One for All

By: Lillie Lainoff

Narrated by: Mara Wilson

Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

One for All is an OwnVoices, gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father - a former Musketeer and her greatest champion. Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for new Musketeers: Women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a sword fight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels that she has a purpose, that she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming - and might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to decide where her loyalties lie...or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

Lillie Lainoff's debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love.

©2022 Lillie Lainoff (P)2022 Recorded Books

Very good!

This story was really engaging and well told. There's a lot of French in the novel but it's used with enough context that not understanding French isn't an impediment to enjoying the story. Mara Wilson does a great job with the narration, hampered slightly by an editor that apparently *really* likes a good pregnant pause in the middle of a sentence. Odd choice but I don't think it was the narrator herself doing it.

Best chronic illness representation I've ever seen

The very best chronic illness representation I’ve ever seen. In any media! This book means the world to me and I will never shut up about it.

It's a very fun fantasy romp. Ladies belong front and center with swords! Tania is a kickass protag who won't let anything stop her. Her friends, however, shot me through the heart with their kindness. I cried every time they said, "we won't let you fall" and then followed through. Thank you so much to Lillie Lainoff for writing a disabled protag whose friends treat her appropriately/as a PERSON instead of as a fragile doll. I very highly recommend this book to all fantasy lovers or to anyone who wants to know more about what chronic illness feels like. Mara Wilson does a spectacular job with the audio.

Please give it a chance!!

Good story, marred by fractured French

Love this twist on a classic story, putting a heroine with a physical disability at the center. But the author’s fractured French really bothered me. In some cases it’s grammatical errors, in others, she tries to translate idiomatic English into French. A good copy editor should have caught this. Also, the reader - while she gives a dynamic performance - has a terrible French accent. In the end, I suspect the book is much better than this production.