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The First Kingdom

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The First Kingdom

By: Max Adams
Narrated by: Kris Dyer
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About this listen

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.

©2021 Max Adams (P)2021 W F Howes Europe Great Britain Middle Ages Royalty Imperialism

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All stars
Most relevant  
A great account of detail if everyday life in the Anglo Saxon period that you don't get in most history books and neatly linked with archeological finds

It's a shame that the narrator is robotic and monotonous. No passion and treats like he's just resting from a long script without engaging with the content.
Also the volume is very low.

Great information. Poor narrator

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This was an excellent book, well researched, laid out and presented. I just didn't get on with the tone of the narration.

Great content, not a fan of the narrator.

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As other reviewers have said, the narration is like C3PO but WORSE. Interesting book, though.

Terrible narration

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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.

Probably a good book, but poor narration.

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In contrast to others on this site I did not find the performance monotonous. It was fine.

Not monotonous

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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.

Great book, terrible narration

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Great book ruined by the terrible narrator. No research whatsoever into how to pronounce current Gaelic/Welsh words, let alone OE words. Disappointed.

Pronunciation

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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

Pronunciation of modern Welsh placenames weak

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Excellent book but very robotic reader unfortunately. At times this made this interesting book difficult to listen to.

Excellent book but not an easy listen

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Sounds like an AI version of sound. Very dry. This is not a storyteller. Sounds clipped and unreal

Bad audio

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