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Other Kingdoms Audiobook
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(2.03) - 360 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
For over half a century, Richard Matheson has enthralled and terrified readers with such timeless classics as I Am Legend, Somewhere in Time, and What Dreams May Come. Now the grand master returns with a bewitching tale of erotic suspense and enchantment.
The year is 1918. Alex White, a young American soldier recently wounded in the Great War, comes to Gatford to escape his troubled past. The pastoral English village seems the perfect spot to heal his wounded body and soul, but the neighboring woods are said to be haunted by capricious, even malevolent, spirits. He is warned to steer clear of the woods and the perilous faerie kingdom it borders, but Alex cannot help himself. Drawn to its verdant mysteries, he finds love, danger, and wonders that will forever change his view of the world.
Other Kingdoms casts a magical spell, as conjured by a truly legendary storyteller.
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"I'm really not one for books centered on Faeries, but this one was so playfully written that I had to give it five stars. The narrator was delightful. He wrote as an 82 year old man remembering a time when he was 18 and 19. The narrator was a man named Alex White, and he became an author that went by the name Arthur Black. Quite often through the book he'd make comments about what (or, more precisely, how) he'd written, and say how much A. Black would enjoy that line, or how A. Black would be proud of that alliteration. He'd say a word that wasn't quite right and comment about how it wasn't right. It was like reading a very well-crafted draft instead of the final manuscript, but since it really was well-crafted, it was a joy to read. I found the story neat, but the language and presentation easily bumped this up to an excellent overall story. I highly recommend this one."
— Eric (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“A vital, witty, frightening, erotic and, intelligent page-turner about the follies of youth, deeply immersed in an arcane world that lurks beneath the safe, definable surfaces of the everyday.”
— Fangoria -
“Genre veteran Matheson frames this bittersweet blend of fantasy and romantic suspense as the “true” reminiscences of 82-year-old Alex White, the author of such novels as Midnight Blood Thirst and Midnight Flesh Hunger under the name Alex Black...The self-pitying Alex may ramble in telling his straightforward tale, but Matheson remains as ever a competent craftsman.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Matheson himself is a literary faerie of sorts, his trick being his ability to coax off a story’s familiar pathway to take us deep and deeper into his world until we accept what we instinctively reject. Those open to such imaginings couldn’t ask for a better guide.”
— Associated Press -
“There have been several recent collections of Matheson’s short fiction, but his legion of fans will be thrilled that here, finally, is a new full-length novel…Matheson is a veteran genre writer, who published his first novel nearly sixty years ago, and fans will be delighted to see that his abilities have not diminished.”
— Booklist
Other Kingdoms Listener Reviews
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" I like Richard Matheson because his books are very different than what I usually read. He has an ability to draw me into the story. "
— Sarah, 2/20/2014 -
" It had such potential, was really let down. "
— Beverly, 2/18/2014 -
" Absolute crap. Painful to read. Glad it's over. "
— Brian, 2/12/2014 -
" There wasn't anything new about this fairy story, and I reached the end and went "That's it? Really no bigger payoff than this?" There were also some narrative tics that were annoying, probably deliberately so, though I'm not clear to what purpose. It's not actively bad; it's just not good. If you're stuck in a snowbound cabin, and your reading choices are this and *Billy Budd*, I'd recommend this without hesitation. Then again, I'd probably recommend the Code of Federal Regulations rather than *Billy Budd*. "
— Sarah, 2/11/2014 -
" Great story, really glad I picked this one back up. Matheson is a genius, he has the ability to make me believe in anything and everything, even faeries. ;) "
— H3yd00, 2/6/2014 -
" So far this is very interesting but I have only done the first chapter. Marrator Bronson Pinchot is wonderful so far. "
— Char, 1/14/2014 -
" Well, here I go again. It looks like my rating is above average here for his title. No matter. I liked the book. It has a surreal quality that goes very well with the story within. If you can't do the whole fairy/magic thing then you better pass on this one. "
— Kevin, 1/10/2014 -
" This was painful. Obviously Matheson can write, but the plot was ridiculous and non-sensical, and don't even get me started on the narrator's meant-to-be-cute conceit with alliteration. Ugh. "
— Erin, 12/27/2013 -
" I feel like there's more levels to this book than I got into, which may have been part of the point considering the subject is multiple worlds within our own. Other than a few perhaps too intense sex scenes, I found this pretty intriguing. "
— Ed, 12/8/2013 -
" I was expecting something else. But why? This is a horror writer, after all. Definitely made me shiver a few times! I both disliked and enjoyed the 82-year old man's voice in this. He got annoying, but it was also endearing in a grandpa kind of way. "
— Lindsay, 8/18/2013 -
" It was sooooo promising from start until midway... Then all of a sudden, it went to 5th-graders-write-better low. Sayang. Don't bother with this one. "
— Gabriela, 6/18/2013 -
" Meh. I found this rather annoying and pointless. It wasn't terrible, and I managed to slog through, but it was a near thing. Neither erotic, nor enchanting, in my view. "
— Janet, 4/22/2013 -
" I should have been clue-in by the recommendation by Stephen King. This is a dark and at times vulgar story of a man stumbling upon a fairy world. The plot was not particularly engaging or unique and the ending supremely unsatisfying. The best part was the "voice" of the narrator/main character. "
— Ingrid, 12/1/2012 -
" I liked the story, but disliked the way the author kept interjecting his thoughts about what he was writing. It was annoying and distracted me from the story. "
— Ann, 10/23/2012 -
" This book was an absolute waste of my time. I had so much hope for it after reading "I am Legend" but I was very disappointed. "
— Marianne, 4/11/2012 -
" Not sure how this got onto my reading list, but listened to it while traveling. It was okay, but didn't really excite me. "
— Douglas, 2/18/2012 -
" So far this is very interesting but I have only done the first chapter. Marrator Bronson Pinchot is wonderful so far. "
— Char, 2/25/2011
About Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson (1926–2013) was born in New Jersey and started living and working in California in 1951. In addition to novels in the mystery, science fiction, horror, fantasy, and western fields, he wrote many film and television scripts, including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” from The Twilight Zone. He also wrote episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel, Night Gallery, and Star Trek. Several of his novels and stories have been made into movies, including The Shrinking Man, I Am Legend, and What Dreams May Come (starring Robin Williams). Over the course of his career he won the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Bram Stoker Award for Life Achievement, the Hugo Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Golden Spur Award, and the Writer’s Guild Award.
About Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Pinchot, Audible’s Narrator of the Year for 2010, has won Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards, AudioFile Earphones Awards, Audible’s Book of the Year Award, and Audie Awards for several audiobooks, including Matterhorn, Wise Blood, Occupied City, and The Learners. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale, he is an Emmy- and People’s Choice-nominated veteran of movies, television, and Broadway and West End shows. His performance of Malvolio in Twelfth Night was named the highlight of the entire two-year Kennedy Center Shakespeare Festival by the Washington Post. He attended the acting programs at Shakespeare & Company and Circle-in-the-Square, logged in well over 200 episodes of television, starred or costarred in a bouquet of films, plays, musicals, and Shakespeare on Broadway and in London, and developed a passion for Greek revival architecture.