Audiobook Reviews:

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

Read by Bahni Turpin

Published: January 23, 2024

Confession:

I have very mixed feelings about this one, and most of those feeling have to do with the reader for the audiobook. While she does a good job with the characters feelings and the different voices of the various characters, she for the most part just didn’t work for me. I’m not sure why that is, but it made listening to this story a bit of a struggle. So why did I continue? I don’t know, but I think the story and the characters interested me enough to make me keep going.

Both Yeeran and Lettle were very interesting characters. They are sisters, but very different from each other. They are fiercely loyal to each other which is how they both find themselves in a strange new land and having their thoughts and feelings about the history and culture of their world being challenged and changed. There were many interesting and thought provoking ideas brought up in this story. But the writing was a bit rough and the dialogue was a bit stilted. Also the plot was pretty predictable, although there were a few surprises. The romances also didn’t work that well for me, but that is ok. The romances don’t overshadow the whole story which is always a plus.

Overall this was a pretty good start to a very interesting story. I liked the mythology and the fact that so far there are no humans, just fae and elves. I probably will eventually pick up the second book, but probably not the audiobook.

Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell

Read by Oliver Hembrough

Published: April 2023

This was a rather slow and meditative mystery, but on the whole I quite enjoyed it. I really liked Jake and the fact that he was just so reluctant to be a detective and solve the murder, yet seemed driven to do so, was such a different type of main character than what you usually get in a murder mystery that it kept me going through the book.

I could totally relate to Jake’s need to just get away from everything and live a quiet life in the country. No phone, no internet, just himself and his thoughts. But he does at times need human interaction, so he of course eventually finds himself solving a 10 year old possible murder. The plot does move slowly as most of the time we are learning the backstory of Jake and how he came to live in the country and his adjustment to his new life. But the mystery was there and it was a hard one. I really had no clue how this was going to end until it was all revealed. That is always a sign of a good mystery.

Oliver Hembrough has a lovely voice that enjoyed listening to, but there were a few times when there was dialogue when I couldn’t tell for sure who was speaking. Some of this is how the dialogue was written, but it also had to do with the voices he used for the different characters. Anyways, overall the audiobook was well done.

I thought this was a well done debut, even though it was rather slow moving and the mystery took a back seat to Jake’s adjustment to his new life. I still recommend it though, as I loved the characters and the mystery ended up quite good as well.