Author: Brandon Sanderson
Narrator: Jack Garrett
Genre: High Fantasy
Producer: Recorded Books

Story Review: So... I wasn't a huge fan of this story. And the more that I think about it the more holes I find. I've had an irrational "thing" against Brandon Sanderson for a while, though. So I don't know if my word is trustworthy in this case.

But in the end I found the story nice, but the novel not so much. That's why I'm glad I listened to it as an audiobook. The great narration almost made up for the not-as-good writing. And although I was very interested to know what would happen in the story, it was the "I almost want to just go read a synopsis" kind of interested. Not "I'm cherishing every word." Because honestly, there were just too many things that annoyed me. (like if he said "Kolo" ONE MORE TIME I was gonna smack somebody)

Audio Review: On the other hand, the audio was great! I thought Garrett did an awesome job portraying all the many different voices, male and female, and making it clear who was talking even when the novel wasn't super clear. I also liked that this was a LONG audiobook. Now that I listen to audiobooks as I drive to and from work (so at least an hour a day, and more if I decide to clean my apartment) I like having a book that can stay with me for a while.

Author: Caragh O'Brien
Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer
Genre: Dystopia, Romance
Producer: Tantor Media

Story Review: Review of Birthmarked | Review of Prized

I hope y'all know that I love this series (though to be honest, I'm not like Prized as much as I listen to it. Conflicting moral opinions), but I do not love these audio books. I don't know that I've ever listened to a "Tantor Media" book, and I think I shall avoid listening to them in the future. If I weren't trying to refresh my memory so I could read Promised, I would not be listening to these.

Why? Well, for one the recording quality isn't very good. I can hear the author swallow quite a lot, or take a drink. And sometimes I can tell where the audio is cut together because her tone changes. And at one point during Birthmarked I though I heard something fall over...

But the main reason I don't like these audiobooks is the narrator herself. She has a slight lisp, which always drives me crazy, but there was something more than that: she pronounces this SO WEIRD! Sometimes I found myself wondering if she is seeing some of these words for the very first time, almost like this book is building her vocabulary. But like most people who see a word for the first time, she doesn't say it right. And I don't mean she says it in a different dialect or accent, I mean if she had ever heard this word before she would know that no one pronounces it that way. I occasionally wondered if maybe English wasn't her first language, but couldn't detect any accent.

She also isn't consistent with the way she pronounces things. The main characters name is Gaia, which sometimes she pronounces Guy-Uh (How I think it should be said), but sometimes she pronounces it Gay-Uh. And she does that with lots of other things too. Whether she was wrong/right, I wish she was consistent!

I wonder if that's something I should blame on the narrator, or the editors. I feel like her supervisors should have caught that and said "Watch how you pronounce Gaia's name." or "Cicada is actually pronounced Sih-Cay-Duh, try that again."

Regardless, BIG fan of these books, NOT a fan of these audiobooks.

Author: Jodi Meadows
Narrator: Katherine Taub
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Producer: HarperCollins Audio

Story Review: Originally posted here (11/14/11)

This book is AMAZING! First of all, the premise is so interesting. A world where there are no new people? You're just reincarnated over and over? How cool is that?! Well... cool for a premise. After reading the book I don't think I'd want to live in that world.

But it brings up so many interesting ideas! What would the world be like if it was just made up of the SAME one million people forever? Everyone knows everyone. Everyone is born with the skills they need to survive (if not the physical strength). Would you ever have wars? The people you killed would just come right back. How would you love? Would you love life-by-life, or through lifetimes? And then there's the interesting bit about not always coming back the same gender.

Imagine being tossed into this world. Everyone knows everything, and you know nothing. TERRIFYING, right? I loved watching Ana struggle through this exact issue. How is she supposed to fit in? Everyone thinks in terms of lifetimes, but she might only have one! So how is she supposed to live her one life? Jodi does an amazing job of making both Ana and the reincarnates REAL people. I believed everything they thought, said, and did.

And on top of that THERE ARE DRAGONS. Dragons and sylphs and centaurs and who knows what else! Just when you thought this story couldn't get more interesting! Now, sometimes when books put so much into their storyline you feel like some of it is underdeveloped or just shoved in there for "wow" factor, not with Incarnate. Jumping from reincarnation to dragons was smooth and made perfect sense. By the end I was saying "Of COURSE there would be dragons in this world!"

All in all, an amazingly powerful book that will keep your brain spinning through all 400 pages!

Audio Review: The sequel to this book, Asunder, just came out at the end of January. So in preparation I decided to listen to the audiobook. I do think this was a good choice because there was quite a bit I had forgotten, but... I didn't love the audiobook. I adore this book, which maybe made me a bit overly critical of the narrator. Actually... I don't think so. I think she's just an annoying narrator.

