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The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories

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The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories

By: Rudyard Kipling
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

In a remote part of 19th-century Afghanistan, two British adventurers pursue their ambition to rule an empire. Using betrayal, threats, and guns, they win the respect of a primitive tribe and become worshipped as gods until one day they draw blood, and the game is up. "The Man Who Would Be King" is an action-packed tale about the pitfalls of colonialism and the temptations and evils of power. This volume also includes the stories "The Phantom Rickshaw", "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes", "The Mark of the Beast" and many more.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks Action & Adventure Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories British Fiction

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All stars
Most relevant
Rudyard Kipling's brilliantly told stories of another place and time, not so long ago brought to life by the superb narration of Sean Barrett.
I know I will come back to these again.

Life as it was live in another era somewhere else.

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These were familiar stories, cleverly written and in this format read superbly by Sean Barrett. His voice suited the tales, and he clearly understood Kipling's written words and intentions.
The readings are a joy but I dropped one star for the awkwardness with the PDF. It should surely be possible to align stories with chapters and name them in the chapter listings. But that is a minor flaw in a wonderful performance.

Superb reading

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A fantastic selection of atmospheric stories (listed below) by Kipling, evocatively read by Sean Barrett with great delineation of tone, voice etc. Quite a few of these stories have a supernatural bent, and I think Kipling achieves appropriate atmospheres very effectively. Others are more straightforward, but all show his perception, humanity, and fascination with and fondness for India and its peoples.

- The Man Who Would Be King
- The Phantom Rickshaw
- My Own True Ghost Story
- The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes
- The Mark of the Beast
- Without Benefit of Clergy
- The Sending of Dana Da
- Wee Willie Winkie
- On The City Wall
- The Education of Otis Yeere
- The Judgement of Dungara
- Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Great selection of stories

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This is a very good selection of Kiplings short stories as expected some are better than others but I would say all are enjoyable and listenable.

The stories are obviously of their time and must be considered through the lense of history and empire in which they are steeped. However Kiplings clear sensibility and understanding of India and Empire are evident throughout and make for very interesting listening.

Very good narration with some good accents however the attempt at a Germany missionary was a bit odd!

Brilliant collection of short stories

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I really enjoyed both the stories and the performance. The delivery of "black sheep" had my heart broken

Loved every minute of it.

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