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The First Kingdom
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
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The First Kingdom
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Summary
The best-selling author of The King in the North turns his attention to the obscure era of British history known as 'the age of Arthur'.
Somewhere in the dim void between the departure from Britain of the Roman legions at the start of the fifth century and the days of the venerable Bede, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what?
Max Adams scrutinises the narrative handed down to us by later historians and chronicles, stripping away the most lurid nonsense about Arthur and synthesising the research of the last 40 years to tease out strands of reality from myth.
His central theme evolves from an apparently simple question: how, after the end of the Roman state, were people taxed? Rejecting ethnic and nationalist explanations for the emergence of the Early Medieval kingdoms, Adams shows how careful use of a wide range of perspectives, from anthropology to geography, can deliver a picture of the emergence of distinct polities in the sixth century that survive long enough to be embedded in the medieval landscape, recorded in the lines of river, road and watershed and in place names.
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What listeners say about The First Kingdom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- KittyA
- 24-09-21
Probably a good book, but poor narration.
I wish I'd bought this as a book to read. Five chapters in and I'm struggling with the narration which is monotonous, robotic, and lacks fluency. Not sure if I'll be able to finish.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- rhusio
- 09-01-23
Terrible narration
As other reviewers have said, the narration is like C3PO but WORSE. Interesting book, though.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elsa
- 09-03-21
Excellent book but not an easy listen
Excellent book but very robotic reader unfortunately. At times this made this interesting book difficult to listen to.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Benjamin
- 25-07-21
Great book, terrible narration
Always love Max Adams books. As a professional archaeologist, his books are still a surprising and educational synthesis for me. I would recommend reading any of his books, especially this one, however this is the first I have got as an audiobook and this narrator is awful. I was under the impression that narrators were voice artists, but this person can't act, can't add the right emphasis and speaks with a flat nasal tone throughout. I'm not sure what the word is for the opposite of gravitas, but this is it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David Glyn Lewis
- 05-10-21
Pronunciation
Great book ruined by the terrible narrator. No research whatsoever into how to pronounce current Gaelic/Welsh words, let alone OE words. Disappointed.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Don't leave your toaster in the rain
- 19-06-21
Pronunciation of modern Welsh placenames weak
I'm a native but not a Welsh speaker and found this hard to follow. I wonder if the Latin and Gaelic were as bad?
Loved the text. The last chapter could have been more gripping
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-02-21
Academic and accessible... oh, and enjoyable.
Max Adams strikes a perfect balance between the academic and the accessible in The First Kingdom: Britain in the Age of Arthur. I am perennially peeved when books about Britain turn out to be clearly – in your face - books about England, written by chaps for chaps. The First Kingdom is not like that. Max Adams uses the evidence that is, not what he would have liked the evidence to be, and so, what we get is clarity and reality - brilliantly written. Just don’t expect an historical Arthur. He is in the title because every post-Roman-Britain history book has to have Arthur in the title. This detracts from a reading of the title but not from a reading of the book. The narration by Kris Dyer is precise and engaging. The First Kingdom - highly recommended. Adam Ardrey
PS One thing only – Constantine, “tyrant whelp of the filthy lioness,” was from Damnonia, Scotland, not from Dumnonia, England. The Latin says Damnonia. This was “translated”, or, rather, 'changed' to Dumnonia in the English. Arthurian Sources. vol. 7, Ed. John Morris. This sets Arthur, not in Scotland, in England. No big deal - Even Homer...
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Deb C
- 13-03-24
very interesting.
somewhat spoilt by the narrators seeming to get tongue-tied over names and place names. annoying
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Man-O-War1977
- 24-02-21
Awful narration
I was really looking forward to this but the narrator makes an already dry subject unendurable
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Pedro
- 18-12-22
no sense of a clear storyline.
Spent the entire book waiting for it to become really gripping, which in the end did not happen. Narration is too forced, stiff, and completely unlike normal speech.
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