The King's Hounds

The King's Hounds

By: Martin Jensen, Tara F. Chace - translator

Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan

The year is 1018 and the war with England is finally over, but the unified kingdom ruled by Cnut of Denmark is far from peaceful. Halfdan has lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, now he wanders the country aimlessly powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a bookish former monk, the two set out together for Oxford, the seat of the new king. The pair's arrival in court coincides with news of a murder, and Cnut has an idea only a king could get away with: Why not enlist Halfdan and Winston - the Danish womanizer and the upright Saxon intellectual - to defuse a politically explosive situation? They're given just two days to solve the murder and they set off to uncover the truth, on the order of the king and with the reluctant assistance of the agitated townspeople.

©2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.; 2013 Martin Jensen

Excellent narration and history, slow storyline

I agree with another reviewer who suggested changing the narration speed to 1.25. Mr. Ryan embodies his characters well, but needs a bit of caffeine.
I enjoyed the history and the setting. Mr. Jensen captures the 5 senses as he describes the food, the people, and the smells of the time period. I felt transported to another place in history. The story itself started well, but began to lag about halfway through and never picked back up again.

Suspense. Mystery. Humor. History.

What is not to like? It is an interesting and entertaining view of the time period.

adequate mystery, so-so narration, meh translation

This historical mystery novel had a lot of good things going for it. It was definitely well researched. It's not a time period where there are a lot of other comparable books, so it doesn't seem cliche. The characters are sufficiently interesting. Winston's deductive skills are nicely offset by Halfdan's brutish lack of subtlety. I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to spend a credit on the next book in the series, but if it were to go on sale, I'd definitely pick it up.

As many others have pointed out, the narrator is a bit annoying. He's not the worst I've ever heard and he doesn't stumble over the old Saxon or Danish names, so that's a plus. What I was far more annoyed by was the iffy translation. For a book into which the author had obviously poured quite a lot of research, the translation frequently disrupted the sense of period, at least for me. They ought to have someone with some background in history at least edit the translation before it was given the go-ahead. For example, words like "backpack" do not ring true to the early medieval time period. When I hear that, it makes me stop thinking about the story. If they had simply used "satchel" then there would not have been that jarring sense of anachronism to break the flow. "Gold-digger" and "boyfriend" are the others which spring immediately to mind as examples of the translation failing to capture the essence of the period.

Long review short: could have been translated better, but overall enjoyable story.

Well written

Kept my interest enjoyed the period - a few twists and turns worth listening to

Captivating, I was enslaved by this.

I don't know why, but I couldn't stop listening. Good thing I'm retired and quarantined.