"The Cay" by Theodore Taylor

"The Cay"
by Theodore Taylor
Read by Michael Boatman
Published by Listening Library (2006)
2 hours and 58 minutes

How many of you out there have read a Young Adult book?  Hopefully many, but for those of you who haven't, I hope I can get you started in a new direction.  Young Adult literature are books that are aimed at the ages of 12-18.   These books run the gamut of genres and can be some very interesting reading.  Sure they are written for "the kids" but we adults can thoroughly enjoy them as well.  Take for example the "Eragon" series or the Harry Potter series, many adults found hours of enjoyment in those books, and there are lots more where those came from. 

A couple of summers ago I was introduced via an online community the group Audiobook Sync.  Each summer they have pair up  YA (Young Adult) audiobooks with a similar theme, so each week in the summer kids & adults can download 2 audiobooks for free.  Last summer I downloaded every week's pairing and even though it has taken me until now to get to some, I love these books.  This book, "The Cay" was teamed up with "Storm Runners." I haven't listened to "Storm Runners," yet but if this book is any sign, it should be fun.

"The Cay" takes place during World War II but is not a war story, rather this is one of survival and friendship.  When WWII breaks out Phillip Enright and his family are living on the island of Curacao.  Phillip's father was brought in from the states to help build oil refineries for the Island.  The Germans send submarines to the island to prevent the refining process so the non-axis countries cannot have the fuel.  When the island becomes unsafe Phillip and his mother board a boat, the S.S. Hato, to Virginia.  The ship is torpedoed and Philip is separated from his mother.  He finds himself on a raft with an old West Indian man, Timothy, from the boat and a cat named Stew. Phillip has been warned by his mother about black people, "They are different, and they live differently," and is wary of Timothy.  Timothy rescues Phillip but during the boat attack Phillip was hit in the head and after a couple of days becomes blind.

Phillip becomes extra dependent on Timothy because of the blindness.  Soon the odd trio arrive at a cay, a small island with no fresh water, and begin setting up camp for survival.  The two characters learn to overcome their disdain for one another, and develop strong bonds of friendship by the end of the novel. The two characters learn to overcome their disdain for one another, and develop strong bonds of friendship. Timothy teaches Phillip how to do many survival skills, such as weaving sleeping mats, building ways to catch fresh water and ways to fish, all while overcoming Phillip's blindness.  The trio overcomes many obstacles until a hurricane blows in and they must rush to tie everything down, including themselves.  During the storm they lose their shelter, also sometime during the storm Timothy, who is somewhere near 80 years old, dies, leaving Phillip to fend for himself,  Phillip soon learns why Timothy did the things he did, he was preparing Phillip to survive alone.

This story was one of those filled with every emotion from anger, anxiety to love and friendship and will keep you listening until the very end.  Michael Boatman does a superb job of voicing this book, and captures the accents and emotions of both of the characters perfectly. 

"Ashes, Ashes" by Jo Treggiari

"Ashes, Ashes"
by Jo Treggiari
read by Cassandra Campbell
Produced by Oasis Audio
9 hours and 48 minutes


Time once again to dive into the fiction from the young adult category, this time I listened to a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel "Ashes, Ashes" by Jo Treggiari.    As with most young adult titles this one involves a little romance but lots of action and some despair.  The world has ended but, Treggiari never fully explains why but 99% of the human population is wiped out from a smallpox like plague.  The rest of the world is getting wiped out by floods and drought and the cities are decaying.  What's left of the human population is being hunted down by hazmat suited people called sweepers, armed with tazers they invade encamped populations taking people (especially children) away in white vans to an island hospital never to be seen again.

Lucy Holloway is an anomaly.  When the book opens we find her struggling for her own survival eating only that which she catches and kills.  Relying on acorn mush is not enough and through the help of a survival book rescued from the decaying library as the book opens she is learning to clean and cook a turtle.

While out checking her snares she sees a boy of around her same age (16) who helps her to escape from the sweepers.  The boy, Aiden, stays on her mind and she often thinks of joining his encampent of refugees.  When a tsunami threatens her campsite she litereally runs for the hills and in running away decides to find the encampent.  Lucy decides that she would be better with a group rather than alone, and joins up with the group of survivors.  But the danger follows her and the sweepers raid the camp taking people away.  This time one escapes and leads a rescue party to bring back the other children.  On this rescue mission Lucy discovers the sweepers are looking specifically for her because her blood holds the mystery to surviving the plague.

Through the dangers of a dying world and a mad scientist on the hunt this book is full of adventure that will sweep you away to a world of survival.  The reader Cassandra Campbell does a nice job of presenting the story and with the constant teetering on the edge feel of the story the few mispronunciations are easily forgiven. 

The book does present an interesting end, in that it ends the story nicely but does leave it open for a sequel, which I'm hoping Jo Treggiari has planned.  If you liked the "Hunger Games" series this book will be right up your alley.

"The Adventures of Mr. Maximillian Bacchus and His Travelling Circus" by Clive Barker

"The Adventures of Mr. Maximillian Bacchus and His Travelling Circus"
by Clive Barker
read by Bruce Donnelly
Published by Crossroad Press
Approx 2 hours

The first thing that grabbed me about this audiobook was that it was written by Clive Barker, I have always loved horror novels and Barker's horror novels are some of the best.   I knew this was a fantasy book, and was prepared for this because I have read a few of his fantasy books including the young adult fantasy series "Abarat."   What I wasn't prepared for, once I started listening was the depth of the language and the way the story completely engulfed me.   What is more amazing is that these stories were written in 1974 when Clive Barker was only 17 years old.  At first listen it is an amazing book by a young author, but more to it, it is an amazing book that will take you on a magical fantastical journey in and of itself, regardless of the age of the author.

