Cities of the Plain cover art

Cities of the Plain

Border Trilogy, Book 3

Preview

Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends April 30, 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £7.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Cities of the Plain

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Frank Muller
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£7.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends April 30, 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Two men marked by the boyhood adventures of All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing now stand together to confront a country changing beyond recognition.

In the fall of 1952, John Grady Cole and Billy Parham are cowboys on a New Mexico ranch, encroached upon from the north by the military. On the southern horizon are the mountains of Mexico, where one of the men is drawn incessantly in this story of friendships and passion to a love as dangerous as it is inevitable.

©1998 Cormac McCarthy (P)1998 Recorded Books Inc
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Orchard Keeper cover art

Critic reviews

"This haunting deeply felt novel completes one of the literary masterworks of the 1990s." ( Daily Telegraph)
"McCarthy makes the sweeping plains a miracle." ( Scotsman)
"Like the Western settings he captures to perfection, his work is both heart-wrenchingly beautiful and uncompromisingly brutal." ( The Express)

What listeners say about Cities of the Plain

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    112
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    111
  • 4 Stars
    19
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    103
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Short

It was a Moving story. Beautiful characterisation. A story of love. Read it slowly. It’s worth it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sheer joy

Prose and wit, writing as you have never experienced.
I whole heartedly recommend this book to all.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

it's Mccarthy you cannot go wrong

amazing trilogy. beautifully written at one of the best to ever do it. incredible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

America’s finest living writer

Just a wonderful trilogy. At times dense and difficult to read which makes the audio book a fine form to imbibe the narrative. Can’t recommend this enough to new readers of Cormac McCarthy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Third and final slice of wonderment

I’ve clip-clopped my meandering way through this entire trilogy. Now my eyes are full of wonder, my head is as soar as a caballero’s bum, but my soul is still, somehow, still restless. I think this is because the 2nd book in the series had two complete, successive plots; but this one, disappointingly, had only one. If, like me, you speak no Spanish, you’ll find the frequent & lengthy lapses into that language tiresome. Keep going though. Like the hardships of an empty belly & a week in the saddle, they will lead you through to some other mystery. For example, every man in Mexico is a kind of met-physical philosopher poet - how come? Every woman is silent, though I’d like to hear what she has to say. And any American man is easy to spot - he would think himself talked out if he uttered three syllables in a day. The trilogy, I think, is about the proximity of Mexico, a kind of irresistible Hades

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good story.

Good story tying up the trilogy nicely. Long winded philosophies were a bit tiring though

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Saddle up and finish the trilogy

I had such high hopes for this book with John Grady Cole teaming up with Billy Parham. I wanted epic adventures of two young cowboys in big country and it didn't really happen. Did modern life encroach too much? Or had they done all their adventuring in the other books? This book is good and definitely worth a read but not as good as the first two books. Not sure I was satisfied with the John Grady story. But, I must say I was pleased with warmth the ending provided.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful descriptions of the old west with thought evoking images of a time long past. Final book in the trilogy

Wonderful descriptions of the old west with thought evoking images of a time long past. Final book in the trilogy from a great author

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant writing awful narration

Wonderful prose ruined by a terrible affected whispering voice. He seems to think it’s atmospheric bur it’s very distracting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

worth reading

not worth the journey, just took too long to get there ,I just couldn't accept the premise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!