Rituals

By: Kelley Armstrong

Narrated by: Julie McKay, Carine Montbertrand

Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

The fifth book and the exciting conclusion to best-selling author Kelley Armstrong's "impossible-to-put-down" Cainsville series, in which she mixes hard-hitting crime writing with phenomenal world-building to create a brand of fiction all her own.

When Olivia Taylor-Jones found out she was not actually the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers, her life exploded. Running from the fallout, she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois, but she couldn't resist trying to dig out the truth about her birth parents' crimes. She began working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer who also had links to the town; their investigation soon revealed Celtic mysteries at work in Cainsville and also entangled Olivia in a tense love triangle with the calculating Gabriel and her charming biker boyfriend, Ricky. Worse, troubling visions revealed to Olivia that the three of them were reenacting an ancient drama pitting the elders of Cainsville against the mysterious Huntsmen, with Olivia as the prize.

In the series' fifth and final novel, not only does Gabriel's drug addict mother, whom he thought was dead, make a surprise reappearance, but Kelley Armstrong delivers a final scary and surprising knockout twist. It turns out a third supernatural force has been at work all along, a dark and malevolent entity that has had its eye on Olivia since she was a baby and wants to win at any cost.

©2017 K.L.A. Fricke (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Great story, did not love the narration

This was the first of the series I'd listened to after reading the previous four and the narration was very difficult to stay with. One of the readers was very automated, almost computer like and while I got used to it enough to finish the book, I will make decisions on other books based on the narration heard here.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great ending to a series

I loved this one till the very end. The storyline was very thought provoking and dialogue between characters were rich and colorful. The final battle was great

Couldn't put it down!

The tongue in cheek references to equity makes this a perfect series ending! Oh, and in case you are worried, have fun chasing down the actual histories!

Excellent!

I really enjoyed this book and had no problem with the narrator. This author delivers a excellent story with great characters!

An almost perfect end...except the narration

I was really happy when Kelley Armstrong decided she was going to extend the Cainsville novels to five from three, but devastated when it took so long for the audiobooks to come out. I had read the hardcovers, but I have preferred the audiobooks side of this series a lot more. So when books four and five came out within a few days of each other, I was pleased. And then...Julie McKay started reading for the non-Olivia characters.

I thought that I was just used to Mozhan Marno reading for those chapters, especially the Gabriel ones. I have to admit that I had been looking forward to her interpretation of those chapters the most. But McKay's voice is oddly robotic at times and her Chicago accent, while accurate, hasn't been a feature of these books up to this point and threw me off. I got used to it, but it took more than half the book.

If you like the story, this is worth getting, especially if you have the first books in the series. Just be aware that at least one of the narrators might lessen the emersion factor and the replay value.

Sad It's Over

What did you love best about Rituals?

Actually, Rituals which is the 5th and last book in the series was the book I least liked. Yes, it answered the last remaining questions, but it lacked something... sorry not sure what. I just felt like the story line fizzled out towards the end.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved both the story across all five books and all the characters (good and bad).

Any additional comments?

the story mentioned Gabriel’s size so many time... i would to see who the writer would cast as Gabriel.

Perfect ending

Despite having read other reviews, I was still worried that this series would not end well. I needn’t have been concerned. Kelley Armstrong brought this series to a brilliant conclusion.

Great book, HORRIBLE narration

What made the experience of listening to Rituals the most enjoyable?

There was nothing enjoyable about listening to this book. The narration was so horrible. It sounded robotic. The robotic narration started about 1 hour and 55 minutes in. AWFUL.

What did you like best about this story?

Reading it. Not listening to it. Don't waste your money to buy the audio version. NOT worth it. Just read it yourself. The story is great, but Audible really messed this one up.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yeah. I was moved to anger when the robotic narration began.

Good Series...Narrators not a good fit

Love the book. Love the series. Narrators not a good fit in that their 'other' voices were often nasally, whiny and too strange because they needed to come up with yet another character voice. Too many male voices to not have a male narrator. I got used to the voices because I really enjoyed the series.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful