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.

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.

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.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Reader: Alan Cumming

Short Review: Fun and captivating steampunk adventure set in an alternate World War I Europe. Strong male and female leads should keep both genders interested and a very talented reader makes the story zoom along.

Catching Fire (Hunger Games, Book 2) by Suzanne Collins

Reader: Carolyn McCormick

WARNING: Have you read The Hunger Games yet? No? Then stop and go listen to that before reading this review. There is NO way to even describe this book without huge spoilers of book one.

Short Review: Strong sequel, with a slightly different pace than the original. Our protagonists are barely out of the arena on their way back to District 12 as they begin to realize the strangle hold the capitol still has on their lives. More characters, more suspense – a fun, if dark ride.

The Monsters of Otherness (Erec Rex Book 2) by Kaza Kingsley

Reader: Simon Jones
Extra: Introduction by author Kaza Kinglsley in which she shares her inspiration for Erec and his quests.

Short Review: Strong second installment in Kaza Kingsley’s Erec Rex series combines imaginative adventures with some solid life lessons. Simon Jones is still a fabulous reader.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Reader: Carolyn McCormick

Short Review: Creative, captivating and intense young-adult drama with a strong 16-year-old female protagonist and set in a brutal far-future. Decent reader, but I kept wishing for a bit more emotion in her reading. That said, the story was so captivating that I couldn’t stop listening!

The Dragon’s Eye (Erec Rex Book 1) by Kaza Kingsley

Reader: Simon Jones
Extra: Introduction by author Kaza Kinglsley in which she explains how she got the idea of Erec Rex and some of her process of creating the first book.

Short Review: Entertaining fantasy in which a 12 year old boy discovers a parallel but hidden world of magic. Fun characters plus a great reader makes for a captivating audio book.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Saga, Book 4)

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Your patience is rewarded and the camera pulls back to show you the full picture of where we have been headed across the landscape of these 4 extravagant novels. For me this was a very satisfying conclusion to the Twilight Saga.

Storm Front (Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher

Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: Down on his luck detective Harry Dresden also happens to be a real, live wizard. This introduction to Harry’s world includes magic, potions, a talking skull named Bob, werewolves – and of course a murder mystery. James Marsters is brilliant.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Saga, Book 3)

Eclipse (Twilight Saga, Book 3)
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Meyer gets better with each book. With this book, she has found a good rhythm. The quieter bits of this story have a stronger voice than those in the first 2 books of the saga. Book 3 digs deeply into Bella’s relationships and finally starts to ask the question of “Why?”. We still get good action scenes (because there is always action in a world that has vampires and werewolves) – but we also see Bella make conscious choices with an eye to the consequences in her future.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Saga, Book 2)

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin

Short Review: The good: a fresh and creative version of vampire and werewolf legends with characters you care about and great action scenes. The less good: lots and lots of Bella’s internal angst-ridden dialogue (not that there is anything wrong with that, if you have a taste for that sort of thing).