Loved the story, not the narrator

Absolutely loved this as a story, as well as the beautiful language. However, I just didn’t like the narrator at all, she has a strange way of speaking where each sentence ends with a strange upwards intonation..it was really irritating and I ended up returning the audiobook and reading by myself instead. Highly recommended!

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1 person found this helpful

Fairy tale with attitude, for grown ups

Menna van Praag’s beautifully written, powerful, traditional folklore inspired story of diverse women and girls, mothers and daughters, discovering innate strengths to conquer their adversaries, conjures up both the everyday experience of many and the realms of the fantastical in harmonious balance, with more than a dusting of wry humour. The story enchants and beguiles with perfect pacing. The depth of the characters and mix of everyday circumstances and dreamlike escapism make for a powerful brew. Thoroughly enjoyed the narration, with the wonderful, rounded vocal characterisations created by Adjoa Andho making for an immersive audible experience. Excellent Audio book. Would recommend.

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3 people found this helpful

Fantastic narration

I Really enjoyed this unusual fantasy, beautifully and skilfully brought to life by the narrator.

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Beautiful but cold

The narrator is wonderful and the author has both an interesting style and a unique premise. However, I particularly love character driven novels and the main characters in this all came off as a bit...emotionless. I didn't really connect with them personally, and so I didn't find myself rooting for them or even really caring when things happened. I also felt like the build up to things actually happen took a bit long. However there is much to appreciate here, it really depends on personal taste.

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Interesting story

It was a good read - felt a lot was being set up for sequels rather than there being a whole lot of story there. But it was a good read.

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Excellent

Really entertaining story with a strong narrative. I loved the magical side and it really gripped me till the end. This is a book I would like to read just so I can take in the language.
The performance by Adjoh Andoh was perfect and I enjoyed her voices and emotion throughout. An absolute Joy!

My only critique would be that the main characters (who are 17) were far too mature for their age. I couldn't get behind this, and think that they would have worked better as 21 year olds. Bea especially acted more like she was 25+. Her affair with the teacher was unsettling considering her age.

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Just not my thing

I really liked the premise of this book but it didn’t do much for me. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not dreadfully written or anything it’s just I didn’t get into the characters really. It took a very long time to get going and the final climax was rushed but if you like magical books it’s probably going to work better for you.

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Very long and predictable

After listening to another title by the same author I gave this one a go, but just never got into it. For me it was like one of those subtitled movies where you hang in there to the end waiting for it to get better, but it doesn’t. It is well written but I just didn’t like the story. The characters didn’t fully engage me. I didn’t care enough about what happened to most of them. The performance is mostly good but the female voice trying to sound like a male German evil villain grated so much it detracted from the story.

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Great reading aloud

Amazing efforts to make different voices for each character (and there are quite a lot) but the story is predictable, disappointing and lacking sense. The fact that the book jumps from one character to another constantly makes me lose track of the story and interest in it ultimately.

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Had potential to be a great story

Started off nicely, good story line, different and intriguing...but let down at the end by a long drawn out patheticness of one of the main characters portrayed as much weaker than need be, over and over again.

it fizzled out into a weak climax. it's a shame as it could have been an easy 5 stars if the author had given more time in getting feedback before publishing.

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