On a side note regarding this audio book version, I think the non-emotional, straight forward read actually works.  I have recently become a fan of audiobooks where the author actually acts out the book and even provides different voices for the characters, or even better yet a full dramatization with a full blown cast of actors.  These types make the audiobook more of an exciting experience, but for this book, where the language used by Clive Barker is the star, the nearly monotone emotionless reading by Bruce Donnelly works.  This approach took some getting used to but once the book was rolling I found myself completely lost in the language.  The words used by Barker in this book flow like poetry.

Maximillian Bacchus is the ringmaster and owner of what he considers the greatest show in the world. Traveling with a Crocodile named Malachi, a trapeze girl named Ophelia, a strong man named Hero, and a clown named Domingo de Ybarrondo.  All travel in a wagon pulled by a giant "Ibis bird," the troupe wanders from adventure to adventure.

The book consists of four interwoven stories beginning when Indigo Murphy, the best bird handler in the world, leaves the show to be married to the Duke Lorenzo de Medici.  During the feast where this announcement is made Maximillian Bacchus announces the circus will travel to the fabled Xanadu built by the Khan named Kubla.  From there, the magic never stops. On the road they meet a young apple thief named Angelo with glowing eyes who tries to redeem himself by helping to find a lost girl.  The troupe next rescues an orangutan named Bathsheba from what seems like the evil and opposite form of the travelling circus.  The Circus then arrives at the end of the world where the people living in a town on the edge of the world are terrorized by a band of trolls. Finally arriving in Xanadu the troupe sets to perform for Kubla Khan.  After the troupe performs the daughter of the brother of Kubla Khan is abducted and the sun is stolen from the sky, the Khan gives in to the sadness of the event but Maximillian Bacchus and his travelling circus volunteer to rescue the girl and bring back the light of the sun by venturing into the crystal caves beneath Xanadu.

With magical prose and fun short stories, this is one book that is great for all ages.  This would be the perfect bedtime story book, and in audiobook form would be the great travelling companion.

"Over the End Line" by Alfred C. Martino

"Over the End Line"
by Alfred C. Martino
Read by Todd Licea
Produced by Listen & Live Audio (2009)
Approx 6 hours

I don't usually start out an audiobook review talking about the reader, unless it is a multi-cast performance, but this time around I have to jump to it and get it off my chest. The reader of this audiobook, Todd Licea, Is overwhelmingly awesome at presenting this book. The book is told in first person and the author, Alfred C. Martino, provides some beautiful wordsmithing to create the story which in and of itself creates a theatre of the mind effect, but Todd Licea presents the story with such great quality that basically the listener has no choice but to strap in and enjoy the ride.

Martino creates such clear images of everything that it is as if you already know everything as it is happening. For example, when describing the scenes from the soccer practices or games the reader/listener doesn't need to know the rules, they are explained in such a way you feel as though you already know everything about the game. That teamed with the excellent delivery of Todd Licea makes for a superb story worth hearing.

Johnny Fehey has been friends with Kyle Saint-Claire since they started school, but as they enter their senior year, the distance between their obvious social differences could not be clearer. Kyle earns excellent grades and is the school’s star soccer player. Johnny has no interesting quality to own up to but tries. There also seems to be an economic social factor dividing the two also.

Legend has it that the school's social structure has been drawn out into a ladder diagram with those higher on the ladder being the most popular and those lower, the social outcasts. Johnny spends his weekends at the library, where the legendary diagram is said to be hidden, trying to find the Ladder and figuring out how to change where he stands on the ladder. Fate steps in, Johnny shoots the winning goal in the county championships, he becomes part of the popular crowd. At the victory party, Johnny witnesses the rape of a girl by Kyle and a teammate. Kyle and Johnny’s friendship hangs in balance as they ponder what to do and whether their choice will be the right decision. Little does Johnny know that the life of the closest person he understands is also at stake: his own.

The complicated relationship between Kyle and Johnny is very realistic. It is a perfect example of a story in which the characters are not divided easily in to the popular kids vs. social outcasts. The ending is very unexpected, but the lead up will keep you on the edge.

"Wondrous Strange" by Lesley Livingston

"Wondrous Strange"
by Lesley Livingston
read by author
Produced by Harper Audio
Approx 7 Hours

Kelly Winslow, an aspiring actress in New York City, has just had her big break, when the actress portraying Titania in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" has been injured and Kelly goes from being the understudy to the lead actress. But not all is as good as it seems. Kelly soon learns the world of Fairy and Fae is real, and worse yet, the Winter King, Oberon is not only real but is her real father. This at first may sound good to suddenly find you are a Fairy Princess, but the Fairy-folk are really not a friendly bunch. Someone in the Fairy world has decided they don't want Kelly to realize her birthright.

The troubles all begin when Kelly is rehearsing her lines in Central Park and Sonny Flannery, a Janus Guard for King Oberon (unbeknownst to Kelly) notices something different about Kelly. Spying on her from the bushes he sees she is having a bad day (seems she forgot her lines during rehearsal and the director was a bit cruel). Sonny can't shake the feeling that she is different from most humans so curious he presents her with a rose. Kelly asks why and Sonny says you look like you needed something nice. When they part Kelly begins walking home through Central Park and hears the sound of someone screaming from a pond. It turns out not to be someone but a something, a horse. With Sonny long gone, Kelly realizes no one is around to help so she dives in to save the drowning horse. Kelly risks her life to save the horse that seems to be tangled in the vegetation of the bottom of the pond.

