DianneSprings

No spoilers in this review :)

Most notable positive aspect of the book - Relatable responses and characters, even with the magical abilities.

Descriptive & Fun!
If I had fairy dust in today's society (cruddy apartment/driving a car/ordering fast food/policing the outlaws) I think I would respond the same way the main character does. The magical powers can be used in limited ways (you cannot use it as a holy grail solution to everything) but the different powers are sufficient to keep you from carrying lighters and pepper spray, with the added benefit of being able to always see the true object/person no matter the disguise. The narrator had a wide range of emotional voices. You could see the narrator smiling and grimacing and furrowing her brows as she acted out all of the characters. Each character had their own personality due to the vocal expression, so they were not dependant on the unique man/woman/monster voice. The author was INCREDIBLY colorful in all her descriptions. I could see each detail, and still she found wonderful fun words to make the picture complete! Example: She looked crusty, bumpy, and Booger-fied (instead of just green and slimy)

Downside:
There is so much unnecessary cussing in the book that I became squirmy and dispirited. The author was successfully being colorful without all the cusswords, so why did she sprinkle so many throughout? Most likely the author used the cusswords as an expression to make the main character appear unrefined and realistic. Honestly, I don't want to listen to a real co-worker or friend cuss like that, so having the main character do it was uncomfortable. Added negativity that just didn't belong in such a fun story…could have used fake expletives (Dang it! Shoot! Heck No! ) and the same objective would have been achieved.

Needless to say, I squirmed through the first hour or two, but the cussing was too much for me, so I had to stop reading it. Shame, because the story was INCREDIBLE!

No Spoilers
--No cussing that I can recall.
--Most unique quality: Music played throughout the book at the end of a chapter.
--Some explicit content with the goal of describing horrible situations, horrible people, and abuse.

The Narrator was more bland than the Narrators I am used to, but she did a good job and was consistent through the whole book. Her style of reading did make the book's dramatic scenes more dramatic, and the characters more serious when they should be. Her voice was fitting for the characters with calm, cool, calculating exteriors.

So many twists! Butterfly's Dust Poison…wow. I was anticipating the story going one way, but then it switched directions…a few times. Valic kept his cards close to his chest through the whole book. His devotion to the commander was absolute, but he had his own small agenda at unexpected intervals. We are never sure how we feel about the commander until the end of the book. Yelena grew in her relationships to people slowly and hesitantly, and unexpectedly (at least to her). She was at war with herself through much of the book. Escape, or not escape? I felt such empathy with Yelena's plight and applauded her calculated and creative actions through the whole book. She is NOT a simpleton.

I JUMPED to grab book two to be with Yelena and the others longer. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK FIRST.

No Spoilers, but you MUST read book 1 even before you read this review:
I felt wound-up, anticipating my drive to work so I could hear what came next!

--Only a little music in the book, but not like Poison Study music.
--I missed Valic at first.
--It was largely awkward to hear Yelena meat her family...I felt squirmy just listening to them dance around each other not knowing what to say.
--Some explicit descriptions of abuse (much like Poison Study)

Yelena knows next to NOTHING about magic. She studies magic at The Keep with Iris. She does a lot more "solving problems" at the keep than actually book studying magic…she is a little old to go to magical kindergarten. Her magical ability is unique and powerful. Since we know as much magic as Yelena knows, we are just as surprised by the magical benefits that she stumbles across. She learned to be a loose cannon from living in Icksia, which causes so much trouble…for everyone else...but seems to benefit those too weak to protect themselves.

The story does fly a little wilder than Poison Study. I felt less grounded and a bit taken advantage of by the magical liberties. Magic wasn't the perfect solution to solve all problems, but it is what the south country of Citia has depended solely on for centuries, and now Yelena had to learn to be dependant on it too.

No Spoilers here:
Even though some cusswords come out abbreviated, there is A LOT of cussing.

It is a post apocalyptic story. All women are gone...or ARE they....I like the level of interest in which all the men have their inner thoughts exposed for all others. It is sociologically neat to see how different people handle the issue of being able to see/hear everything that men/boys think. However, (just like in real life) it isn't always so plain and easy to see what kind of person someone is just because you can see their thoughts. Ironic, no?
The downside of the book was that you have to read the second book, AND the characters are not terribly lovable. They make the story kind of dark and frustratingly depressing. Don't mistake my meaning, it is a good read if you want something kind of dark and very dramatically serious. No humor whatsoever in this book, and very few breathers from the terror and struggle. Hunger Games had more humor in it than this book.

