's setting is designed in a fairly minimalist way. The kingdom and its king are not named, but this serves to emphasize some quasi-religious mystique about the latter. This is connected to how the story's magic works. The underlying premise of the story is fairly basic: a child is murdered in what turns out to be a part of a ritual with what is planned to have catastrophic results for the realm. The narrative is highly introspective, which slows the pacing somewhat, but it also serves to provide great insight into motivations and reasoning.

The second novella is even slower paced, though part of this is due to the style of narrative. Again, it is very introspective, but the language used is verbose and seems to mimic the narrative style of several decades past. It is a far more politically-oriented tale (as in the setting's politics), light on action and very heavy on information and dialogue.

Scott Brick does a wonderful job, as always, narrating the first novella. Kevin Orton's reading of the second seemed stilted and wooden, but on reflection that is rather in keeping with the manner of the protagonist-narrator.

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