The next day Sonny discovers the area where someone was dragged on shore the mud in the grass and some mysterious black beads and copper colored horse's hairs. Sonny knows the hairs for what they are, Kelpie hairs. Kelpies are fairy creatures that lure people into the water and eat them. When Sonny finds Kelly's script nearby he fears the worst. Sonny shows Oberon the beads which Oberon immediately knows them as part of a spell that is set to begin the Great Hunt in which all the evils of the fairy world will be unleashed into the mortal world killing all in sight until the quarry is found. This time the target is Oberon's daughter.

Sonny must save Kelly from the fairyworld by letting her know who she is. At the same time he must find out who is trying to unleash the Hunt. He suspects Queen Maab, but with a very interesting twist in the tale, the author, Lesley Livingston, creates a bit of a mystery into this fairy tale set in modern day New York City. Very entertaining bit of young adult fiction that will keep you enthralled until the end. This book is part one of a three book series but is easily a standalone novel.

I have to note that at first I was a bit leery at the idea of the author reading her own work as the audiobook. While the authors may have a great feel for what is in the book, the performance as a reader can sometimes lack. Not so with Lesley Livingstone, she does a superb job of performing the many different voices and expressing all necessary emotion. This audiobook is an excellent choice from that aspect alone.

"The Looking Glass Wars" by Frank Beddor

"The Looking Glass Wars"
by Frank Beddor
read by Gerard Doyle
produced 2007 by Scholastic Audio
Approx 9 hours

What if the story of Alice in Wonderland was a true story? All the surrealism, the absurdities, the nonsense was just to make it more digestible to us. That's the approach Frank Beddor uses in his take on the Lewis Carroll classic. In this book Princess Alyss (yep, that's the way she spells it) is celebrating her 7th birthday in Wonderland. Her mother is Queen Genevieve Heart and the ruler in the Queendom of Wonderland which is ruled with imagination and is the source of imagination for all other worlds. Her Aunt, Redd, has been in exile and uses the celebration of Alyss's birthday to distract the citizens as she and her card army invade.

In this story the characters in Carroll's book are fictionalized version of the real Wonderland characters. The Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll's real name) writes the book after listening to Alice, who cannot seem to convince people it is spelled "Alyss," and changes some of the names and events for the book. The White Rabbit is actually Alyss's tutor Bibwit Harte (anagram there), the Mad Hatter is Hatter Madigan, a member of the Millinery which is Wonderland's military, and is almost a dark character who is Alyss's bodyguard but has the abilities and weapons of an assassin. The parliament of Wonderland is ruled by representatives from different card suits; clubs, diamonds and spades. Alyss's best friend is Dodge Anders who is the son of a guard who seems to be a real and dedicated friend, but the Jack of Diamonds is destined to wed Alyss and is always causing trouble for the young Dodge.

While Redd's army invades Wonderland, Alyss and Hatter escape with the help of Dodge Anders as Redd kills Alyss's mother and father and takes over the throne. Dodge's father, the captain of the guards is killed by The Cat and Redd then orders The Cat to kill Alyss and Hatter. Alyss and Hatter barely escape to "our" world through the pool of tears. The problem is that Alyss ends up in London and Hatter ends up in Paris. Hatter then spends the next 13 years trying to find Alyss, and finally discovers where she is after Carroll's book is published.

During this 13 years Alyss is at first taken in by some street urchins, where her power of imagination is used to beg for money, but the powers are fading the longer she is away from Wonderland. She is caught by authorities and sent to an orphanage where she is constantly made fun of because of her imagination. She is then adopted by the Liddles where she meets Reverend Dodgson and he publishes her stories. Because he changes the stories Alyss refuses to ever see him again. Alyss also renounces her imagination and chooses to become "normal."

Hatter finds Alyss but is chased down by authorities because when he finds her she is engaged to be married to Prince Leopold and Hatter is loaded down with weapons and seems a threat to the Prince. When he arrives back in Wonderland he is shot and cannot return but Dodge Anders, now grown up volunteers to retrieve Alyss so she can battle Redd and restore Wonderland.

While still maintaining a resemblance to the original story Beddor creates a fun adventure with imagination and thrills. The reader, Gerard Doyle, does a superb job acting out this book giving each character their own voice and through some fun audio tricks creates some special effects for a few of the characters and events. Definitely a must read for any Wonderland fan.

"WWW:Watch" by Robert J. Sawyer

"WWW:Watch"
by Robert J. Sawyer
Multi-Voice Performance
Produced by Brilliance Audio
Approx. 12 Hours

I think I may have listened to one of the most fun, nerdy, geeky, adventurous audiobooks I've ever heard. The premise of the story is out there yet almost a reality, the characters are all believable and have depth and the pop culture references are timeless (yeah, I know, timeless pop culture?).

First of all let me say the use of multiple voices was perfectly done. This wasn't an audio drama type of performance but rather the different voices read the different sections, the main characters each had a separate voice (Caitlin and WebMind) and one voice was reading when the government agencies were involved and another voice was reading when the section referring to the subplot was being read. Each voice was perfectly cast and definitely keeps the listener enveloped by the story.

Let's talk about the story. When looking for an audiobook to hear next, I was intrigued by the description of the story. A girl is born blind and is enabled to see with a retinal implant which when first connected is also connected to the internet so the doctor/scientist that created the technology can monitor it from overseas, enables the girl to view webspace. The ether in which the world wide web inhabits. She sees the web as a series of circles (the websites) connected with multi-colored lines (links). Upon further examination she discovers a presence in the background of the web, this presence turns out to be an artificial intelligence created by lost packets of information on the internet.

Very intriguing description, so I gave it a shot. I was not ready for the excellent book that came out of "WWW:Watch." This book is an adventurous journey through the internet that discusses the benefits of sentience and humanity.