She feels the need to draaaw out ceertain worrds. It always sounds like she's sneering. I don't know why everyone in this world was so sneery. It was like listening to a stereotypical Cali girl try to imitate a snobby British noble. Sound crazy? Yup. It was.

So while I would definitely recommend that you READ this book, I would skip the audio. I think it might ruin the story for you.

Author: Laini Taylor
Narrator: Khristine Hvam
Genre: Supernatural/Middle Grade
Producer: HarperCollins Audio

Story Review: I adore this book. I love Karou with all my heart. She's such a strong character. And the whole world building of chimera vs. angel. I especially loved it because there is absolutely nothing religious about it. Angels are just another species, not heavenly beings. That was a cool take on it.

The twists were my favorites. There are so many twists in this book that I was gasping every other page. The characters are all so highly developed that they can't help but have twists!

There is some PG-13 stuff in there. Laini's books are always a little edgy. In terms of language, there is primarily the different uses of the a** word. And the book is about a war so there is a bit of violence. Most of it is in flash-back form, though, and fairly vague.

There isn't ANY drinking and drugs, but there IS sexual content. At the beginning the main character talks briefly about her regret over losing her virginity to a jerk. And near the end there's some talk of the leading man's old flame and them "loving" each other. This isn't explicitly sexual, only some short mentions of them not wearing clothes. It was awkward, but brief. And again, most of this stuff is flash-back-y, because the girl in question has been dead for years, so it's just him remembering their time together. This is only for the last 50 pages, and the reason why he's remembering is so sad and action-filled that it didn't bother me.

Audio Review: To be honest, at first I didn't think the narrator had a strong enough voice/personality to voice Karou. But by the end I felt like she had really grown into the character. The narrator was also really great at doing accents. She gave Brimstone a Carribbean accent, which I never would have thought of myself but totally fit him! Definitely glad I listened to the audiobook before reading the second one. The refresher was great and the listening was a pleasure!

Author: Shannon Hale
Narrator: Full Cast
Genre: Fantasy
Producer: Full Cast Audio
Books in Series: Listened to the first 3

Story Review: Do I really need to write anything here? These books are amazing, fantastic, phenomenal. And you need to read them RIGHT NOW.

Audio Review: These books were my first experience with a full cast audio production, and I'm happy to say that I'm very pleased! I do wish that the narrators had stayed consistent between the books (I especially wish that Isi didn't have a lisp in Enna Burning) but on the whole I think the narrators are awesome. And I think the real "narrator" (the one who reads everything non-dialogue) is all kinds of awesome. Cynthia Bishop, let's be friends.

My only complaint (aside from that lisp) is that I think there is an overabundance of music. Between each chapter/passage of time is just too much for me.

If you haven't listened to a full cast production before, I strongly recommend that you start with these. They're great.

If you have listened to a different full cast production before... please tune in soon for my review of Graceling.

Author: D.J. MacHale
Narrator: William Dufris
Genre: Fantasy
Producer: Brilliance Audio
Books in Series: Listened to books 1-8

Story Review: A great series for tweens up to younger teens. A nice, safe way to move from middle grade to YA.

Audio Review: I think these are great audiobooks for younger kids. They aren't awesome. The writing isn't superb to begin with, and the narrator has a very- ahem- interesting voice whenever he is voicing a female. BUT, they are very listenable and entertaining. And something I really enjoy about them is that the narrator is very good at growing up with Bobby. The series starts when he is 14, and ends when he is around 20 (I haven't actually read the last two books yet. Almost there!). Dufris does a great job of changing from a scared teenager, to a confident and powerful young man. I applaud him for this.

Author: Ruta Sepetys
Narrator: Emily Klein
Genre: Historical Fiction
Producer: Penguin Audio
Story Review: Click here for book review!

Audio Review: I adored this book. Which is probably why I disliked the audiobook so very much. The narrator was far too wimpy for me. One of the best things about Between Shades of Gray is that Lina is so strong. This narrator felt like a scared little girl. Not a scared little girl with a whole lot of fight left in her.

Also, the narrator was SOOOOOO SLOOOOW. This took the power from the whole book, not just from Lina. Seriously. I went on a car-ride that was two hours long and when I went to see how far I had gotten in the book it was only about 40 pages. Blah! It felt like it took forever to listen to, while when I was actually reading the pages flew by.

So, for all I know I wouldn't feel this way if I had listened before I read. But I would STRONGLY recommend that everyone READ this book, not listen to it. Because it is amazing.

Author: Jonathan Stroud
Narrator: Simon Jones
Genre: Fantasy
Producer: Listening Library
Books in Series: Listened to the trilogy as well as the companion novel

Story Review: This series is FABULOUS! Bartimaeus is an awesome narrator. I love listening to his snide comments, and how he really is "evil" but he still has a big heart. Each book in this series flows seamlessly, despite the fact that quite a bit of time separates each book. One of my favorite things about these books, is that you are given characters that you love to hate, and that you hate to love. Your character-judging skills really have to come into play.

