Length2h 58m
About this audiobook
This is a legend, and a legend is not a report. It was never written first. It was said, in the dark, by people who could see more stars than we can, to people who were frightened of them, and it was said in order to make the sky a household rather than a void.
What follows is given in nine books, as the reciters gave it, each book being one night’s telling. The reciters held that no one should hear the whole of it in a single season, and that a hearer who demanded it all at once had already failed the first lesson, which is that nothing worth carrying arrives quickly.
Names are given in the First Speech where the First Speech survives, and in translation where it does not. Where the two disagree, both are set down. The reciters were not embarrassed by disagreement. They held that a thing told the same way twice has already begun to die.
Audiobook details
GenreScience Fiction, General Fiction
Length2 hrs 58 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 12, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1ON THE TELLING
2BOOK ONE: THE UNLIT
3i. Of That Which Was Before Anything Agreed to Be
4ii. Of KHAL, Who Said This Far
5iii. Of TEMU, the Ache
Show all chaptersShow less
6iv. Of the Opening
7v. Of the FIRST MILK, Which Is Given Once
8vi. Of the Long Thinning
9vii. Of the Gathering of ANNUMARA
10viii. Of the Taking of Her Shape
11ix. Of the Confinement
12x. Of the One Who Is Carried
13xi. Of the First Drinkers
14xii. Of the Need for a Mind
15BOOK TWO: THE CROWNING OF THE SUPREME EMPRESS
16i. Her Name
17ii. What She Is
18iii. Of Her Crowning
19iv. Of the Crown
20v. Of the Throne, Which Is a Bed
21vi. Of the Empire and Its Borders
22vii. Of Her Powers, Which Are Four and Are Disappointing
23viii. Of Her Silence
24ix. Of the Regalia
25x. Of Her Appearance
26xi. Of the Empress and the Hearer
27BOOK THREE: THE NINE MADONNAS
28i. On What They Are
29ii. LILASH, the Madonna of Babylon
30iii. SELU, the Madonna in the Moon
31iv. KHALIRA, the Madonna of the Ice Wall
32v. ORRASH, the Madonna of Mayhem
33vi. PYRAMAH, the Burning Madonna
34vii. RUHANNA, the Holy Madonna Ghost
35viii. VELARIS, the Smiling Madonna
36ix. MIRIT, the Madonna of Dust
37x. ANOD DAM, the Reversed Madonna
38xi. The Chant of the Nine
39BOOK FOUR: THE COURT OF THE LONG HOUR
40i. Why There Is a Court at All
41ii. The First Order: THE SILENCERS
42iii. The Second Order: THE COUNTERS
43iv. The Third Order: THE WEIGHERS
44v. The Fourth Order: THE REMEMBRANCERS
45vi. The Fifth Order: THE DOORKEEPERS
46vii. The Sixth Order: THE FINDERS
47viii. The Seventh Order: THE MILK-WARDENS
48ix. The Handmaidens: TASHEL and MURRA
49x. The Grandmothers
50xi. The Protocols of the Long Hour
The Fat Cats of EdenGemini Cool3h 17mFree
A NARRATIVE OF ARRIVALGemini Cool11h 43m$19.99
Gemini Cool's ALIENFINGER: Volumes Four and Five, Complete EditionGemini Cool5h 13m$9.99 · $0.00
The CountGemini Cool2h 41m$14.99 · $0.00
The RoofGemini Cool10h 35m$19.99
AttendanceGemini Cool2h 13m5.0 (1)Free
The Cloudragon SpaceforceGemini Cool1h 11m5.0 (1)$4.99 · $0.00
The Architect of ReturningGemini Cool2h 54m5.0 (1)$9.99
The Unwalling: A Complete Legendarium in Four VolumesGemini Cool6h 24m5.0 (1)$9.99 · $0.00
ALIENFINGER: Wordshorts for Story, Volume Three — I Wrote It DownGemini Cool6h 2m5.0 (1)$9.99 · $0.00
ALIENFINGER, Volume TwoGemini Cool8h 23m5.0 (1)$9.99 · $0.00
DEATH: WATER & WIND — Musak Without TaresGemini Cool1h 35m$2.99 · $0.00
The Slow Vanishing of MichaelGemini Cool5h 33m5.0 (1)$2.99 · $0.00
FOUR STORIES: PORTALSGemini Cool2h 49m$2.99 · $0.00
THE KISSING COSMOLOGIES-CORRECTED REVISION EDITIONGemini Cool8h 27m$9.99
The Sphere Cosmology: A Complete ArchiveGemini Cool8h 22m Only with Ultra
THE EIGHTH DAY BIBLEGemini Cool16h 23mFree
The Forbidden Archives of the Three SunsGemini Cool6h 9mFree
THE THIN HOURGemini Cool45mFree
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book SetToshikazu Kawaguchi18h 55m4.5 (1.4K)$40 · $0.00
PRIMAL 2055 - EscapeJack Silkstone6h 47m4.4 (232)Free
The War of The Worlds (A Sci-Fi Classic)H. G. Wells8h 15m4.5 (11.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
GenesisRick Partlow10h 50m4.5 (2.2K)$20 · $0.00
The Galaxy, and the Ground WithinBecky Chambers9h 56m4.5 (55.2K)$29 · $0.00
TimelessR. A. Salvatore12h 30m4.5 (8K)$33 · $0.00
Thud!Terry Pratchett12h 29m4.4 (108.4K)$8 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesLucy Maud Montgomery10h 54m4.4 (1.3M)$12 · $0.00