Caitlin Decter, born blind, receives a retinal implant that allows her to see. The doctor responsible is from Japan and creates the ability for her to not only see the real world but accidentally see webspace. Caitlin notices the presence in the background of the web and begins to explore. The doctor keeps Caitlin connected to the internet through her eye via a connection through her iPod. Caitlin soon discovers the presence is an accidentally created artificial intelligence which she dubs WebMind. WebMind is actually helped into being when Caitlin begins trying to communicate with the being. For a while WebMind and Caitlin maintain an online relationship as he learns about the world. WebMind is only limited to text so all he knows is what he reads, and he's read the entire internet. WebMind asks Caitlin to get her doctor to try and make an algorithm that can enable him to view graphics and videos. To do this Caitlin must first tell her parents of the entity, after all she's only 16. Her parents at first think WebMind is an online predator and when Caitlin's father, a somewhat autistic former physics professor, now employed by the world's largest think tank, forms a series of tests, he learns WebMind is what he says he is, an emergent A.I.

Once this starts to happen the U.S. Government begins to discover the workings of the emergent A.I. and under command of the President begin to try to destroy WebMind before he can destroy the world. It's at this point when references to "Terminator," "The Matrix" and other such movies start to arise. Caitlin is even reading the George Orwell book "1984" and even notions of Big Brother begin to be discussed.

Once WebMind is capable of viewing graphics and video he begins searching the internet for more information. He comes across a young girl in Australia who is committing suicide via webcam. Out of curiosity he watches. When Caitlin learns he just watched and didn't do anything to stop the girl, she begins to teach webmind morality. WebMind can learn and know what is right and what is wrong but that doesn't seem to be enough. Using gameplay theory the devise a plan in which WebMind will help humanity when it is a win/win for all involved. WebMind wants to go public. To do so Caitlin's family devise a plan to help WebMind introduce himself to the world.

WebMind destroys all spam e-mail. This alone would have me sold, but that's just me. The government realizes that this is a perfect example of how WebMind can encroach upon privacy issues. The government then decides to up their attacks on WebMind and try to end his existence.

WebMind and Caitlin team up online in a battle to determine whether or not Caitlin's Big Brother is tougher than the government's Big Brother. In an exciting adventure through cyberspace and beyond. This audiobook should be on your "must read" list.

One final note, there is a really interesting subplot in the book about a chimpanzee/bonobo hybrid that has been taught sign language and the trainers and a zoo are battling over who should have custody over the ape. The ape must prove sentience and with the help of WebMind has an arsenal of intelligence that springs hope, and brings up some great references to the "Planet of the Apes" series of movies.

"Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment" by James Patterson

"Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment"
by James Patterson
read by Evan Rachel Wood
published 2005 by Hatchette Audio
Approx 4 hours

The master of thriller fiction, James Patterson, has been know to dabble in young adult fiction. The "Maximum Ride" series is one of those dabblings. With books under his belt like, "Along Came a Spider," and "Kiss the Girls," Patterson has shown that he can write a good thriller, and he takes that writing style and adapts it for the younger audience. I'm not sure what age he's aiming for with this series, it seems pretty wide open from 12 - 18 easily. I know I enjoyed this first book in the series. There were some moments that didn't work for me but I'll explain those later. For the most part if the rest of this series is as fun and exciting as this first one, I could put up w/ what may be a minor fault.

First off the choice of Evan Rachel Wood as reader took me by surprise. But hey, she did it. I know it takes acting skills to pull off reading an audiobook, and she does have the skills, but what surprised me most was her vocal range. She was able to separate the characters very well with her voice, giving them each their own voice.

This book introduces the listener to six fugitive kids; Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel, known collectively as the Flock. The kids were genetically mutated in utero in a laboratory called "the School", that rendered them 98% human and 2% avian. The Flock is being hunted down by human-lupine hybrids created by the School called "Erasers".

Max (she named herself Maximum Ride) is the one telling the story, and she tells how Jeb escaped the School, with the flock and hid out in the mountains and raises the children for two years. Jeb disappeared leaving the flock to fend for themselves. One day the Erasers find them and take Angel. The flock must fly to the school to rescue Angel. One thing about Angel, she has the ability to read minds and later we find she can also put thoughts into someone's head.

On the way to the School, Max sees a girl on the ground (bird vision?) being threatened by some thugs. She tells the flock to fly to a safe place. She flies down to rescue the girl. The flock may be young but they look older because they are bigger, and on top of that they have stronger than human strength. In the rescue Max is hurt in the struggle and finds herself at the home of the girl she helped. The girl's mother is a veterinarian and fixes her wounds. The vet takes max in for some x-rays and discovers a chip implanted in Max's arm, a sort of tracking chip that is so deeply embedded that it cannot be removed.

Max meets up with the flock and they go on to rescue Angel, but they manage to get captured by Erasers themselves and discover that Jeb is the one behind the capture. The book then moves on to escape and the flock seeking to discover the truth about their creation. Max is told she must "save the world," and begins being led by a voice in her head that disrupts electronics.

The story seems to be fast paced and the adventures take a short time to move on to the next part of the journey, which I see as being aimed at a younger audience. My problem is that when, at times, when a major fight/battle seems to be eminent, all fighting just stops and the enemies just leave, with no victor to be had. Maybe this, again, is for the younger audience, but it seems these moments could have been closed out better.

