The Tower of Fools cover art

The Tower of Fools

From the bestselling author of THE WITCHER series comes a new fantasy

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Tower of Fools

By: Andrzej Sapkowski, David French - translator
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £18.89

Buy Now for £18.89

About this listen

 A BRAND NEW TRILOGY from the author of the legendary WITCHER series, set during the vibrantly depicted Hussite wars.

Reinmar of Bielau, called Reynevan, flees after being caught in an affair with a knight's wife.

With strange, mystical forces gathering in the shadows and pursued not only by the Stercza brothers bent on vengeance, but also by the Holy Inquisition, Reynevan finds himself in the Narrenturm, the Tower of Fools, a medieval asylum for the mad, or for those who dare to think differently and challenge the prevailing order.

The 'patients' of this institution form an incomparable gallery of colourful types: including, among others, the young Copernicus, proclaiming the truth of the heliocentric solar system.

This is the first in an epic new series from the phenomenon, ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI, author of the WITCHER books

Praise for Andrzej Sapkowski:

'Like Mieville and Gaiman, Sapkowski takes the old and makes it new' FOUNDATION

'Like a complicated magic spell, a Sapkowski novel is a hodge podge of fantasy, intellectual discourse and dry humour. Recommended' TIME Action & Adventure Fantasy Fiction Historical Middle Ages War

Critic reviews

Sapkowski's love for the period is clear as he touches on notorious historical events and figures, including the Defenestration of Prague and printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg. The carefully painted landscapes and intricate politics, meanwhile, effortlessly draw readers into Reinmar's life and times. This is historical fantasy done right
A ripping yarn delivered with world-weary wit, bursting at the seams with sex, death, magic and madness
A well-crafted mix of historical fiction and fantasy with engaging characters, a tight plot and a unique setting
A bloody but satisfying picaresque
All stars
Most relevant
It took a while to get into the story and the amount of names involved was overwhelming. But by the third chapter I really started to enjoy the book and by the end I loved it. The narrator really is so good.

So many names

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic characters, travel from one absurd adventure to another through a cruel and violent world. A Qioxtic main character whose virtue and foolishness, and perhaps the hand of fate, leads him from disaster to disaster learning little bit experiencing much.

Peter Kenny is a joy to listen to and brings it all to life. I hadn't been sure about this book before listening to it but think it is at least as good as the Witcher books whilst being refreshingly different.

Glorious Picaresque Fantasy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I finished this book but found it hard to get into. It seemed like the same characters were just roaming around in circles meeting the same people, with secrets but never finding out what they were. It was a very long story, with too many names of characters you never found out much about.
I am a fan of the Witcher series but found this book really wanting. I can see the author has a wealth of knowledge that he is bursting to impart but it’s a bit infuriating at times here.

It’s just ok

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The only good thing I loved about the book is the fabulous voice of Peter Kenny.

I find it hard to believe Sapkowski wrote this novel. This story is filled with unlikeable characters involved in a story that is so uninteresting, convoluted and hard to follow, it was a chore to listen to it. I just didn't care what happened to any of the characters.

I did finish it because it was Sapkowski and kept assuming it would improve (and I waited a long time to write this review because I am such a fan of the writer).

Disappointing (Apart from Peter Kenny's Voice)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I nearly quit this after a couple of hours. It is fundamentally a bit silly and the array of strange sounding names, titles and geographical names is bizarre and utterly confusing. On balance I take the blame - it's not the author's fault that I am ignorant of the geography and history of the region and couldn't be bothered to look at a map (at one point he actually recommends the reader does this and in hindsight I would keep recommend keeping one to hand from start to finish, and maybe even jot down a few names).

I decided early on that I wouldn't continue with the sequel but by the end I was hooked and now look forward to it. It is worth listening to just for Peter Kenny. If you know the Culture series you will probably already love his performances but this is beyond anything I have heard.

Worth listening just for the amazing performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews