City of Bones cover art

City of Bones

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

City of Bones

By: Martha Wells
Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.69

Buy Now for £17.69

About this listen

Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working on the edge of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors and to support Sagai's family. When Khat is hired to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients' arcane engines, they are both reluctant to become involved. But the request comes from the Warders, powerful mages who serve Charisat's Elector.

Khat soon discovers that the deadly politics of Charisat's upper tiers aren't the only danger. The relics the Warders want are the key to an Ancient magic of unknown power, and, as all the inhabitants of Charisat know, no one understands the Ancients' magic.

©1995 Martha Wells (P)2013 Tantor Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Magic

Critic reviews

"This finely crafted novel expertly combines several genres-SF, fantasy, horror-and, perhaps most impressive of all, even manages to avoid an overly sentimental ending." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)
All stars
Most relevant
... that were to come."

A long ago apocalypse led to the formation of a multi layered society where social class dominated: literally, the tiers in which people live reflecting their status and wealth. At the top, wealth, comfort, power and water, at the bottom a constant struggle to survive. And working through the levels the two main protagonists, Elen, a young female patrician coming into her powers as a Master, and Khat, not quite human, who,, with a partner, made his living locating and trading old relics and artefacts. Fascinating world building brings the surroundings colourfully alive as the story moves forward: no.long descriptions, the surroundings just appear effortlessly: cleverly done.
Narration is by Kyle McCarley, quite a pleasant voice and well delivered, if a little slow but easily improved by simply speeding up the playback by one or two points. However, the excellent ending was tarnished by his failure to leave even the slightest of gaps between the concluding sentence and the final credits.. Such a pity

"Man was given magic to repel the changes ...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The world-building is phenomenal and I had to pay attention because Ms. Wells absolutely refused to do information dumps and was not repeating herself. Such a big plus and yes, ma’am! The pacing was strong and mystery was genuinely gripping and I loved everything about Khat and his alien self!! The narration was stellar, which was a blessed relief as I have never listened to Kyle McCarley before?!? His characterisation of Khat was very appealing but I absolutely adored his accent and deep timbre for Constantin. In case this helps, the story here is superior to Death of a Necromancer, the plot is way better than Murderbot Diaries and though the world built in Raksura is just a touch more imaginative, it is the characters and the conflict in City of Bones that make it my favourite Martha Wells re-read.

Convinces in Every Way That Matters!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Audiobook narrated by Kyle McCarley
Khat is a krisman, one of a race of engineered humanoids built to survive in the Waste. Separated from his people, by choice, he’s considered less than human by most people, except for his (human) partner, Sagai and Sagai’s family. Khat and Sagai survive by hunting and trading relics (potentially magical) of a previous civilisation. Though wary, Khat is tempted to join an expedition to the Waste organised by the Warders, mages who serve the Elector of Charisat. Khat and Elen, a minor Warder, are the only survivors of that expedition and both get caught up in a deadly game of upper-class politics. Though this is a solidly written, second-world fantasy, it’s not easily comparable with Wells’ brilliant Murderbot books. It’s complex and twisty, but the narration is a bit stodgy.

OK

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Totally worth a listen! It is very cool to see the seeds of future stories in this early book

Very early book of the great author

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was one of the first Martha Wells books I read, and it remains one of my favourites. It is a standalone novel with a world and a set of characters that don't reappear in any of her other books, but Khat is the same type of protagonist as Moon, or Nicholas Valisarde, or, indeed, Murderbot. I like the way Wells writes outsiders who are not too concerned with trying to fit into societies that look down on them, while still being interesting, likeable, and passionate about things that are important to them. And I like the way she allows them to find friends who are prepared to risk something to save them, when they don't believe they are worth saving.

The city of Charisat is a great setting, and the mythology we get glimpses of is really rather cool.

The narrator does a good job of representing the different characters.

A favourite

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews