Aza Ray has been drowning for her entire life, afflicted with an incurable disease that baffles her doctors. Thérèse Plummer’s emotional narration, drawing forth both Aza’s world-weary realism and her snarky attitude, will elicit a strong emotional response from listeners. However, it’s Michael Crouch’s embodiment of Aza’s neurotic best friend, Jason, that steals the show when Aza dies just before her sixteenth birthday. When Aza awakens in a new body, in a new strange world, the alternating chapters from Jason’s perspective ground the story, allowing listeners to slowly adjust to the alien world-building elements. As Aza struggles to understand her new identity and learns to harness her new abilities, fantasy fans will be fascinated with the inventive Magonian world.
. (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780062365828
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Listeners follow Merry, the longbow girl, one of the best archers in her town. When she finds a magical portal in the forest that takes her back to sixteenth-century Wales, she must use her skills to win an archery contest in order to help her ancestors keep their land. While narrator Emily Wilden brings protagonist Merry to life with a rich Welsh accent, her narration seems uneven at times. All the period characters have accents that reflect the setting of the story and transport listeners to Wales. Listeners who enjoy historical fiction and a bit of fantasy will be charmed by this tale of determination, hope, and family.
Young AdultPub Date: N/A
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501916793
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Soler's spellbinding voice turns a melancholic fable into an intimate experience listeners will feel long after it ends.
Rebecca Soler narrates this haunting audiobook with a lyrical quality that draws listeners deep into its magical realism and its many-layered story. Her emotional control serves the narrative well, allowing the story's quietest moments to land with weight. Soler voices Lexie and Chester, two teens with heavy pasts and dark secrets who are drawn to each other by an undeniable cosmic pull. On a freezing winter morning, five people, including Chester, go for a swim and wake the next day transformed into birds, their lives forever altered. Measured pacing and tender characterizations give each teen a distinct inner life.
Soler's spellbinding voice turns a melancholic fable into an intimate experience listeners will feel long after it ends. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
Duration: 4 hrs, 56 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217351152
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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