Wildwood

By: Ellis Carson, Colin Meloy

Narrated by: Amanda Plummer

Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a dense, tangled forest on the edge of Portland. No one’s ever gone in – or at least returned to tell of it.

So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend, Curtis, deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval - a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much greater, as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.

Wildwood is a spellbinding tale full of wonder, danger, and magic that juxtaposes the thrill of a secret world and modern city life. Original and fresh yet steeped in classic fantasy, this is a novel could have only come from the imagination of Colin Meloy, celebrated for his inventive and fantastic storytelling as the lead singer of the Decemberists. Wildwood is truly a new classic for the 21st century.

©2011 Unadoptable Books LLC (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

Ive heard worse narrators

everyone says the person reading is horrible but Ive honestly heard worse. I enjoyed the story and will be moving on to the next book.

Absolutely love the narrator

Stories like this take me back to being a kid. Imagining anything can be out there in the great beyond.
Amanda Plummer does such an amazing job giving voice to all the characters and really kept me wanting to listen for hours on end. I sincerely hope they plan to have her narrate the rest of the series.

I think I would prefer the print this time

The reader seems to be putting pauses in sentences rather oddly. It tends to leave you feeling that the story makes little sense. However, I did try rethinking the sentence without the misplaces pauses and they make perfect sense so I suspect it is the reader not the writer.

Talking Animals and Blood-Hungry Invasive Species!

At first, I was skeptical. I enjoyed Meloy's music, but could he write a YA novel? And it took me a little bit to get used to Plummer's quirky narration. However, once I settled into it, I was delighted! Meloy pays tribute to Brian Jacques and C.S. Lewis! It's an odd adventure story that sometimes meanders, but it includes plenty of swashbuckling rescues and dark twists. I'm an 8th grade teacher, and although this certainly isn't a general crowd-pleaser that I would recommend to just any teen, it will be perfect for just that right kid who wants something special to read in between "Princess Bride" and "Wrinkle In Time." And although Plummer's Irish accent could use a little practice, I actually found her narration fit the story nicely.

Good story, disliked the narrator

I'd read a hard copy of this book and enjoyed it (as well as the rest of the series), this review is just about the voice of the woman reading the audio version. I downloaded the audio version for a road trip with my kids. Perhaps others enjoyed the way this audio book is read, but I found it unlistenable and we turned it off after a couple chapters. The way she altered her voice when reading the lines of the main character sounded much more like the voice of a 4 year old than a 12 year old girl, and overall was read as if it was being acted out. I greatly prefer audio books which just *read* the words vs. act the words, as one of the great joys of reading is to let one's imagination interpret the story. Would be great to see this book re-recorded as the current female narrator really negatively impacts this audio book experience.

difficult to listen to

Story is good. Reader was troublesome for me. She has very strange intonation that annoyed me throughout. I like YA but have been prompted to avoid them in audio after this one.

Narrator was bothersome

Love the story but the narrators voice is annoying and is like nails on a chalkboard at times. Too bad.

Horrible narration

Great story, cringe worthy narration. Almost stopped listening her voices were so annoying. Story is wonderful though.

Good Story, Listened Sped Up

I really enjoyed the book. It’ll be a good one for when my son gets older, till then, now I know it will make a good gift for my nephews because it’s so adventurous.

Another reviews on here have complained about the narrator. I honestly didn’t notice the “pauses” folks were complaining about, then realized I listen to books at a faster speed and that made it far less noticeable. So maybe try that if her cadence bothers you.

Terrible narration

I am just starting with this book so I’m not sure how much I like the story but the narration is terrible, it sounds like someone’s grandma reading a fairy tale to a very small child and the characters just sound awkward and weird. I’m sorry for Amanda Plummer but she’s a better actress than an audiobook reader.