Acacia--Book One--The War with the Mein

Written by noted historical fiction author David Anthony Durham (PRIDE OF CARTHAGE), this epic fantasy is rich with cultural detail. Against the backdrop of an imaginary world, the author explores the things that divide humanity, like race, language, culture, and religion. The story contains assassins and kings and children who grow up trying to make sense of it all. Dick Hill turns in a magnificent performance of this long novel, creating subtle yet distinct differences in the dialects of different peoples. The fluidity with which he is able to switch between these dialects is striking, and a perfectly timed sigh or pause further heightens the believability of the characters. S.D.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 2, 2007
In this sprawling and vividly imagined fantasy, historical novelist Durham (Pride of Carthage
) chronicles the downfall and reinvention of the Akaran Dynasty, whose empire, called Acacia, was built on conquest, slaving and drug trade. The Acacian empire, encompassing "The Known World," is hated by its subjugated peoples, especially the Mein, who 22 generations earlier were exiled to the icy northland. Having sent an assassin to kill the Acacian king, Leodan, the rebel chieftain, Hanish Mein, declares war on the empire. As Acacia falls, Leodan's treasonous but conflicted chancellor, Thaddeus Clegg, spirits the king's four children to safety. When the Mein's rule proves even more tyrannical than the old, the former chancellor seeks to reunite the now adult Akaran heirs—the oldest son Aliver (once heir to the throne), the beautiful elder daughter Corinn, their younger sister, Mena, and youngest brother, Dariel—to lead a war to regain the empire. Durham has created a richly detailed alternate reality leavened with a dollop of magic and populated by complicated personalities grappling with issues of freedom and oppression.