All in all though this is a fun adventure in genetic mutations and kids seeking their origins.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

"The Hunger Games"
by Suzanne Collins
Read by Carolyn McCormick
Produced by Scholastic Audio Books, 2008
11 hours and 10 min. (unabridged)

I've said it before and I'll say it again today's youth have some great literature written just for them. Here is yet another shining example. "The Hunger Games" takes several ideas and wraps them together to form an exciting bit of big-brother-dystopian-sci-fi. While listening to this audiobook I kept getting thoughts/memories of various bits from media, I would be reminded of the 70's sci-fi film "Logan's Run" at times, or maybe "Rollerball" or "Death Race 2000," then Stephen King's short story turned Schwarzanegger movie "The Running Man," then at times the book reminded me of the multiple reality shows like "Survivor" in which the contestants compete and get voted off. In fact when researching the info on this book I found that the author, Suzanne Collins, was influenced when switching her television back and forth between coverage of the war in Iraq and "Survivor." Collins threw in a bit from the Greek Myth Theseus, who was forced by Minos to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, but survived and created this exciting story.

After reading I found that this book is part one of a trilogy, and the trilogy follows this story's heroine, Katniss Everdeen, as she is chosen to be a tribute to the government to battle in the Hunger games and eventually leads a revolution. But the revolution gets ahead of our story. Let's talk about this one first.

"The Hunger Games" is set in a distant but seemingly not too distant future, after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region Appalachia. Coal is the regions contribution to Panem as all districts have some specialty/export to contribute. The problem is that the government keeps all the regions poor and the people of the districts further from the capitol (which is located somewhere near what is Denver, Colorado) are the poorest. District One near the capitol is the least poor and the higher the number the more the suffering. Katniss is forced to illegally hunt in the woods at an early age after her father dies in a mining accident and her mother becomes locked in grief. Katniss hunts to keep her and her sister alive.

At one point there were 13 districts but the 13th was destroyed when they tried to rebel against the capitol. As punishment for the rebellion every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected at random and forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. Katniss, in place of her younger sister, Primrose. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once saved Katniss's life by giving her bread when her family was starving.

Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other tributes and are publicly displayed to the Capitol audience. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are permitted to send gifts to favored tributes during the Games. The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoors skills to survive. As the Games continue, the tribute death toll increases, but both Katniss and Peeta are able to evade death.

Katniss and Peeta are split up and the Gamemakers use dirty tricks and foul play to make the games more interesting by using some of the government's genetic animal mutations, like tracker jackers, a form of wasp that when it stings it can case vivid hallucinations and kill. Or human / wolf hybrids that hunt like wolves but can think like humans. One mutation a Jabber Jay was created to spy on the population, it has the ability to imitate human speech perfectly so they would record the coversations in the districts and report back to the capitol, when this was discovered the populus would feed the Jays false info, after this that project was abandoned, the Jabber Jays were released and later mated with Mocking Birds, creating the Mocking Jay which could sing beautifully. This Mocking Jay becomes a symbol of the people and of their freedom and has a large part in this novel.

The adventures during the battle in the Arena are very exciting and will keep you glued to this one. If you get the audiobook like I did you'll soon discover the talent that is Carolyn McCormick. Carolyn delivers the reading of this book with enthusiasm when needed and differentiates the characters by giving each their own voice.

"Does My Head Look Big in This?" By Randa Abdel-Fattah

"Does My Head Look Big in This?"
By Randa Abdel-Fattah
Read by Rebecca Macauley
Produced by Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd, 2008
Approx 9 hours

When It comes to life lessons, it seems that the youth have it made, at least in literature aimed at them. As adults the only ones that seem to offer advice are those who have a slant or an issue to press. This book, "Does My Head Look Big in This?" offers up a dose of reality when it comes to multi-culturalism.

Anyone who has been through them can tell you, the teen years are not the easiest of times to get through, you've got peer pressure, body & hormonal changes and pressure to decide what you are going to do with your life. Imagine all that and then one day some people that claim your religion as their cause decide to destroy a couple of buildings in New York. Now the entire world looks at your religion as evil. Even worse live this as a High School student. That is just what Randa Abdel-Fattah has offered up in this book, a look from a typical Muslim girls eyes.

Amal Mohamed Abdel-Hakim is a sixteen year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim girl living in Melbourne with her mom and dad. Her father Mohamed drives a metallic-red convertible because he's convinced that he's still young and cool, he fails to remember that he has a receding hairline, and he blasts Italian opera or 'Palestinian Folk' songs from his car stereo system. Her mom's name is Jamila, which means beautiful in Arabic. She’s loud, fun and energetic, loves to laugh, and is neurotically clean. Just before starting her 11th year in school she makes the decision to adopt the Muslim custom of wearing the hijab, the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women, with varying reactions from her family and peers. This book is about those reactions.

She gets support from one of her Muslim friends, who also wears the hijab, but her mom and dad are worried about what she will have to go through. With the terrorist attack of 9/11 not quite a year past, the world looks at Muslims with suspicious eyes. Logically thinking Amal goes by the the premis that a small group of fanatics shouldn't condemn a whole religion, a very peaceful religion at that. After all are all Christians hated because of the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis, they were all Christian based. Too bad the world as a whole does not think logically.

At first her small group of friends think she is forced to wear the Hijab and feel sorry for her, after she makes it clear it is her choice, some begin to approach her out of curiosity and realize she is the same. To give a little slice of the world some of her friends include, a Japanese girl, an Aussie girl with body image issues, a Greek Orthodox woman that came to Australia not speaking English and more.

This book not only deals with the typical problems of the teen years but also shows a very eye opening view of a religion that is misunderstood.

The reader, Rebecca Macauley, does a smash up job of reading this book, she does a great job of portraying the various accents and cultures. Just to give you a hint of what verbal gymnastics she has to go through, she has to portray an Australian Muslim, then also some Pakistani, Orthodox Greek, British Cockney and even American accents. She does a great job delivering the story and manages to express all the emotions on this roller-coaster of life view.

