The Enchantment Emporium

By: Tanya Huff

Narrated by: Teri Clark Linden

Length: 14 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The Gale family can change the world with the charms they cast, and they like to keep this in the family. Alysha Gale is tired of having all her aunts try to run her life, both personally and magically. So when the letter from her Gran arrives willing her a "junk" shop in Calgary, Alysha jumps at the chance. It isn't until she gets there that she realizes her customers are fey. And no one told her there's trouble brewing in Calgary - trouble so big that even calling in the family may not save the day.

©2009 Tanya Huff (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Fantasy buffs will find plenty of humor, thrills and original mythology to chew on, along with refreshingly three-dimensional women in an original, fully realized world." ( Publishers Weekly)

Mrs. Spock Attempts Fantasy!

What did you like best about The Enchantment Emporium? What did you like least?

Huff is an excellent writer, and this series is one I have particularly enjoyed. I bought the audio version to re-visit an old favorite.

The narrator was another story entirely.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Enchantment Emporium?

When I nearly peed my pants laughing so hard at the horrible narration and my husband and I enjoyed acting out the dialogue, as read by this narrator, as if it were a Saturday Night Live skit.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Teri Clark Linden?

My grandson, Elliot. He is two years old, and might have been able to inject a little bit of emotion into the piece. Seriously...just about anyone would have been better. This woman has a lovely voice, and she would be spot on for doing the audio supplements for history or science texts. But her Vulcan-like rendition made the story extremely confusing...and I already KNOW the story! When the characters are in the middle of the argument and you don't get that from the verbal cues until the fight's almost over...the narrator might be a bit too mellow to narrate fantasy/action novels.

Do you think The Enchantment Emporium needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It has a follow up book. Two, in fact. I am patiently waiting for someone to get on the stick and produce the third book in audio format. I just downloaded the second one, which has a different narrator, praise the saints.

Any additional comments?

Frankly, this was worth the download just for the entertainment value. The story is awesome no matter what! But it is so rare to get a hold of a book with a narrator this badly miscast...it's actually priceless. Good show, Audible!

Next book!

I just saw that Tanya Huff's second book for the Emporium series is coming out in November. I am so excited. I love Huff's characters and her style of writing. She writes a story about the Fey in modern life and makes it very original and fascinating.

I've read it again and again

Tanya huff is a favourite of mine, each of her books I've read more than once.

Good story bad narration

This is the first book by Tanya Huff I have read and I found it disjointed in the beginning, but the characters were well written and the story is interesting. The big down fall was Ms. Linden's performance was like listening to someone on tranquilizers reading the story. Over all the low price makes it worth a read.

Funny and Smart: Leaves You Wanting More

The Enchantment Emporium was my first introduction to Tanya Huff, and it was a great one! I love the setup of the Gale family: their mysterious magic and rituals, their seeming obsession over pies. This is one of those books that manages to strike the delicate balance between the absurd and the serious, between the characters' magic and their lives. On the one hand, many of the sections are laugh-out-loud funny, surprising us with clever turns of phrase and amusing characters and situations, while on the other hand, we feel the characters' heartbreak and longings as if they were our own. The Gale family is the perfect example of a large, over-bearing, supportive family: run by the powerful and spirited Aunties, it's the sort of family that might drive its members crazy, but will be there for them no matter what.

Teri Clark Linden's narration sparkles through the text. This is a book I've never seen in print form, and I can't imagine it any other way. To me, Linden's version of Alysha, Charlie, and the rest will always be the real thing.

I should have kept track of the number of strange looks I attracted as I listened to this story and this performance and laughed out loud while walking or cleaning with earbuds in. I'm sure the count would have gotten pretty high.

Great urban fantasy with a more 'folksy' mythology

Enjoyed this and the sequel a lot. Note that as others mentioned, the narrator is clearly American, and clearly doesn't know how to pronounce some Canadian words. There are occasional attempts at a Canadian accent. Didn't bother me at all, but I'm not Canadian :^)

Great story, let down by the narrator

The story is well worth a listen, if you can get past the narrator not knowing which character is speaking, or how to read punctuation.

How to Ruin a Great Book

Any additional comments?

First, let me say that I love this book. I've read it countless times. When I saw it was on Audible, of course I picked it up. It's a mark of how much I love the story, that I didn't return this book after the first listen.

I can grit my teeth and ignore the fact that the narrator mispronounces some words.

I can grind my teeth and ignore the fact that she uses accents inappropriately. (The fact that the Kenny is described as Asian doesn't mean he has a thick "Asian" accent, especially when the author doesn't mention any accent for him at all.)

I can almost ignore the fact that she pauses in strange places, as though doing an homage to bad Shatner impressions.

But I hate that she uses the wrong voice for a character. There are multiple places where she attributes the sentence to another character, despite clear indications from the author. Where was the director for all of this?

Wrong reader for this book

What did you love best about The Enchantment Emporium?

Tanya Huff is an amazing author. She successfully floods her books with nuance and emotion. And her worlds are flat out fascinating.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Enchantment Emporium?

Anything to do with interacting with the dragons

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Teri Clark Linden?

Anyone in the world would have done a better job of narrating this book. She was obviously "reading" the book aloud, rather than telling the story. It was obvious she didn't understand any of the action or interactions. And many of the voices she chose were flat out irritating.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I love this book with a passion. It's funny and resonates with me on a personal level. The reader made me grit my teeth constantly.

Any additional comments?

Buy the written book. Read the written book. Send Teri Clark Linden on to different books where she, hopefully, will do a better job. (It would be hard to do a worse job.)

ok

I think that this book was average. I was a little creeped out by so many cousins "hooking up." If it wasn't for that I would give it a good. Thankfully, these scenes are not graphic and so I could just think "ick" and go on. The book had funny parts. Nice Joss Whedon and Jim Butcher references. I would read another title by this author. The narrator is also just ok. Her voices were not distinct. So, I would give it a mediocre rating all the way around. But, it was fairly light and worth the credit.