Kingdom of Thorns

A Sleeping Beauty Retelling (Fey Collection Series, Book 2)

By: Katherine Macdonald

Narrated by: Sasha Higgins

Cursed at her Christening, Briar is doomed to prick her finger on a spinning wheel on her 17th birthday and plunge her kingdom into eternal slumber. Less than enthused about her fate, she fights to break it, but a hundred years later, the kingdom lies at the center of a forest of thorns. The curse is complete, and only true love's kiss will break it.

Volunteering in the place of his brother, Leo is determined to brave the enchanted forest and attempt to end the 100-year-old curse. If he fails, the dark fairy, imprisoned within the Kingdom of Thorns, will be unleashed upon the world and a kingdom will fall to ruin.

Guided by a mysterious young ranger named Talia, he sets off on his quest, but the darkness isn't the only thing that grows in the woods, and Leopold finds himself locked in a bitter fight for his life, his sanity...and his heart.

©2020 Katherine Macdonald (P)2022 Tantor

Good story

Enjoyable story, but the narrator made odd inflections that were a bit annoying and awkward. She would end most sentences with the last syllable being dragged out in an up down up inflection that made me cringe. However, her voices for the characters were good and although all the way through the book it bothered me, the book was good enough to keep me going. With that one thing changed narration wise it would be a 5 on narration. This is somewhere where she can grow as she does well with the different characters voices. In fact, when she was talking in the characters voice she did that weird inflection less than when “narrating”.

Do I recommend it? Anything by Katherine MacDonald I would recommend if you like retellings. She also has a sci-fi trilogy which is really good but not done in audiobook yet.