The Beginning: Audiobook
Book 1 of the Dark Paladin series
According to The Books Insider's catalog data, The Beginning runs 17.3 hours as an unabridged audiobook, narrated by Kevin Kraft (about 11.6 hours at 1.5× playback speed).
The instrument When will you finish it?
Based on 17.3 hours of listening.
| Your pace | You'll finish in |
|---|---|
| 30 min / day | 35 days |
| 1 hour / day | 18 days |
| 2 hours / day | 9 days |
| 1 hour / day at 1.5× | 12 days |
You'll finish in – by –
Part of The Audiobook Finish-Time Calculator: the same instrument for any audiobook we measure.
What our data says
- At 17.3 hours, it runs longer than 92% of the 13,269 Science Fiction audiobooks in our catalog.
Catching up on Dark Paladin
This is book 1. Books 1 to 3 run 44.1 hours in all.
| Book | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Beginning | 17.3 hrs |
| 2 | The Quest | 13.4 hrs |
| 3 | Restart | 13.3 hrs |
About as long, on the Science Fiction shelf
693 Science Fiction audiobooks in our catalog run within 10% of this length. The most popular on the store:
Computed from 409,794 English-language unabridged audiobooks in The Books Insider catalog (store data read November 3, 2026). Lengths are the store's own running times. Methodology.
About this listen
The Beginning is book 1 of Vasily Mahanenko's Dark Paladin series: a 17.3-hour unabridged recording, read by Kevin Kraft, released March 31, 2017, on the Science Fiction shelf.
The listen at a glance
- Length
- 17.3 hrs
- Narrated by
- Kevin Kraft
- Released
- March 31, 2017
- Format
- Unabridged audiobook
- Language
- English
- Store shelves
- Science Fiction
- Series
- Dark Paladin #1
- ISBN
- 9781515989363
How to listen to The Beginning free
New members at audiobooks.com get three free audiobooks with the trial.
Separately, the store's catalog carries more than 10,000 audiobooks that are always free to stream.
Start listening freeQuestions listeners ask
How long is The Beginning as an audiobook?
The Beginning runs 17.3 hours unabridged. At 1.5× speed that drops to roughly 11.6 hours.
Is The Beginning free as an audiobook?
Yes, for new listeners: the trial starts you with three free audiobooks.
Who narrates The Beginning?
The Beginning is narrated by Kevin Kraft.
Is The Beginning worth listening to at 1.5× speed?
At 1.5× you'd finish in about 11.6 hours, saving 5.8 hours.