The Narrator did a wonderful job giving the story layers. People have emotions and expressions that matched what the narrator provided. I have read and listened to this book, and it is definitely a better listen. Favorite Character: Manchie. Why? The narrator did such a good job with this dog's character voice that my husband and I were quoting him for weeks.

No spoilers in this review :) An extra 200 colorfully written pages would have made this book epic. Warning: The Iron King has cussing in it.

Most notable positive aspect of the book - The narrator pronouncing Fairy and Pixy as if it were not a child's nursery book.

Entertaining:
It is a Mythical Magic meets normal girl. At times it was extremely entertaining to watch as the author switched us from genre to genre. Fairy land, then Earth, then Supernatural, then back to Fairy Land and all the time having the main heroine and heroes being consistent in their responses, making them lovable and real characters. The author is true to the history of the legends. She doesn't change things like "Satyrs" (who are very sexual beings, and many times aggressive).

Downsides:
There are a LOT of characters in the beginning so it is difficult to remember everything (including all the character's names), but as you go along you realize who is important and who is not important. The narrator is not ENTIRELY consistent with the voice responses. When Ash shouts "Watch out!" sometimes it sounds like someone else is saying it because the voice inflections are out of Ash's calculating character.

The BIGGEST downside is the author or editor's fault…The descriptions of actions are hastily written and shallow. It leaves the relationships and scenery a bit...malnourished.

Example:
The book reads, "I picked up Ethan, and started to walk towards the door to the hall. Then he reached up to hold my hand while we traversed down the hall together…" Wait..what? I pictured her picking up Ethan in a cradle position in her arms, just to find out they are walking hand in hand together? Unclear at best…wouldn't her hands be busy holding him? . This makes it extremely difficult to picture the action and fight scenes because this kind of writing continues through the entire book. Made much of the book hold some distant realism (with fantasy novels the descriptions are the plate the meat of the story sits on) My 30 second rewind button got some mileage. What could have been written:
"I bent over to help Ethan get up, cradling him for just a moment before setting him on his feet. We turned towards the hallway door stepping through the echoing space. As we walked in step together side by side, he reached up to clasp my hand in an attempt at normalcy, however the emotion of fear was still etched in his small features.":
See what I mean? An extra 200 colorfully written pages would have made this book epic.

No spoilers in this review :)

The narrator did a marvelous job! Her accent and emotions are wonderful to listen to. She had fairly distinguishable male and female character voices where you could identify who was speaking before the author has written who was speaking.The description and colorful language was great. I could picture everything in my mind as the narrator went through it. The story was typical, I was annoyed with some of the physical and emotional manipulations and confusion that the hero and heroine put themselves into. I kept saying, "Well, what outcome did you EXPECT would happen if you ____?" I was also interested in waiting to see if they would figure out how their ministrations and relationship would effect others around them.

She has loved him forever, he didn't even notice her until she blossomed (conformed to the mind set of dressing more maturely). Can she seduce him (physically) into loving her and making a marriage worthy relationship? We shall see...

Angela Dawe's voice was the reason I picked up the little free book.

I liked the short little prequel, and it sold me on starting the series. The series is going well, but I am reading the book, so I think #2 in the series I will have to pick up the audio book. The read isn't hard, but a lot of the words are artfully misspelled so that you can feel the juxtaposition of his intelligence, education, and age. Many of his sentences are run on sentences and the reader will most definitely be challenged to read the emotion/panic/action required to pull off the character's emotional run-on(s).

3 Sentences:
Many women have an insecurity about being lovable or perfect enough.
Men will always get angry when they are lied to, or their Pride is poked
Giving someone a chance to love you is sometimes the most important step.

Kit - He has a purity and honesty about him. He may be young, but he is intelligent and faithful to those he loves.
Violet overcomes herself.
Adrian is not unredeemable or unrealistic.

They were all voiced very well, and I could tell the difference between the men/women/character voices. She is very talented. Violet was the best portrayed because (despite its annoying debut) her shaky emotional voice was well suited for the risks Violet took.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes an abundance of emotion and knows how it is to be a bit self conscious about yourself romantically/beautifically/socially.

love can conquer all, but this book grabs the reality that lies effect everyone, and you have to be prepared to overcome the consequences of it. The lack of huge numbers of characters help you really get to know your 3-4 main characters. Their responses become very real and you sympathize with all of them because you know very deeply where they all are coming from. However, I felt a little empty at the end because I wanted to hear more (since the entire book was about the consequences of lies, half truths, and forgiveness) on the way society/family responded to the lies/half-truths. Despite not being able to know all of the characters as well as Adrian, Violet, Kit, and Janette by-proxy, it was a very enjoyable read that pulled emotion from every page.