Abeni's Song

By: P. Djèlí Clark

Narrated by: Funmi James

IN DARKNESS, A SONG CAN LEAD THE WAY. BEWARE WHICH ONE YOU LISTEN TO.

Abeni's Song by award-winning author P. Djèlí Clark is the enchanting beginning of an epic West African and African Diaspora-inspired fantasy adventure for middle-grade listeners about a reluctant apprentice to magic and the stolen villagers she sets out to save.

“Lush and magical.” —KWAME MBALIA • “Astonishing.” —MARK OSHIRO • "Abeni's story will sweep you away." —AMANDA FOODY

On the day of the Harvest Festival, the old woman who lives in the forest appears in Abeni's village with a terrible message:

You ignored my warnings. It’s too late to run. They are coming.

Warriors with burning blades storm the village. A man with a cursed flute plays an impossibly alluring song. And everyone Abeni has ever known and loved is captured and marched toward far-off ghost ships set for even more distant lands.

But not Abeni.

Abeni is magically whisked away by the old woman. In the forest, Abeni begins her unwanted magical apprenticeship, her journey to escape the witch, and her impossible mission to bring her people home.

Abeni’s Song is the beginning of a timeless, enchanting fantasy adventure about a reluctant apprentice, a team of spirit kids, and the village they set out to save.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

Critic reviews

"Vibrant and utterly immersive, Abeni's story will sweep you away with its depth of fantastical wonder, tragedy, and coming-of-age adventure." —Amanda Foody, New York Times bestselling author of the Wilderlore Series

"A lush and magical fantasy that will leave readers craving more of Abeni's adventure."—Kwame Mbalia, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Tristan Strong series

"Abeni’s Song is simply unlike anything else in the field. An astonishing adventure that managed to thrill, scare, and delight, all while telling a story that is beautifully complicated and moving. Middle grade readers, meet your new favorite author." —Mark Oshiro, award winning author of The Insiders

Praise for P. Djèlí Clark:
Winner of the Nebula, Alex, Locus, and British Fantasy Awards
ALA's RUSA Reading List Fantasy Winner
One of "Speculative Fiction's Rising Stars" (Goodreads)

"Perfect" —NPR on The Haunting of Tram Car 015

“A fantastical, brutal and thrilling triumph.” —New York Times Book Review on Ring Shout

“Rousing, boisterous, and clever.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on Ring Shout

“Readers will be both captivated and entertained.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Ring Shout

"Sure to wow.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review, on A Master of Djinn

Great story - Terrible audiobook

The narrator chose a very high pitched, nasal voice for most of the female characters that were like fingernails on a chalkboard to me, and another main character speaks in a weird stilted staccato like William Shatner. So while the general narrator voice is wonderful, conversations between these characters was pretty excruciating to listen to. I can’t recommend it.

Good book, distracting performance

While I enjoyed the story, and the performer seemed talented and skillful, many of the character performances distracted from the experience. Several characters were very whiny, others guttural or halting. Either the performer and/or the director just seemed to have made some odd choices that didn’t work as hoped, and made listening somewhat less enjoyable. But it was a good book.

Good Story

I'm generally a big fan of P. Djèlí Clark. This one is pretty good, but not one of my favorites from him. Part of my issue with the book may have been the awful narrator. I usually like narrators who do different voices for the different characters, but all of the voices she did made me cringe. At multiple points I considered giving up on the audio version and just buying the book to finish reading it. Assuming her natural voice is what she used for the parts of the narrator, that voice sounded fine. I really wish she had not tried to come up with voices for each character. It ruined the book for me.

The story is fun and well written, but the performance was terrible

This is a great story. But I had to stop listening twice because the performer is so bad. There are four girls who are the hero’s, each separated from their family and each with their own lessons to learn. It’s both exciting and charming. Even the villain gets some sympathy. But the performer reads women (including the girls) in a painfully slow falsetto that is both annoying and hard to understand. Get this book in print, not from Audible. It is worth reading, but the Audible performance is painful to listen to.