Echo North

De: Joanna Ruth Meyer

Narrado por: Elizabeth Evans

Echo Alkaev's safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf - the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: if she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, each room must be sewn together to keep the home from unraveling, and something new and dark and strange lies behind every door. When centuries-old secrets unfold, Echo discovers a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. As the year ticks by, the rooms begin to disappear and Echo must solve the mystery of the wolf's enchantment before her time is up - otherwise Echo, the wolf, and Hal will be lost forever.

©2019 Joanna Ruth Meyer (P)2019 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Epic and engrossing. Magic pulsates through every page.... Readers will ache when it's over and want to start all over again. A lush, captivating new twist on beloved fairy tales.” (Kirkus, starred review)

It could have been a great book but so disappointing

Beautiful prose, some really cool magic and use of different folklore but ultimately a contradicting and messy plot. Plot holes and unanswered questions. Objects that imply special meaning but never pay off or are explained. The hero should not be forgiven. He never learns his lesson. He is selfish the entire time, he just learned to be emo and tortured about it. There was so much good about this book. It just needs pruning, continuity and a clear message that is not to forgive the guy that repeatedly and knowingly manipulates and hurts you for love.

good but a bit too long

The story was good, I liked the world/character building. It was a bit too long though, I ended up skipping a couple of chapters, but didn't get lost. I liked Howl.

Well done storytelling!

I definitely enjoyed this one from Joanna, it feels like a genuine fairy tail story! The characters were very well done, great world building and an interesting plot. Definitely recommended for anyone that likes fairy tales and especially Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

Mmm...

Too much nonsensical magic for my taste. So sad because I really wanted to like this book.

Twists & Turns

The story was wonderful. Engaging from page 1. I will listen/read more by this author.

Absolutely Lovely!

This was a seamless mix of “Beauty and the Beast”, “Psyche and Eros”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “The Four Winds”, and “The Snow Queen”. I loved it! ❤️ Was it predictable? Yes, but comforting in the way familiar fairytales often are. I felt like I was a child tucked in for a bedtime story and enjoyed every minute of it!

Ending has technical difficulties

I enjoyed the story. As always Elizabeth Evans narration is fabulous!
At the end the book keeps turning itself off and on, over and over. Hopefully it can be repaired.
I need more books narrated by ELIZABETH EVANS.

Great story

This was a really good and different story. I enjoyed it. As always Elizabeth Evans did a wonderful job. She is by far my favorite narrator!

A Norwegian-Inspired Howl’s Moving Castle

I love this world!

Meyer clearly has a deft grasp of fairytale whimsy and its whacky possibilities, yet somehow it never dissociated me from the characters, except that it probably surpassed them.

The characters are certainly functional, but they are a bit one-note and melodramatic. Especially, I’m sorry, it took most of the novel for the central romance to become much more to me than a very sensuous, teen crush.

Both the characters and the plot do get more involved, but with all the major plot reveals, in the end it’s usually more muddled and sometimes less interesting than the simple premise.

Those middle two quarters of the book are an absolute blast, and even the ending continues to be seriously atmospheric. Evan’s especially shines there, pulling together multiple female voices that instantly show their separate stories .

This book is fairly messy, but it’s fairy tale messy, and I could easily see it being adapted into an animated series with me at the front of the line!

CONTENT ADVISORY
-Lots of bloody injuries and sequences of supernatural torture. Several illusory characters are killed.
-A few uses of “d*mn” and God’s name in vain.
-Lots of sensuous language about hugging and kissing.
-A sentient wolf sleeps in bed each night next to a woman to stay warm, and (SPOILER) is revealed to turn into human form at night, but they only briefly even touch once.

Nice little story with fun magic...

It’s certainly not my favourite beauty and the beast retelling, but it was okay. I loved the magic and it had some really cool twists and turns at the end. I got through if very quickly and found it relatively enjoyable.

On the other hand, I felt like it was very drawn out - I got to the fourth hour thinking, “there can’t be much more.” And yet there was still another 6 hours. Then all of the sudden the entire conclusion was jammed into one hour. It got a bit muddled because she was revealing all of the ‘mysteries’ at once which made for a bit of a messy knot. Also, the main character seemed very oblivious and idiotic at points. There were some VERY obvious connections that she didn’t make which had me face palming at moments. And then there are a couple details that didn’t make sense or that are somewhat unclear (for example injuries & wounds - broken ribs and sprained ankles don’t heal in a week). There was definitely some suspension of disbelief required at moments, but it was all completely forgivable.

Besides that, it was a pretty good story to curl up with for a weekend and it managed to keep me occupied without ever getting too boring.