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The Golden Shrine by Harry Turtledove
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The Golden Shrine

A Tale of War at the Dawn of Time

$23.09

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Narrator William Dufris

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Length 13 hours 55 minutes
Language English
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The glaciers came and covered the world with ice. Now they are in retreat. North of the city of Nidaros, north of the forest, north of the steppes where the nomadic Bizogots hunt, a gap has opened in the ice-wall. And down through that gap come the men who call themselves "Rulers."



Their terrifying cavalry rides wooly mammoths. Their bows can shoot arrows farther than those of the southerners. Their wizards wield power that neither the shamans of the Bizogots nor the wizards of Raumsdalian Empire can match—a magic that can melt the stone beneath a man's feet, call down blasting fire from the sky, or decimate a tribe with plagues that have no cure. Scattered survivors of the Bizogot tribes hide from the Rulers. The Empire is shattered. The feckless Emperor Sigvat II is in hiding.



Against the Rulers stands Count Hamnet Thyssen and his small band of friends: Jarl Trasamund of the Three Tusk Bizogots; the adventurer Ulric Skakki; and, most important, Marcovefa, the female shaman of a cannibal tribe that lives atop the Glacier itself. Marcovefa has magic that the Rulers cannot counter.



But there are many Rulers, and they have many wizards. Marcovefa is but one.



Perhaps Hamnet and his allies can save their lands from the Rulers. But first they must seek out the legendary Golden Shrine—and the Golden Shrine has not been seen by human eyes since the time before the glaciers came.

Harry Turtledove (he/him) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer whom Publishers Weekly has called the "Master of Alternate History." He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Hugo Award for Best Novella, the HOMer Award for Short story, and the John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction. Turtledove's works include the Crosstime Traffic, Worldwar, Darkness, and Opening of the World series; the stand-alone novels The House of Daniel, Fort Pillow, and Give Me Back My Legions!; and over a dozen short stories available on Tor.com. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Laura Frankos, and their four daughters.

William Dufris began his audio career doing radio plays, audiobooks, film/animation dubbing, and language tapes in London, where he lived for thirteen years. While there, he had the honor of sharing the microphone in a number of BBC Radio plays with Kathleen Turner, Sharon Gless, Stockard Channing, and Helena Bonham-Carter. These experiences led him to cofound two audio production companies: The Story Circle Ltd. and Mind's Eye Productions. He has also acted on stage and television in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. William is the original voice of Bob (and Farmer Pickles/Mr. Beasley/Mr. Sabatini) in the popular children's show Bob the Builder for the United States and Canada (Series 1-9). He produces, directs, acts and engineers for his audio theatre company, Rocky Coast Radio Theatre. He has been nominated nine times as a finalist for the APA's prestigious Audie Award and has garnered twenty-one Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, which also named him one of the Best Voices at the End of the Century, as well as one of the Best Voices of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

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Shop the sale

In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!

Shop now
Celebrate indie bookstores with our limited-time sale! Shop the sale