Prince of Fools

Prince Jalan Kendeth, tenth in line for the Red Queen's throne and devoted to avoiding any responsibility that might interfere with drinking, gambling, and seduction, has no interest in the rumors of an undead army or his grandmother's long war. Then circumstances bind him magically to a Norse warrior named Snorri, and the two are pulled across the Broken Empire on a quest that gradually forces Jalan to reckon with who he actually is beneath the cowardice he performs so convincingly.

Tim Gerard Reynolds brings enormous energy and range to the dual perspective of Jalan's self-aware unreliability and Snorri's straightforward Viking gravity. The comic interplay between the two voices is one of the audiobook's central pleasures, and Reynolds commits fully to both ends of the tonal spectrum. At nearly fifteen hours, Prince of Fools is the kind of fantasy audiobook that listeners finish and immediately want to continue in the series.