When We Were Young

By: Abigail Hilton

Narrated by: Lauren Harris, Rish Outfield, Renee Chambliss

Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Everybody was young once. Even the most confident people were once uncertain, the most ferocious were once frightened, and the most competent were once naive. We all met our best friends somewhere and not always under the best conditions.

In this collection of short stories from the world of Panamindorah, Silveo meets Basil, Silas meets Percy, Anaroo meets Gwain, Gus meets Silas, and Gerard prepares to meet Thessalyn. Dakar and Theseus are tiny children, caught up in the machinations of others; Glossy makes impossibly difficult decisions for herself and her child; and Marlie struggles with the ghosts of her past and present. All of them will find their places in the world, often far from where they started. For the moment, however, they are doing everything for the first time.

These stories will make the most sense if you have heard The Guild of the Cowry Catchers series and The Scarlet Albatross. However, if you haven't listened to one or both of those stories, you'll still understand most of what's going on. The titles in this collection are: "Harbor Wave", "Dark Heart", "Quarantine", "Taking Tricks", "Anaroo of the Defiance", "Letter of Reference", "Chimera", "Fire From Heaven", and "Ghosts".

©2016 Abigail Hilton (P)2017 Abigail Hilton

Delightful ear candy

As a long time fan of the Guild of the Cowery Catchers, it was delightful to hear another round of backstories on some of my favorite characters, and new ones from the Refugee Series. The audio quality, mixing and narrative performances are top notch and music that is used is not distracting or to loud. I especially enjoyed the backstories of both Anaroo and Theseus as I have been curious about their childhoods and found some of the explanations Abby offers immensely gratifying.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

felt like good times with old friends..

What did you love best about When We Were Young?

It has been long ago that i listened to the Guild of the Cowry Catchers and The Prophet of Panamindorah (early podcaster listener) . And just listened to the The Scarlet Albatross . it was so nice to revisit those characters from time gone by and truly made me ache for more interaction with them in the future

What did you like best about this story?

I just love the world that abigail has opened up for us to enjoy

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

i felt narration was great .and kepted story well on pace

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

I might have profited by listening to this befor listening to the Scarlet Albatross as my memory of those characters were a little foggy...but truly loved it

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A short story home run

These stories are really good. In fact, I think this may be Abigail's best shorts to date. Abigail has really honed her story telling and created an incredible universe. You do not need prior knowledge of the stories to read these. Unlike most short stories, you can actually fillip on any of the characters her in other books. If you have read the other books, it's fun background that fills out the universe even more.

The production is also very well done. Abigail usually has really good voice talent, but it is sometimes a bit noisy. This was clear and clean. Also great music.

I enjoyed this so much, I want to go back and re listen to some older stories.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Too Good to be So Short

Where does When We Were Young rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Pretty high up on my audiobook list. I would rank it below Hunter's Unlucky. Otherwise, it is my number two audiobook (and I have a LOT of audiobooks).

Who was your favorite character and why?

Silas - He is an interesting character because he has so much to hide but you realize that it is somewhat against his nature in a sense. I think there was a line that said, "If asked outright, I wouldn't lie" (about being a leon), but he has to in order to achieve his dreams. I don't want to give away too much but he is a very well developed character.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have and Rish actually narrated all of Hunter's Unlucky. I felt that he had another strong performance in this. All the narrators performed well - my only complaint is Alcer's voice.

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

This was pretty lighthearted and I found myself smiling and chuckling out loud.

Any additional comments?

This collection of short stories was amazing.

First, my "complaints" - 1) I was not a fan of Alcer's voice in this compliation which probably just comes from knowing/remember his voice in The Guild of the Cowry Catchers Series. 2) All the stories felt too short!

And that's it. So you know these are good if that's all I have bad to say!

Second, I was very surprised that my two favorite stories were the ones with Silas and Gus. I enjoyed the characters in The Scarlet Albatross (I am waiting for Jager Thunder to be available on audible) but I wasn't expecting their short stories to be my two favorites. That said, all of the short stories were well written, intriguing, and gave another important glimpse into the character's lives/backstories to allow for a better understanding of the characters themselves - what more could be asked of a short story than this?

Nothing.

As for the voice acting, as always, it was great. The only thing I was not a fan of was Alcer's voice which again, is probably just because I imagined him with the voice from The Guild of the Cowry Catchers Series. I honestly am very impressed with all the voice actors and their ability to differentiate the characters which is important to me since I almost exclusively listen to audio books due to a long commute.

In short - if you love the world that Abigail Hilton has created, you need this book/audiobook/kindle book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Action, world building, and unique characters

Abbie's short stories work at multiple levels, complete action vignettes of characters from her longer works. For long time Hilton readers, the shorts provide a deeper backstory focused on the key characters that inhabit her worlds - giving additional insight into who they are and why they act as they do. For first time Abbie Hilton readers the shorts serve to introduce the characters in an action setting which helps the reader decide whether they want to explore other works by Abbie. Either way, the stories are exciting, fantastic, and complex. Do yourself a favor and get this one today.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent short story collection!

Any additional comments?

These stories build upon the already complex characters introduced in the Guild of the Cowry Catchers series and the Refugees series (in the world of Panamindorah). Additional layers are added to the background of these characters that may have been previously hinted at, but never explored in detail.

Dark Heart, Chimera, and Ghosts are probably my favorite...and perhaps the most "dark." I love that Abbie is not afraid to explore the darker side of this world...the not so clean and pretty. I do enjoy the humor included in much of the books, but I also love that her world is three-dimensional...

I continue to enjoy the audio versions of the books by this author. The narration is always wonderfully done.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

donna

Well performed!
thought characters could of been more descriptive in order to recognize them easier. As much as I liked them, they were like reading footnotes.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

an excellent collection!

What did you like best about this story?

Panamindorah is a rich world with an ever growing cast of characters. It was wonderful to see the early history of many of the most recognizable and loved characters from both the old and new series.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Each short story is narrated by one person. These narrations are very well done and extremely enjoyable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It is a collection of short stories so listening to it in snippets is easy. However, the stories are so good it's not a surprise to find the book finished before you know it.

Any additional comments?

Over all, a Wonderfull reading experience.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A delightful collection of stories.

These stories explain in greater detail the backgrounds of the characters introduced in the books ,Guild of the Cowry Catchers, and The Scarlett Albatross.
The narration of both readers is excellent. They provide different voices for each character without detracting from the story.
The stories are rich in detail and expose the world in which they exist in sublime nuances.
I highly recommend this as well as the others books written by Abigail Hilton.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

The best of Abigail Hilton's short story collections

In this collection of short stories, find all my favourite character's origin stories. It was lovely to listen to this collection. To gain new inside the activities that shape these characters.

Thank you Abbie for this history. I believe it's my favourite of your short story collections.