I also love that it's our world, just a little twisted. We get to see what the world would be like if there were magic and demons as viable and common sources of power in our world (unlike Harry Potter where magic is in our world, but hidden).

But mostly, what gives this series major points it its characters. Brace yourselves, though, the ending of this series is a DOOZY!

Audio Review: Simon Jones has one of those British accents that sounds like melting chocolate. I could fall into his voice and just float there. Sometimes I would find myself actually repeating his words out loud just because I loved how he said them. He's also a master at covering a range of emotions. He has Bartimaeus' sarcastic attitude down to a T, but he also conveys a scared little boy and a stubborn girl just as accurately! He's one of those narrators that I actually looked up after I finished listening to this series, just so I could see if he had narrated anything else I might like to listen to!

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Genre: Paranormal
Producer: Hachette Audio
Books in Series: Listened to books 1 and 2

Story Review: Review of 2nd book here (Spoilers!). I never reviewed the first book. But I'll just simply say that I liked it. :)

Audio Review: I thought these audiobooks were great! The narrator was easy to listen to, and was really good at creating unique character voices. I also thought that the soundeffects that were in the book were inserted very tastefully (the sound of the incubus ripping through space was so cool!). The only part I wasn't a huge fan of was whenever the song "sixteen/seventeen moons" would play. I thought it sounded corny, and not at all like a real song. Unfortunately, this song plays quite frequently and it always drew me out of the story. BUT, it didn't take long for me to get back in with that awesome narrator.

Author: Garth Nix
Narrator: Tim Curry
Genre: Supernatural
Producer: Listening Library
Books in Series: Listened to entire trilogy

Story Review: This series is so amazing. I have loved it since I discovered it over ten years ago. It is the epitome of speculative fiction. It has a kick-butt female hero (and more than one!) it has the awesome animal helpers, and the DEAD. Who knew necromancy could be so awesome?! If you haven't read these books, you must. They are so wonderful. They are creepy, but still relatively clean. I will admit that I wish we got to continue on with Sabriel a bit more than we do, but I love Lirael too, so I can't really complain.

So awesome.

Audio Review: TIM CURRY! Yes, the Tim Curry. He has the PERFECT voice for this series. It's gravelly, which makes the dead spirits jump off the page (or iPod in this case), but he also does a pretty good job at voicing the female characters. And his Mogget voice is superb. Seriously, Tim Curry may be my favorite audiobook narrator after Jim Dale. I love him that much.

Here. Don't believe me? Click here to listen to an excerpt. I really think you'll fall in love with his voice. He's easy to understand, but still has plenty of character. And that gravelly voice... *shudders* I just love it.

Author: Gemma Malley
Narrator: Charlotte Parry
Genre: Dystopia
Producer: Recorded Books

Story Review: See full review here.

Audio Review: I've never listened to so poorly a recorded audiobook. It was amazing how bad it was. First of all, the narrator herself wasn't very good. But above and beyond that, the editing was terrible. I could frequently hear the narrator pause to swallow a drink. And there were times that were clearly edited because all of a sudden her voice would change pitch. You know, like a GPS navigator where the words don't sound like they actually belong in a sentence? It was like that.

So steer clear of this one my friends.

Author: Lauren Oliver
Narrator: Jim Dale
Genre: Supernatural/Middle Grade
Producer: HarperCollins Audio

Story Review: To be completely honest, I was not a fan of this story. Then again, when am I ever a fan of middle grade? In this specific case, I was bothered by a number of things:

1) Everything was just too coincidental. The characters all just stumbled into their good/bad luck. I didn't feel like anyone had any drive or purpose, and it made it very hard to connect to the characters.

2) Oliver was trying too hard to be "deep." Nearly every time wind was mentioned, it smelled of "promise," "hope," or "things to come." Now... unless promise smells like ragweed, and the things to come are waffle carts, I have no idea what any of these things smell like. I was insulted that the author didn't think I was smart enough to know that things were going to get more hopeful or exciting. I'm reading the book! I'm going to figure it out!

3) The world was just plum confusing. What? The sun is missing? Liesl's just okay with being locked in an attic? Are we in the UK? Is this our world or someone elses? I'm just so lost.

And then the whole book wrapped up with a nice little bow. Blech. Is that a MG trait? If so, no wonder I never like them.

Audio Review: Dear Jim Dale, would you like to narrate my life? Seriously people, I adore Jim Dale. Actually, if it had been any other narrator I probably would have given the story even less than 2.5 flowers, but Jim Dale can do no wrong. He took these flat characters, annoying descriptions, and confusing world and turned them into something that I could have listened to for hours. Seriously. It wasn't until after I would push pause that I realized I had no idea what was going on. I wish I had enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed his reading of the story. But no, it was not to be.

Despite the fact that I love JD, I would skip this audiobook (and book!) and go with the Harry Potter audio instead.