Fortune's Fool: Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 3

Gabra Zackman's reading is excellent, as always.

Of the 500 Kingdoms books, this is my least favorite so far. I am, however, only halfway through. I usually devour them in a few days, but I've been listening to this one off and on for weeks. The beginning doesn't necessarily drag, but you don't get into the meat of the plot until the second half of the book. The first half of the book seems to be completely different from the second half, where the real plot begins. I keep listening to it and then switching to something else because I get absolutely bored. It's also the most sexually explicit of this series so far, which is something to think about when you're listening to it at home with a child wandering around the house!

Nothing so far

No. It's been a struggle.

I really like the series so far, but this book was a bit slow at the start and every now and again I found myself thinking of something else. I did enjoy that some of the previous characters played a substantial role in the story

I love these stories, each is very loosely based upon a fairy tale. This one is The Little Mermaid because of a mermaid and a land guy, however that is the only similarity. These books are easy to listen to and have creative plots.

This book was not as good as the first two, and at times I found myself zoning out and not bothering to rewind and see what I missed. There was nothing particularly uninteresting about it, but nothing especially gripping either. However, I love the series and the world so much that I fully intend to purchase the next one. Immediately, in fact!

Mercedes has another light, fun read based on classic folk tales with her own unique spin from Russia and Sergei

lovely story telling of a delightful twist on clasic tales.
plenty of variety of tone and accent made it easy to know which character was speaking each time she switched

So I have read books 1, 2, 4 and 5 and loved them, but this one, I don't know. I've tried a few times and had to stop. I've heard it gets more interesting in the second half and one day I might try it again. We'll see. If you like the 500 kingdoms, don't let this throw you off the series, but maybe give this one a pass.