Dakota Fanning headlines a full cast of narrators to deliver this fantasy/action-adventure. Fanning portrays Sloan Andrews, a nearly 30-year-old woman whose claim to fame is having defeated a world-destroying monster when she was in her teens. She still suffers the consequences of those battles. Fanning's acting skills are on full display as she immerses listeners in Sloan's unstable emotions. As she swings from sardonic jokester to angry survivor, Fanning's flat affect or defensive growls keep listeners in Sloan's state of mind. The rest of the cast deliver a range of other survivors, along with news story voice-overs. The full cast gives realism to this action-packed audiobook.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2020
Duration: 15 hrs, 15 mins
Publisher: Audible, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Intricate, textured weirdness rewards listeners throughout this sprawling, gloriously strange epic.
Colin Mace and Emma Spurgin Hussey narrate a generations-spanning tale of grief, conspiracy, and horror that takes its haunting premise deadly seriously. Hussey voices Maur, desolate after her son's mysterious death and desperate for answers, with a restrained intimacy, tracking her slide from mourning into obsession through shifts in pace and breath. Mace brings weathered gravel to Allerdyce, a veteran undeterred by the grim, often gross underbelly of those answers, letting long silences land before revelations. The author's interjections add an eerie texture. Both narrators keep the dense, allusive prose clear across a century of violence, building dread without tipping into melodrama.
Intricate, textured weirdness rewards listeners throughout this sprawling, gloriously strange epic.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
Duration: 40 hrs, 43 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217020959
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2026
This highly satisfying quest brims with humor and friendship courtesy of Church.
During a magical adventure set in a traveling bookshop, narrator Imogen Church ensures that each conversation is a dramatic experience. Listeners meet failed book witch Louella Twig, whose strident tones mask her loneliness. She encounters former thief Everett Sharp who, intrigued, parries Louella's defenses with his deep, rolling voice. When Louella's former mentor, Feralorn, asks for her help finding pages from his grimoire, Louella accepts the quest. Church's voice for Feralorn is that of a creaky trumpet—highly distinctive, occasionally overwhelming. Church gives each character their own voice and mannerisms, including gnomes and a European wizard. Pacing, phrasing, and inflection are deployed skillfully to denote emotion, especially between Louella and Everett.
This highly satisfying quest brims with humor and friendship courtesy of Church.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798898856663
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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