The Emerald Atlas

Books of Beginning

By: John Stephens

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

"A strong . . . trilogy, invoking just a little Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events along the way."—Realms of Fantasy

Siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.

Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.

Until now.

Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world . . . a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And—if an ancient prophesy is true—what they do can change history, and it's up to them to set things right.

"A new Narnia for the tween set."—The New York Times

"[A] fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy."—Publishers Weekly

"Echoes of other popular fantasy series, from "Harry Potter" to the "Narnia" books, are easily found, but debut author Stephens has created a new and appealing read . . ."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

©2011 John Stephens (P)2011 Listening Library

Great Fun

A great story with the best audio book reader of all time. This story reminds me of Harry Potter, the Hobbit and Fablehaven with its own intrigue and twists.

Fun Adventure In Time

Overall loved the story and the character development. I'm a 52 yrs old fart and was still able to enjoy the story. Just goes to show you, with the right attitude we all can all stay young at heart!!! I will listen to the next two books too!!!

A very cute first book to an enjoyable series

Any additional comments?

My favorite part of this trilogy is the narration and the cleverness of the writing. There are lots of "jibs" and "jabs" back and forth between characters and I really appreciate the underlying sense of humor. This is a great Trilogy for kids and adults. It's roughly "Harry Potter" level material without quite as much dark evil. I really enjoyed this series and the first book was particularly cute.

Did Not Hold My Attention

Any additional comments?

This story did not hold my attention. Lots of action but I did not really care for the voices. First book I've listened to narrated by Jim Dale and I was not all that impressed. His accents are fine but the children were so whiny and overly dramatic that I had a hard time listening. Sorry, Jim Dale fans.

Would be an excellent movie!

Loved these books, so imaginative and other worldly. Suspenseful, entertaining fantasy trilogy. The whole family loved it. I even have the cast picked out for when they make the movie! Just enchanting!

Loved this. Reminds me of HP

Jim Dale is a national treasure. What great fun and very similar to all of the adventure in the magical world of Harry Potter. Highly recommended for anyone who loved the JK Rowling books.

awesome

Loved this book. I have the hard back and wanted something to listen to while I was working. audible even better.

Jim Dale great again, story itself decent

The comparisons to the Harry Potter series and the Narnia series is apt with children without their parents, doorways to other worlds and times, an old wizard guiding the way, and a powerful and bad warlock in the background.
I enjoyed much of the silly humor, especially in the beginning, with some solid ridiculousness even when the plot was getting more serious and stakes high.
The three protagonists are distinct characters who are each likeable in their different ways.
This is not another "kid(s) go to magical school" type book, although there is magic being performed and the kids do happen upon an object which helps them do a bit of magic, without instruction.
And like the Harry Potter series, Jim Dale is the audio-narrator (typically for American audiences).
With his warm, affecting voice and great, diverse voices, I could probably listen to Jim Dale read the phone book (Do those still exist?!) and enjoy it; this book too is enhanced by a superstar voice actor (a singer turned actor who is in 2024 still tick'n at age 88 and recorded "Puss in Boots: a Musical" in 2019).
I skipped 4-5 of chapters to the last 3-4 chapters to hear the conclusion without being very interested in the long, drawn-out battle that predictably was most of the last nine chapters.
For those of us, like me, who enjoy books that are Harry Potter -esque of tone and feel without being a carbon-copy, John Stephens makes a solid attempt, but I definitely prefer Jessica Townsend's Morrigan Crow series.
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Spoilers comparison with Harry Potter:
*The old wizard seems to be 98% clone with Dumbledore, perhaps higher; the only obvious difference is his penchant for wearing the same wrinkly tweed suit and also his Gandalfy joy in smoking a pipe.
*There is a giant man whose very strong and brave, but whose personality is fairly different from Hagrid. Jim Dale went w/ a different voice (that of Hector Bowen, Prospero the Enchanter, of The Night Circus book) to distinguish them.
*The basic plot is similar to The Prisoner of Azkaban with the children needing to travel through time to save the day.
*The main baddy, the Countess or Witch, is no Voldemort but seems to be working for a Voldemort-like character. She seems closer to the White Witch in how she gets the brother, like Edmund, to betray his siblings, and she's come to rule over an area, but her personality is more like Sarah Jessica Parker in Hocus Pocus, along with the personal vanity and looks of Fleur Delacour.
*There is a mansion with lots of secret passage-ways.
*The Screechers have the appearance of Dementors yet in character as servant-warriors are a lot like the The Nazgûl or Dark Riders of Lord of the Rings.
*I like the large integration of dwarves of a Lord of the Rings character; Rowling only integrates them very briefly in the 2nd book to pass out Valentine cards.

Good first in a series

Enjoyable listen, not the best ever written but well done and worth the credit. I am a big Jim Dale fan since the Harry Potter books and the only thing I found unusual was that some of the character voices were very similar to the Potter voices:

Dr Pym = Dumbledor, Cavendish = Peeves, Gabriel = Madeye Moody, The Countess = Belatrix and a few more.

I look forward to the next books in the series.

Great story! Less thrilled about the the narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Sure! It was a great story! I don't mind the obvious influences... at all, actually.
I thought it was a gripping and engaging and (sometimes even a little bit of a) scary story and in it's own right too, in spite of being obviously inspired by works of Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling among (I am sure) many others. Honestly It's rather difficult to find fantasy-lit that does not exhibit common traits with, if not the above-mentioned authors then, other authors in the category.
I am looking very much forward to reading/listening to the next two books in the trilogy! :)

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I am sure that opinion on Mr. Jim Dale as narrator will be much diverse, but for me he just didn’t fit quite right... For one thing the story is set in America and I was therefore a little distracted by the various British dialects (some almost caricature-ish)... And although he was good at doing the adult voices such as the dwarfs and Dr. Pym, I didn’t feel he got the teenage/kid-dialog... I sensed how a kid might say it and – for me – it was just off...
I am sure Mr Dale would be fantastic at reading Tolkien though!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could I probably would have.. alas, life had to be dealt with as well ;)