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Mockingjay (Hunger Games, Book 3) by Suzanne Collins
Reader: Carolyn McCormick
WARNING: Have you read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire yet? No? Then stop and go listen to them (in order) before reading this review. There is NO way to even begin to describe this book without huge spoilers of the first two books.
Short Review: Intense, captivating final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Lots of twists and turns lead us through this darkest chapter of the series. Action plus emotional turmoil make this a roller coaster ride. Satisfying conclusion for most, perhaps bleaker than some readers are expecting.
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Fire Will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci
Readers: Julia Whelan
, Paul Michael Garcia
Short Review: More character driven (but still fairly suspenseful) sequel to Streams of Babel. Round robin of readers still pleasing.
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Clementine by Cherie Priest
Readers: Dina Pearlman and Victor Bevine
Short Review: This sequel to Boneshaker follows Captain Croggon Hainey as he tracks and attempts to recover his airship, The Free Crow, from its captors. It also introduces Maria Isabella Boyd, a former Confederate spy turned Pinkerton, on her first assignment. It’s good, but not quite as good as Boneshaker.
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Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Reader: Grover Gardner
Short Review: The first book in one of my all time favorite series, read by a brilliant reader. Great character driven sci-fi tale.
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Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Readers: Kate Reading and Will WheatonShort Review: A steampunk adventure set in an alternate-history Seattle where the Civil War just won’t end, airships abound, mad scientists run amok, volcanoes make zombies, and intricate questions about liberty and rights continually rear their heads.
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Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci
Readers: Julia Whelan
Available from Audible.com
Short Review: Welcome a the post-9/11 world in which terrorists wield bioweapons and our best intelligence is gathered online by teenagers. Kept me listening and then made me hunt for the sequel.
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Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
Reader: Roy Dotrice
Short Review: Martin’s Locus-Award winning novel, expertly read by Roy Dotrice, proves an engrossing opening to a long, unfinished series.
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Fool Moon (Dresden Files, Book 2) by Jim Butcher
Reader: James Marsters
Short Review: Harry Dresden, Wizard of Chicago, gets pulled into a murder investigation riddled with werewolves and betrayal. Marsters remains the perfect reader to bring the Dresden Files to life.
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Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan Trilogy)
Reader: Alan Cumming
Bonus: Endnote read by the author detailing what is fact and what is fictionShort Review: In this stunning follow up to Leviathan, Alek and Deryn continue on their intricate path through the steampunk inspired alternate World War I created by Westerfeld. In this rollicking adventure we weave through the back streets of Istanbul, eggs are hatched, some secrets are revealed while others stay safely hidden.
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The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman
Reader: Anton Lesser
Short Review: The third Sally Lockhart mystery continues Pullman’s engrossing story of a young Victorian woman, expertly read by Anton Lesser. This book delves further into questions of women’s and children’s rights in Victorian Britain and also examines worker’s and immigrant’s rights and anti-semitism.Warning! If you have not yet read The Shadow in the North, stop reading this review. There’s no way to review this book without giving spoilers for the previous book in the series.
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The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman
Reader: Anton Lesser
Short Review: The slightly-less brilliant sequel to The Ruby in the Smoke, read just as brilliantly by Anton Lesser.
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The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
Reader: Anton Lesser
Short Review: A beautifully read story about a resourceful young woman who finds herself orphaned and embroiled in a deadly mystery.