Caszandra

Touchstone, Book 3

By: Andrea K . Höst

Narrated by: Stephanie Macfie

Cassandra Devlin doesn’t know what she's for. But she knows she's running out of time.

Since Cass was rescued from the abandoned world of Muina, the Aussie teen has proven more than useful to the people of Tare. Expeditions to their home world no longer end in slaughter. The teaching city of Kalasa has been unlocked. After years of searching for answers, they are starting to make progress.

But space is tearing itself apart. Ionoth attack in ever-greater numbers. And "the useful stray" has been injured so many times that the Tarens hesitate to use her for fear of losing her.

With one particular Taren now her most important person, Cass is determined to contribute everything she can, and hopes to find some answers of her own. What is the link between Muina and Earth? Why are the reclusive Nurans so interested in "rescuing" her? And what role in the crisis do the inhuman Cruzatch play?

Can Cass keep herself together long enough to find out?

©2011 Andrea K Hosth (P)2020 Andrea K Hosth

was the narrator ill-prepared or rushed?

I adore the Touchstone stories. They are like crack to me.
I was constantly distracted by mispronounced words or wrong words.

One of my favorite lines in this book is "...an act of sheer and implacable willpower.. " The narrator said 'impeccable'. That tossed me out of the story and I couldn't resume for several hours.

Great story/production problems

Whoever edited this did not adjust the speed or volume of speech consistently throughout the recording. The narrator has a very pleasant voice but consistently drops and adds articles and prepositions, uses malaprops, and has dropped sentences as well as full paragraphs throughout the book.

Great ending to an interesting trilogy

Listen to this series at .85 speed. the narrator speaks too quickly but is quite talented at a saner speed.

I have listened to this series several times and greatly enjoy it. Cassandra Devlin is highly relatable, and despite developing an incredible talent remains the normal, somewhat insecure, fragile yet brave person we came to know in book one. Her mocking self-description as the 'super special magic girl' and odd mix of fear, bravery and resignation at the situation she finds herself in is a masterful example of an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances. I encourage anyone who likes this trilogy to find the continuing stories Gratuitous Epiloge, In Arkadia and Snow Day. seeing what happened next makes this series even more fun.

Satisfied

Satisfying ending, loved where the story went and with such a nice HEA. Glad my mom recommended it to me and that I stuck it out to finish the first book so I’d be able to get into the series

Best "soft" scifi series out there

The Touchstone series is the best soft sci-fi series I have ever read. I come back to this series at least once a year if not more. The whole series feels so down-to-earth and just so good. The main character Cass, is such a typical young adult and I love her narrative and internal monologue.