"Bloody Jack" by L.A. Meyer

"Bloody Jack"
by L.A. Meyer
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Produced by Listen & Live Audio, 2007
Approx 7.5 hours


So do you like pirates, street urchins and love stories? I think I may have found the perfect audiobook for you. This time around I listened to another young adult novel, and had a grand adventure from the streets of London to fighting pirates on the high seas. This adventure novel is also a nice historical novel. The story takes place during the 18th century when his majesty's navy was battling pirates and preparing for war against France.

The story is told through the voice of Mary "Bloody Jack" Faber as she lives out these adventures. It all begins with her as a young orphan on the streets of London trying to survive. Mary takes up with "Rooster" Charlie, the leader of a gang of orphans who beg on the streets to survive. Charlie takes care of his gang and Mary looks up to him as a brother. When Mary discovers Charlie dead on the dark backstreets of London, she no longer has someone to take care of her so she decides to be her on person. She takes Charlies clothes and the persona of Jack, she soon learns that as a boy things are a bit easier in the street life.

Now living as Jack, she finds her way to the docks, where Navy ships are looking for ship boys, these are the boys that do the grunt work on board the ship, Jack gets on board the H.M.S. Dolphin as a ship boy and maintains her secret of being a girl. She soon boards with 3 other boys taken on at the same time and leads a life as a Navy ship boy. After a year or so on-board she finds it harder and harder to maintain the secret because her body is betraying her. Not sure what all the changes of puberty will bring, since she never had any parents to tell her, she strikes out on the next port call to a bordello to ask one of the women there what she needs to know. Upon leaving the bordello the other boys see "Jack" and add to to the myth of her being a boy, after some teasing. During this same port call the 4 ship-boys have created a pact among each other to always be true. To prove this they get tattoos and whenever a secret must be kept they swear upon their tattoos.

Jack gains her nickname "Bloody Jack" after the crew of the HMS Dolphin boards a ship and she, still only about thirteen years old, shoots a plundered pistol to kill a pirate who is about to stab one of her fellow shipmates, Jaimy, who is paralyzed with fright. She comes back to the Dolphin covered in blood, and her proud shipmates nickname the little "boy" Bloody Jack.

During a battle with a pirate ship in the Caribbean the HMS Dolphin is damaged and takes on water. The ship is forced to seek shelter in the cove of a small island until repairs can be made. On this island there is no wood of use to repair the ship so one of the crew members, who has been experimenting with kites, puts Jack on the kite and flies her high to scout for land. During the "flight" the kite breaks free flying Jack 30 miles or so from the Island to be marooned on another Island by herself.

Growing up alone and trying to maintain a major secret create a great adventure in "Bloody Jack." Basically start out with a little "Oliver Twist' throw in some "Treasure Island" with a dash of "Robinson Crusoe" and you have this fun adventure.

Katherin Kellgren does a wonderful job voicing this book. From the cockney accent of the street kids to the distinguished officers on-board the HMS Dolphin, she delivers the book with realism.

"Beastly" by Alex Flinn

"Beastly"
by Alex Flinn
read by Chris Patton
Produced by Brilliance Audio, 2010

So I'm out looking for something different to hear as an audiobook, and I look through the young adult section of listings and run across this book, "Beastly." With young adult fiction it can be hit or miss, you can count big hits in the Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket series of books but when I tried the "Twilight" series I was let down. This book looked like a promising telling of a classic story. The premise of the book is based on the traditional fairytale "The Beauty and the Beast." The author researched various versions of the fairytale, and even makes some reference to them throughout the book.

This is by no means the Disneyfied version, so if you are looking for that type of fun, musical story with a happy ending, it's not this one. This version of the story, while encapsulating the full meaning and feel of the classic, brings the story to modern times with some nice teen angst, cliques and materialistic views of life.

In this book Kyle Kingsbury, the rich, handsome son of Rob Kingsbury, a famous news anchor, has lived all his life thinking that looks and money are all you need in life. He seems to be living proof of that, he dates the hottest girls and is the most popular guy in school. But when Kyle asks a not so good looking new student, Kendra, to the prom as a practical joke, Kendra, transforms Kyle into an ugly man who then turns into a beast. It turns out Kendra is really a beautiful witch.

Kyle's father is ashamed of his son's appearance and locks him in a large apartment in downtown New York so no one will see him. Kyle's only company is his housekeeper, and, later, a blind tutor named Will and his dog. Kyle changes his name to "Adrian", which means "dark one". His only happiness comes from the rose garden he plants and maintains in his small backyard, encouraged by Will. Adrian has two years to break the witch's spell by falling in love and being loved sincerely despite physical appearances.

The Beauty in this story comes in the form of Lindy. Lindy is a poor girl who attends Kyle's school by scholarships. Her only hope to get away from her poverty stricken life, taking care of her drug abusing father is to maintain her grades. In being the bookworm sort she has gone through the school unnoticed. She does have a crush on Kyle, and at the same prom where Kyle is turned into the beaste, Kyle gives her a white rose, only because his girlfriend wanted an orchid and wouldn't wear a "cheap rose." This event is big to Lindy, but Kyle sees it as insignificant.

A man breaks into Kyle's/Adrian's rose garden and when the Beast confronts him the man pleads for his life and offers his daughter to the beast to avoid the police. Kyle learns this is Lindy's father and finds this could be his last chance to find true love and break the curse. Kyle takes Lindy in and he must discover the secrets to true love and find his way to her heart.