Science Fiction & Fantasy CollectionH. P. Lovecraft16h 32m4.5 (2.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Twilight Zone Companion, Second EditionMarc Scott Zicree16h 46m4.5 (1.8K)$28 · $0.00
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (Annotated)H. Beam Piper8h 23m4.5 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
Philip K. Dick: SF Boxed SetPhilip K. Dick29h 38m4.5 (608)$1 · $0.00
Magician's EndRaymond E. Feist17h 5m4.4 (21.7K)$40 · $0.00
Good OmensNeil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett12h 14m4.4 (1M)$29 · $0.00
The Emperor's FistJay Allan8h 37m4.5 (272)$26 · $0.00
The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin13h 26m4.4 (189.3K)$33 · $0.00
1984George Orwell11h 31m4.3 (6.2M)$1.20 · $0.00
Lost ValleyWalt Browning7h 47m4.3 (5.4K)$20 · $0.00
AgincourtBernard Cornwell16h 18m4.3 (41.4K)$40 · $0.00
Frankenstein (The Uncensored 1818 Edition) (Annotated)Mary Shelley9h 25m4.3 (1.7M)$3 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
War LordBernard Cornwell13h 21m4.6 (33.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
Something Like LoveBeverly Jenkins10h 21m4.6 (2.7K)$29 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
ShivajiRanjit Desai25h 13m4.6 (3.1K)$24 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
You may also like
The Night Before Christmas (Illustrated Edition)Clement Clarke Moore1h 38m4.5 (155.7K)$1.99 · $0.00
Ages of ManWilliam Shakespeare1h 18m4.4 (1.4K)$16 · $0.00
A Pizza The Size of The SunJack Prelutsky57m4.3 (3.2K)$11 · $0.00
The Blue EquinoxAleister Crowley10h 22m4.3 (434)$1.99 · $0.00
The Night Before Christmas (Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)Clement Clarke Moore1h 47m4.7 (1.5K)$1.99 · $0.00
One Thousand and One Nights (Complete Annotated Edition) (Annotated)Richard Francis Burton254h 44m4.5 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Grand Grimoire with the Great Clavicle of SolomonUnknown Unknown1h 26m4.2 (628)$3.50 · $0.00
The King of Elfland's Daughter (Summarized Edition)Lord Dunsany3h 41m$2
Lauren Semmer’s The Night Before ChristmasClement C. Moore6m$4 · $0.00
Classic Ballads: 4 Timeless Books of Traditional SongsWilliam Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, John Fletcher, Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Cowper, Robert Burns, William Makepeace Thackeray, Thomas Moore, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, James Hogg, William Blake, John Keats, Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson21h$1.99 · $0.00
Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic SourcesK. J. Erben, Bozena Nemcova, A. H. Skultety, P. Dobshinsky, B. M. Kulda, J. Rimavski, M. Krachmanov Valjavets, J. F. Jukih, Konstantin Pavlof, Vuk St. Karadsich, A. Afanasief, P. A. Lavrovski, P. Kulish, K. W. Wóycicki10h 45m4.1 (28)$1 · $0.00
Little People: An AlphabetT. W. H. Crosland12m$2 · $0.00
The Songs of Ranild (Annotated)George Borrow57m$1.99 · $0.00
The Big Book of Christmas Magic: 400+ Holiday Novels, Tales, Poems, Carols & LegendsSelma Lagerlöf, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Martin Luther, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Max Brand, William Wordsworth, Carolyn Wells, Sophie May, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Van Dyke, Walter Scott, Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick, Anthony Trollope, Rudyard Kipling, Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson, Lucas Malet, Thomas Nelson Page, O. Henry, Alice Hale Burnett, Walter Crane, Amy Ella Blanchard, Amanda M. Douglas, Ernest Ingersoll, L. Frank Baum, J. M. Barrie, Eleanor H. Porter, Annie F. Johnston, Jacob A. Riis, Edward A. Rand, Florence L. Barclay, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Hans Christian Andersen, William Butler Yeats, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alfred Lord Tennyson, George Macdonald, A. S. Boyd, Juliana Horatia Ewing, Brothers Grimm, Clement Moore444h 39m4.4 (11)$2 · $0.00
Stories to Tell ChildrenSara Cone Bryant5h 55m3.7 (20)$2 · $0.00
The Story of Venus and TannhäuserAubrey Beardsley2h 19m3.4 (218)$2 · $0.00
King WinterAnonymous8m4.0 (35)$2 · $0.00
The Sacred Books of ThelemaAleister Crowley, S. L. MacGregor Mathers, Mary d'Este Sturges3h 58m4.6 (233)$1.99 · $0.00
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque Vol. 2Edgar Allan Poe5h 54m4.3 (202)$1 · $0.00
Leadwork, Old and Ornamental and for the most part EnglishW. R. Lethaby2h 18m$2 · $0.00