angelofthetardis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is my first graphic audio listen and I'm completely sold on the premise. It might not seem like much, but having that extra layer of sound effects and music underneath the narration, plus having a full cast really brings the story to life and genuinely does feel like a 'movie in your mind'. 

The cast is very good generally, all evoking the depth of their characters through the simple medium of their voices. If I'm nitpicking, the actress narrating/playing Feyre is a little breathy for my taste, and does tend to let her sentences run into one another on occasion, but overall she is still very easy to listen to and suits the role well. Although he's only in this part briefly, my other slight disappointment is that Rhys (although at this point he hasn't been named) isn't played by a Brit. I was dying to hear his "catchphrase" drawled in an English accent to make him stand apart from the rest, but looks like that's not going to happen. Never mind!

However, the actress playing Nesta has already got my hackles up! Which just means she's done the character justice! Just the right mix of sarcasm, brattishness and entitlement to really bring her into being. Likewise, Tamlin is doing very well at drawing me in... I'll be interested to see how that develops over the course of the next few books! 

Listening to the story also really brings out the similarity with 'Beauty and the Beast' more to me as well. I'm not saying that you don't get those vibes from the book alone, and it may be because I only saw the live-action film again a couple of days ago, but the imagery of Tamlin in his 'beastly' form, the garden and the roses, the scene of Feyre tending to Tamlin's wounds and so much more just chimed with me more clearly as a clear parallel. 

I do think it's an advantage to have read the book before going into listening mode - if this is your first foray into ACOTAR I think it's likely you'll find this part pretty slow going. I'm not entirely sure why they felt it necessary to split the book into two parts (although I suspect the financial rewards may have played a significant role), and overall the 'meat' of this story will be in part two. All of this part is simply the worldbuilding and set up, which could easily be forgotten if you're only able to buy one part a month using Audible credits! Therefore, I'd be recommending to anyone that they don't start listening to this until they have both parts of the story available to listen straight through. 

Speaking of which, that's what I'm off to do right now 😁

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lizacorn's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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