Penny Preston and the Raven's Talisman

Misaligned, Book I

By: Armen Pogharian

Narrated by: Michelle Babb

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

When shadow-monsters attack in the cafeteria, eighth grader Penny Preston panics, starts a food fight, and unknowingly creates a trans-dimensional rift. Summoned to the counselor’s office, she expects suspension, but instead discovers that she is misaligned and exists in more than three dimensions. Unless she immediately begins training to learn to handle her powerful abilities, she risks losing her sanity.

She agrees to secretly train with her counselor and his friend Master Poe, an exile from the seventh dimension trapped in a raven’s body, to keep her hometown, Piper Falls, safe from higher-dimensional beings seeking to gain god-like powers in our dimension.

Together with Simon, her telepathic multidimensional cat, Penny struggles to save her relationship with her best friend, protect her universe, and uncover her connection to Arthurian myth.

©2020 Armen Pogharian (P)2021 CamCat Publishing

The next big kids' fantasy adventure!

This YA fantasy wowed me with an imaginative story, well-developed characters, a magic system that makes sense, and a lot of fun! I love that the lead character is a smart, likable, eighth grade girl. Penny and her best friend Duncan are nice, good, compassionate young people. Penny’s two magical mentors are quite interesting and likable as well. The friendship between Penny and Duncan is sweet and cozy. Also, Simon the special cat is a great addition to the cast. The magic system based on inter-dimensional energy and Welsh druidry really made sense. The writing is top-notch! I am so impressed with this audiobook that it is my all-time favorite YA fantasy, placing it above “The Hobbit”, “Harry Potter”, and “The Chronicles of Narnia”. There is very little violence and no objectionable material. Parts of the story might be too complicated for kids younger than 12 or 13. This book deserves to be famous, and I highly recommend it to everyone 12 and up.

The narrator Michelle Babb gave an amazing performance. Her lively delivery, wry humor, and perfect pacing really made the audiobook much better than the ebook would have been. The narrator made all of the voices distinctive and pleasing to the ear. Her male voices sound as authentic as the female ones. I am really impressed with the expert narration, and I can’t wait to dive into the second book in this marvelous series.

I requested and received a free audiobook copy from the narrator, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

One of my favorite books. Can't wait for Book 2

You can read the synopsis in the description so I will not repeat that information. This is an excellent story. I had to listen for just another 30 minutes, and then the afternoon was over and I was still listening. It rates in my top ten and is one I would listen to again.

Michelle Babb did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life and giving each a clear voice. Her narration was excellent.
She is one of my favorite anrrators. the story.

I will definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator.
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Inter-dimensional Fantasy Both Fun & Complex

My 14-year-old daughter read this one too and really liked the storyline. It had some great twists and wasn't what we expected. We loved the Welsh legend element to the story. It really was fun and the actual storyline wasn't overly complex but the inter-dimensional parts were pretty confusing. The story was a mix of fantasy adventure with magic and science theory. Basically, if the summary was intriguing to you, then go for it.

Parents- This is completely clean (PG) but I would say that due to the complexity I would place it as a middle school and up read.

As for the narrator 2.75⭐.... Veerr-y s-l-ooo-wwww, like painfully. I'm really not trying to be mean but when I turned it on I thought it was at 3/4 speed. Once sped up to 1.3x speed it was much better, although some of the inflections felt off. She otherwise did a pretty good job.

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A fun new YA that even adults and fantasy fans of

Penny Preston and the Raven's Talisman: Misaligned, Book I
By: Armen Pogharian

The first book in a magical new series!!!

Penny Preston is a strong young teen female character. This fantasy takes

Penny and her special friends on adventures that a regular girl wouldn't

be able to handle. The listener is treated to good, bad and all in

between. Will she save all that matters or will evil prevail?



The narration was well done. The characters were well portrayed.

Michelle

Babb will engage the listener and keep them entertained throughout the

book!!!


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have

voluntarily left this review.

Great Series

Really enjoyed this first book in the series introducing the characters and creating the ground work for the future brilliant.
I listened to the audio version. The narrator, Michelle Babb, always draws me into the stories she narrates. Her voice is perfect for story telling. She Always does a great job. I really enjoy listening to her.

Penny Preston and the Raven's Talisman

This was an excellent book!I think it was geared for the YA crowd,maybe younger,but I enjoyed it.Penny does not know she has special talents until being called to the office one day.She fears she is going to be in trouble over a school food fight.Her life is about to change.Michelle Babb did a fine job narrating.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Fun adventure fighting transdimensional enemies

Penny Preston is just trying to figure out what the mist-figures in the corridor outside the school cafeteria are and what they're doing, when she accidentally opens a transdimensional rift and starts a food fight. It's not any great surprise that, though it takes a bit longer than she expected, she's soon enough sitting in the office of Mr. Myrdin.

It is a surprise that she's not there to be disciplined for starting the food fight. Two other students have been blamed for that, and being as unaware as everyone else of Penny's involvement, they've accepted it. No, Penny is there because the only other person who noticed the strange creatures is Mr. Myrdin. He wants to talk to her about the fact that she's "misaligned," existing in more than just the usual three dimensions, and thus an important key to stop transdimensional beings from attacking and destroying our universe.

What follows is a wild adventure for Penny, and her best friend, Duncan, who need to learn the ins and outs of fighting higher-dimensional beings from Mr. Myrdin and his companion, the raven Master Poe. Along the way, Penny acquires a wonderful, large, black cat named Simon, who isn't exactly your average pussycat, and Duncan acquires an amulet that lets him share some of the "misaligned" powers Penny was born with, and assist her in the battle.

These are two normal kids, thirteen or fourteen, neither the most popular kids in school, nor social outcasts. They have friends and rivals, and classes they like and classes they hate. What I really love, though, is that The Hobbit is an important touchstone for them, and for Mr. Myrdin, and the teacher who is a major threat is also a really good teacher. Honestly, I would have loved to have a class with her at that age, as long as I could skip the "conspiring against me with transdimensional enemies" part. Truly, in years to come, I think Penny and Duncan would only regret the "conspiring against them" part, and still value having had that her class.

There are also excursions into Celtic myth and Arthurian legend, which also add to the story and the atmosphere.

A lot of fun, and well worth the time.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the narrator, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

This is a very good book to read/listen.

This is a book that is great for middle school aged kids and up. The story pulls you right in and will keep you engaged until the end. It's very well-plotted with an equal amount of fantasy and suspense. The characters have are likable and relatable.

The narrator, Michelle Babb does a great job with the narration. She isn't monotone, like many books I've heard, and so she was able to keep my interest and made the book fun to listen to. You can be sure that any book with Michelle as the narrator will be a good book.

I was provided this audiobook at no cost in exchange for my unbiased review & I look forward to listening to more books in this series.

fun story

this was a fun and easy listen. the narrator did a good job and I was easily able to differentiate between the different characters.

Great for Middle School and Up

This is a well-written book that is great for middle school readers and up. The story pulled me right in and kept me entertained until the end. The storyline is well-plotted, moves at a steady pace, and continues the right amount of fantasy and suspense. The characters have great chemistry are likable and relatable.

I listened to the audio version of this book. Narrator Michelle Babb is a gifted storyteller. She bring the characters off the page, giving them unique voices and personality without interfering with the story itself.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.