Age of Assassins cover art

Age of Assassins

The Wounded Kingdom, Book 1

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Age of Assassins

By: RJ Barker
Narrated by: Joe Jameson
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Shortlisted for the David Gemmell Awards 2018

Shortlisted for the Kitschie Award 2018

To catch an assassin, use an assassin....

Girton Club-Foot, apprentice to the land's best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But their latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince's murder.

In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies, Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire land.

The Wounded Kingdom trilogy begins with Age of Assassins, continues with Blood of Assassins and will continue with King of Assassins.

2018, Gemmell Morningstar Award for Fantasy Debut, Short-listed

2018, The Kitschies Golden Tentacle, Short-listed

©2017 RJ Barker (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group Classics Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Royalty Assassin Paranormal

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Traitor's Blade cover art

Critic reviews

"Age of Assassins reveals its mysteries with the style of a magic show and the artful grace of a gifted storyteller." (Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld)

"Dead gods, dread magic, and a lead that feels like a breath of fresh air. Great fun." (Peter Newman, author of The Vagrant)

"Outstanding. Beautifully written, perfectly paced and assured. Kept me reading well into the early hours of the morning. A wonderful first book - a wonderful book, period - that should be at the very top of your to-read list." (James Islington, author of The Shadow of what was Lost)
Most relevant  
A very enjoyable first person fantasy novel, that follows a young apprentice assassin. The story describes his background and details his progression in learning his dark trade. The young assassin has to take on a character of his own to fit into royal life whilst trying to solve an assassin plot with the help of his master. It has the unique feel of a detective novel based in a fantasy realm of murder and magic. The book has a nice simple flow which is very easy to follow. The narrator does a good job with the characters and pacing. I look forward to listening and reading more into this world as it is part of a trilogy.

Age of Assassins 4 star

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A quick and easy read! I had a lot of fun with this book. The world is interesting and well done. But what I enjoyed most were the characters, especially Girton and his master. As a little side joke... "my master" must be by far the most used word in this book. ;)
Honestly, if there was one downside to the book than that I would have loved to learn even more about Merela Karn; she was by far the most intriguing character and her and Girton's relationship was the heart of the book. It is so rare to see a great parent/child relationship in a fantasy book and I really enjoyed that. She might "only" be Girton's master and a killer on top, but Merela seems like a great mother to him.
The narrator did an awesome job. Loved his distinct voices for all the characters!

Great characters and an interesting world

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Each character is well rounded, and it is easy to connect with or dislike them.
The story is perfectly paced, so it keeps you gripped and informed constantly.
The narration is really good, and the humour in the book is expressed well with brilliant timing.

Book two here I come.

Awesome story, wonderfully crafted

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this book is very well paced

I'd describe it as a can of worms opening a can of worms

very fun with some great action scenes

Great narration makes the book more entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you consider the audio edition of Age of Assassins to be better than the print version?

Can't say. I've only listened to the Audio, but the story was 5* so I would say they are equal.

What did you like best about this story?

Right up my cobbled street. Medieval setting with a fantastical flare that reveals antlered war mounts and colourful armour; reinforced kilts and good ol' Welsh names! I don't see that enough, and as a history geek (specifically Anglo-Welsh wars), this impressed me muchly.

Have you listened to any of Joe Jameson’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Nope, so N/A

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Murder mystery in a magic-tainted medieval castle.

Any additional comments?

The story had me guessing at suspects throughout. I'd like to claim I'd figured it out early on... or at all, truth be told, but I didn't. I had suspicions about the right sort of people, but I never guessed at reasons, motives, secrets until they were revealed. Bravo, RJ. Bravo.

Damned fine debut!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It is different from the average coming of age fantasy book. The characters are great and the world building is great. Author does a good job of unveiling details bit by bit. Action was sparse but good. It also had a good mystery which kept me guessing until the end. I'd definitely recommend it.

Great Characters and a good mystery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The only way to start off is by saying that this title did not disappoint. The story was fabulous and the cast of characters equally so. It had everything from intrigue, to romance, to shadowy plots and, of course, a bit of school yard bullying from a thoroughly hateful little wastrel of a boy.

Unlike most tales of assassins, or fantasy protagonists in general, our hero isn’t a muscular Adonis making the ladies swoon wherever he goes. Admittedly, he is a very capable killing machine due to the training he has from his master. He’s a cripple with a club-foot. Not the first thing you’d think of when envisioning an assassin skulking in the shadows ready to slit a throat. R. J. Barker does well to remember his character’s limitations and often highlights when his disability is causing him pain or distress. Its little bits of attention to detail like that which bring a welcome touch of realism to a fantasy world.

I won’t delve too much into the story, after all I don’t want to spoil anything. But I will say that the relationships, be they positive, negative or somewhere in-between, are well-formed and the characters all have … well … character to them. None of the named/important characters feel like they were just thrown in.

The world is also pretty detailed. This excites me more than most when it comes to a fantasy novel, as it means the author is fully intent on going deep into his creation. Nothing worse than a series that has little depth to the background.

My only slight negative was that I didn’t think the narrator would gel well for the whole story. Just at the start I kind of felt his voice wouldn’t fit. Thankfully, I was wrong and he settled down really well into it and did the varying cast of characters justice with his narration. Either that or I got used to him so quickly that it didn’t bother me (which would be a plus in itself).

Great start to what should be a great series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I must admit my heart fell when I realised that a chunk of this book was about our hero, Girton, being trained in combat school. I am heartily sick of fantasy novels that are based on a boy (sometimes a girl) who doesn't realise they are very gifted/magical/secretly royal attending a school to learn fighting/magical arts etc.But this one turned out to be rather better than most. I really enjoyed the character of Girton's 'Master' and the setting was good. As often the case, the baddies were a bit one-dimensional. But it's a good romp and I will probably listen to the next book. I think the narration by Joe Jameson helps to lift the quality somewhat.

Not so bad for a boy with a club foot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
one of the best books of the year for me. thank you highly recommend it.

just amazing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a story. It may be fantasy, but it weaves in political intrigue and murder mystery just as easily. I was totally hooked from the beginning. It never let up, You wanted to know how this was going to end, so much so I wanted to speed up the narration (although didn't).

Joe Jameson does a fantastic job of bringing each character to life with their own voice and inflections. It was so good, even when I switched to Kindle version I did so hearing his voice. I cannot tell you what his actual voice sounds like he switched between roles so well.

I cannot wait to read books two and three.

Outstanding

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