I will warn you once again this is not a Disney version and the Happy Ending is relative. The reader, Chris Patton delivers the story with perfect intonation of all emotions and character quirks that at times I almost thought I was listening to a multi-cast performance.

The interesting thing I discovered is that this book has been turned into a movie, that will be released in 2011.

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3) by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass
(His Dark Materials, Book 3)
by Philip Pullman
narrated by Philip Pullman
Multicast performance
Produced by Listening Library
Approx 12 hours

I have finally finished the series of "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. I set out on this reading adventure intrigued by the protestations from organized religion when the movie came out. I saw the movie and didn't see what the hubbub was about. So then I thought well maybe it was in the book and they left out parts from the movie to keep the religious right from protesting. After reading the first two books I still didn't see what the big deal was. Basically the series was just another fantasy young adult series that borrowed from many mythologies to create a very creative well told story. With this third book in the series I still wonder why all the fuss, but can see where closed minded individuals who believe "their truth" to be the only truth worry that the series may instigate the young masses to form thoughts on their own. Okay, that was a bit harsh, but I still just don't get it. Yes the third book does see the death of a deity known as "The Authority," but it also sees the death of a fallen angel by the name of Metatron, and yes, this book is Philip Pullman's way of writing a book that promotes an alternative to organized religion, but, the general idea of good triumphing over evil and everyone can make a difference and we must fight for our freewill doesn't make people become evil.

I was very pleased to find the books available in audio book form and especially once I found that the audio book featured a multi-cast as well as being narrated by the author himself. There are many characters in the book and the multi-cast helps to move the story along for the audio book with out the listener having to try to battle with trying to figure who is talking or thinking at the moment. The added bonus of having the author narrate the books helps to uncover intentions of the author himself.

This book may be a bit difficult to summarize because of the many events happening to close out this trilogy so I will touch a bit on the main events, but I will not give up the surprise ending.

Book two, "The Subtle Knife," left the listener with a cliffhanger. Lyra's mom, Marisa Coulter, captured Lyra and Will had just learned he had a task to help Lyra's father, Lord Asriel. Before he goes to the battle of the worlds with Lord Asriel, Will insists on finding and rescuing Lyra. Mrs. Coulter has Lyra in a cave to protect her from the Magisterum, the church/government that rules in Lyra's world. The Magisterum has sent out an assassin to kill Lyra before she can yeild to original sin.

Will has used his knife to escape an attack from the archangel Metatron. He is escorted by 2 angels one flies ahead to tell Lord Asriel of Will's plan while the other stays behind to assist Will. Upon hearing the news, Lord Asriel dispatches a small army to the cave where Lyra is being forced drugs to stay sleeping so she will be undetected, to counteract the zeppelins from the Consistorial Court. He also sends two Gallivespian spies, the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, to protect Lyra. Gallivespians resemble humans, but are approximately four inches tall and they ride dragonflies.

During this time Will runs into Iorek Byrnison, the bear king of the armoured Panserbjørne, who are migrating south to avoid the Arctic melt caused by the effects of Lord Asriel's bridge. Three forces — Will, Iorek, and Balthamos; Lord Asriel's army; and the army of the Magisterium — converge on Mrs. Coulter's cave, where Will is able to wake Lyra with a special powder that he sprays up her nostrils. He is cutting a window into another world when Mrs. Coulter turns and looks directly at him. For a moment, Will is reminded of his own mother; as a result, his concentration falters, and the knife shatters, having been unable to sever his affection. Because the window he has cut is open, Will, Lyra, and the Gallivespian spies manage to escape to another world.

Will and Lyra delay even further their trip to Lord Asriel's by going to the world of the dead. Will and Lyra mean to keep promises to Will's father and Lyra's friend Roger. In the world of the dead Lyra must leave her Daemon on the shore and is separated from her daemon. They soon discover the dead must be released from the abyss and Will uses the Subtle Knife to cut an opening and release the ghosts into the world. Once in the world the ghosts are freed and their atoms are free to mix back into nature.

The major battle begins between Lord Asriel's army and the army of Metatron. Ending with Lyra and Will reuniting with their daemons and Lyra's parents sacrificing themselves to destroy Metatron.

While all this is going on Dr. Mary Malone has stepped through a window from her own world (assumed to be the readers' world/Will's world) into another window into a stranger world. There she meets elephantine creatures who call themselves Mulefa and use large seedpods attached to their feet as wheels. These creatures have a complex culture, intricate language, and an infectious laugh. Although from completely different worlds, Mary and the Mulefa establish a rapport which results in Mary's acceptance into Mulefa community, where she learns that the trees from which the seedpods are gathered have gradually been going extinct for about 300 years. Mary uses the tree sap lacquer and accidentally constructs a telescope (the 'amber spyglass' of the title) that allows her to see the elementary particles known as Dust. Dust adheres to all life-forms that have attained a level of intelligence associated with building civilizations. She sees that Dust is flying away in large streams rather than falling on and nourishing the trees on which the Mulefa mutually depend.

After the battle Will and Lyra are reunited with Dr. Malone and soon learn their ultimate fate as well as the fate of all the worlds. Here is where I'll stop because the end of the book is a bit of a surprise, but I will tell you it is a very beautiful to end this magical tale. Spread the word to all your friends, "This series is a fun romp through fantasy and mythology with a lesson to learn."

"The Dead Girl's Dance" (book 2 of the Morganville Vampire series) by Rachel Caine

"The Dead Girl's Dance"
(book 2 of the Morganville Vampire series)
by Rachel Caine
read by Cynthia Holloway
produced by Tantor Audio


It's time to continue int the Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine. Morganville, Texas is home to Texas Prairie University and Vampires. The university attracts new, young "blood" and the vampires rule the town. The locals are all under protection from a vampire patron, the families enter a contract which means they are protected, very much like life insurance, but instead of a payout when you pass on, you simply don't pass on by the hands of a vampire.

