wasnt as original as I had hoped

pre ordered this audio book as reviews seemed promising. as a rivers of london fan I found this to be in a similar vein but just not as gripping. the story line had gaping holes in it which may be filled in later books but a little more detail would have been nice. maybe I have read too much so it's hard to find something truly original these days but felt it was a mish mash of other stories. struggled with the narrator and the irony wasnt lost on me when there is a line in the book about narrators and audio books, it was all a little too stilted.

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4 people found this helpful

Concept is good

I enjoyed the ghostliness of the story. I would have liked more to have been made of the relationship between the main character and the ghosts. Good story, could have been stronger and a little more tension.

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A must listen!

bit slow to get going but then it really picked up pace. brilliantly entertaining but also edge of your seat suspense.

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Great story, audio needs to be redone

An interesting story, but the Audible version is spoiled by the narration. The narrator seems unrehearsed as she will read part of a sentence, breathe and then read the remaining clause as a new part sentence. Sometimes she will run on, but the sentence loses meaning as she gets the intonation wrong.

The producer should have asked for it to be re-recorded every time she does this.

The narrator struggles with some of the words, mispronouncing some terms as if she has only ever seen them written. Again, the producer should have corrected this. Other reviewers have said that the narration is in a monotone. I don’t think that this is the case, but the poor delivery doesn’t keep the pace.

It is all in the first person, delivered in the “voice” of the main character Ropa, but this means there is no audible differentiation for other characters. A style point maybe? Should the voice actor speak differently to present the reported words of others in a first person narrative?

The story is engaging, set in an alternative timeline around a version of Edinburgh that could be ours in the future. After a slow start in which we are introduced to the characters it then moves into a hybrid paranormal fantasy and ghost story. The protagonist is a teenage girl who is able to see and talk to ghosts. Occasionally though this character will use similes or will make references that are incongruous with this persona, such as references to boxing champions Joe Frasier and Mohammed Ali.

I have spent a credit on the next story in the series, which I have noted uses a different narrator. As I said above, the problem is not with the story so I hope better delivery, direction and production could help.

I listened to the whole thing, so I will not ask for my credit back but I think Audible should re-record this and then give a new version to everyone who has already downloaded it.

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3.75/5

Audiobook narrated by Tinashe Warikandwa.

A short but creepy book set in an alternative timeline Edinburgh. We follow Ropa who is a Ghost-stalker (someone who can see and communicate with ghosts) and she is thrown into a mystery involving missing children and the dark underworld of magic within the city.

- I really enjoyed Ropa as a character. Her heritage and situation accurately affected her choices and she often had to strike a balance between several options which would all have difficult consequences for her and those around her.

- The creepy atmosphere of this alternative Edinburgh was great and it was fun to hear about familiar locations in this new light.

- The story felt a little disjointed sometimes. This could be because a some of the places and events currently seem irrelevant or have little to do with the story. However, this is the first book of a series so these things may make more sense when other books are out.

Overall a fun, creepy story that melds modern diystopian, folk tale and academic fantasy in a fresh way. I look forward to the second book when it comes out.

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1 person found this helpful

loved it

an odd future with magic is well worth a listen.
I like more and the ending has given a hint of this

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1 person found this helpful

Good book

More please. what happened. what will happen next. who is the Tall Man. more about the library and its secrets...

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Appalling narration

They picked the wrong person to read the book.

The language used is teenage street language but it's read in a posh voice, at a strange tempo. Pauses in the wrong place and too many pauses......

I have 42 painful minutes left and I do want to hear the ending of what is a good story and then I will return the book because regardless of the story, the 0 star performance makes it not worth the money.

Strongly suggest audible and whoever else is responsible gets this book narrated by someone else.

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2 people found this helpful

Interesting take on an alternative history.

Well written with a different take on history. There has been an unspecified disaster in the past resulting in the population living a mixture of modern life with aspects of an early industrial revolution period mixed in. Magic exists and so do ghosts and mediums. The heroine has a wry wit and the story moves at a good pace. The narrator is ok but does tend to get caught up in the excitement, sometimes reading the story with little shade and at a breathless pace. I enjoyed it enough to want to follow the next story when released.

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1 person found this helpful

As Good as Rivers of London but for a YA audience

Loved the story, style, main character and narrator. Credible post-apocolypse world with shades of grey. Who is good and who is evil is not easy in the real world. Ropa and her side-kick fox, River, have a journey of discovery to try and figure it all out. Well-written with hints to the series arc but nothing is obvious to the listener. We travel with the Ropa, trying to solve the mystery of the missing boy. Love that Ropa listens to audiobooks as we listen to her, a nod to Hamlet and the listener. This is not a serious listen, humour is threaded throughout despite the life Rope, her Grandmother and little sister live. She does not earn, they do not survive. Life is tough but exciting.

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1 person found this helpful