Claire Danvers is a super-smart 16 year-old that has graduated high school early and instead of going to a big name university she decides to start out with a couple of years at TPU. After being the butt-end of some hazing she moves off campus and into the Glass House, with the residents that all seem fairly normal, Michael Glass who owns the house, Eve the goth girl and Shane the video gamer. She learns the secrets of Morganville from her new roommates and soon the trouble begins.

After the big battle in book one which lead to the residents of the Glass House receiving protection from Morganville's founder and strongest Vampire, Amelie, It doesn't get any easier. In fact things may have been made worse. During the worst of the battle when things looked grim, Shane made a mysterious phone call, calling in the cavalry. It turns out the cavalry was Shane's dad and the anti-vampire biker gang set to destroy Morganville, at least to kill all vampires.

"The Dead Girls' Dance" starts out right at that cliffhanger of an ending from book one. With Shane's dad ready to kill. He starts out by killing Michael, thinking Michael is a vampire. His cohort stabs Michael then they cut off his head and burys him in the backyard. Not good for the Glass House. The protection was as long as all four friends stayed together and in Morganville and never cross Amelie. Shane's dad is out to kill all vampires and that may just break the protection circumstances.

Hearing that his dad has targeted the vampire Brandon as his first kill, Shane, even though he hates vampires and especially Brandon, goes out to save Brandon. Shane is found next to Brandon's dead body and since that is the most severe law to break in Morganville, killing a vampire, Shane is locked in a cage in the town's square set to die by incineration, unless Claire and the rest can find proof Shane did not do the killing.

So Eve and Michael and Claire set out to find proof. Yes, I said Michael, sure he's not a vampire but he is a ghost. The only problem is that being a ghost he is held by the power of the house, so he cannot leave Glass House, but on the bright side, he cannot die. One of the many plans the group come up with is to find a vampire to help them sneak into the square and help Shane escape. The vampire they find to help them is Sam. Wait till you hear what Sam's secrets are. No I won't tell, you'll have to listen and hear for yourself, otherwise you may not believe me.

To find Sam, Eve and Claire must attend the campus dance called "The Dead Girls' Dance." The problems really hit when Shane's dad and his biker buddies decide to crash the dance.

Once again while Cynthia Holloway does a pretty decent job of reading the story and has pretty good vocal characterization, she still needs to work on her pronunciation skills. On of the words in this one that stands out is here pronunciation of the word "nuclear." You guessed it she pronounces as "Nucular." There are others but that one stands out the most in this book. Other than that some good listening to this Tantor Audio book version of "The Dead Girls' Dance," by Rachel Caine.

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires Series #1) by Rachel Caine

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires Series #1)
by Rachel Caine
read by Cynthia Holloway
produced by Tantor Audio
approx. 8.5 hours

Finally a young adult vampire series you can really sink your teeth into. (I know too much, right?) Seriously Rachel Caine has created in the Morganville Vampire series a return to the good old days of when vampires were enemies and not something to fall in love with. And now Tantor Audio has brought the first book to life in audio book form.

Overall, Cynthia Holloway, does a very nice job of delivering the story as told from Claire Danvers a super smart 16 year old in her first year of college. However there are a couple of pronunciation issues that should have been cleared up before production. One that stands out is the word settee. Ms. Holloway pronounces as "setty" instead of set-tee. There are only a couple of other words that grated on me but this one was repeated several times in the book and just felt like nails on a chalkboard. If it weren't for the intriguing story I would have been turned off a bit from the book. Aside from a couple of mispronunciations, Ms. Holloway does a great job of helping to distinguish who is talking and thinking with slight voice variations and emotes the danger and and even sometimes humor Rachel Caine uses to create a world full of vampires.

The story in this first book of the series of Morganville Vampires, Glass Houses, introduces the listener to the town of Morganville, Texas, home of Texas Prairie University sometimes called T-P eeewwww. A town that is populated by some strange people and even stranger yet, the town is run by Vampires. Each person has a sort of insurance policy that protects them from the vampires, when the person turns 18 they must find some vampire family to "insure" them or risk becoming food for the vamps.

Claire Danvers is a 16 year old who, due to her super smarts, has graduated high school early and before heading to a major university has opted to attend TPU. The problem is her smarts gets her on the wrong side of Monica Morell, the most popular girl in school. When Claire corrects Monica and makes her look dumb in front of friends, Claire becomes marked for violence. Monica and the Monikettes beat up Claire and steal her clothes from her dorm room. Claire decides to be safe she will have to move off campus. She discovers that The Glass House residents are looking for a fourth roommate and after meeting with Shane and Eve she has to meet with Michael, the owner of the house and who only makes his appearances after sunset.

Shane whose sister died after Monica, under instructions from the vampires, set fire to Shane's family home, makes a deal with the vampires to keep Claire from further attack. This deal could mean the death of Shane. In order to null the deal Claire has to make a better offer to the vampires.

Eve a goth girl that is hated by the vampires because they feel she is making fun of them, tells Claire of something the vampires want and have been looking for for ages. Claire must find this lost article and bring peace to the town of Morganville. In doing so Claire discovers Michaels secret and is burdened with another secret. All this on the shoulders of a 16 year-old genius.

With exciting vampire battles and the hazing of college life, "Glass Houses" is a very nice introduction to a series of vampire books that brings back the stories of hunting vampires rather than falling in love with them. So if you are a fan of the other young adult vampire stories, pick up this ongoing series for some real vampire battles.