Solace

De: Therin Knite

Narrado por: Julia Knippen

Corina Marion's father is dead.

Off to a never-ending war as a Red Cross doctor before Corina was even born, Luther Marion has been a constant but increasingly distant presence in his daughter's life for 16 years. Damaged pictures. Short letters. And three brief phone calls received before Corina was old enough to walk.

But now Luther Marion has returned home at last - as a body in a box to be buried. Corina's mother is devastated. Her small, backwoods town mourns the loss of its local hero.

And Corina...isn't sure how she feels about the death of a father she never really met.

But when a mysterious old man confronts Corina at her father's funeral, she finds herself drawn to his impossible offer: a chance to know the now late Luther Marion. And in a moment of uncertainty, Corina makes a choice with consequences she can barely fathom. A choice that sends her to the last place she ever expected to go.

Her father's hometown. Six hundred miles south.

And 25 years in the past.

©2014 Therin Knite (P)2015 Therin Knite

Charming protagonists; outstanding narration

The main character is captivating, and Julia Knippen finds her voice perfectly, so I was very happy to live inside her head. Honestly I found the story fairly predictable, and the revelation that the main character reaches by the novel's end I made about a third of the way through. But that almost didn't matter, because she is so compelling, and the narration so good.

Did I say the narration was "good"? I should revise that to "outstanding". Julia Knippen is going to be one of those narrators you decide to follow, listening to everything they do.

this novel wasn’t what I was expecting

Solace by Therin Knite is a type of coming of age novel. Corina Marion is a high school student who’s always heard that her father, Lou Marion, a Red Cross doctor, is a great man. But in a world set in the near future where a long war is raging, her father comes home from the battle ravaged war country in a casket. When a supernatural opportunity knocks on her door, Corina gets the opportunity to get to know her now-deceased father and learn whether or not he lives up to the hype of being such a great guy.

While this novel wasn’t what I was expecting, I really ended up liking it. It’s a novel about a frustrated and resentful teenage girl trying to figure out how her family situation came to be the way that it is. The plot revolves around Corina’s relationship with her father. All the supporting characters, even her mother, are really just that, supportive to the plot. Normally, I prefer to have a really robust cast of characters, but from the beginning it was clear what this novel was going to be and it worked. It was really interesting to see how both Corina and Lou grow though the novel as individuals even over a short period of time. I thought it was especially touching to see how Corina’s relationship and feelings toward her father change as she gets to know him better. The end of the novel is heartwarming in a bittersweet way.

The narration by Julia Knippen was great. I think she did a great job of voicing the characters. I didn’t particularly feel like she aged Lou much over time or had dramatic differences in the voices of the characters, but I liked her narration. The production quality of the novel was good. I would recommend this novel to people who like coming of age novels for strong female protagonists and stories that tug on your heart.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.

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Time Travelers Daughter!

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

The narration of this book was excellent.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the description of the characters.

What about Julia Knippen’s performance did you like?

Julia's performance was spot on.

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

When Luther gives her that first hug. I teared up at that.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was provided by the author/narrator/publisher free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review.

take the plunge

Any additional comments?

(I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.)

Nothing pleases me more than receiving a free copy of a book that I enjoy. Sometimes it’s hard to write these reviews and stay pleasant. Sometimes it’s hard not to be the grammar Nazi, the critical editor, the disappointed reader/listener. (Especially since I go into these types of books without expectation other than for what I’ve read in the summary.)

Usually, it’s a toss up. Sometimes I end up not liking the genre at all. Sometimes I discover a new favorite (author, narrator, series). The second, well, those are what I am honestly looking for when I volunteer to review.

This one was honestly a surprise. I liked it so much, I’ve listened to it twice.

And cried both times.

Sure, it’s time travel. But not like any sci-fi time travel you’d expect.

Sure, it’s emotional…a roller coaster, really. (And I do not say that often.)

Sure, it’s a teenage daughter with a smidgeon of angst and a whole lot of anger toward an absent father.

It’s all those things all wrapped up in a neat package of something different.

Don’t go reading other reviews. Avoid spoilers at all costs.

Listen to Julia Knippen take you on this wild ride and sound just like you’d expect Corina to sound, every nuance, every snarky remark, every bit of understanding she gains on her unexpected path.

Understand the parallels between Corina’s world and our own. Maybe, just maybe, gain some insight about yourself.

Do not pass this up.

You’d be missing out.

a father/daughter relationship YA story

The bones of this book are really great. The idea of a teenage girl who never knew her war-hero father being offered the chance at his funeral to go back in time and meet him at seminal points in his life to understand who he is and why he made the choices he did is so unique and heart-wrenching. The fact that the teenager is funny, resourceful, and really does open herself up to trying to understand her father's personality and motivations, allowing herself to get past her resentment and anger and forge a bond with him really makes the story poignant and enjoyable. I liked that the mystery of how she is given this chace is never fully explained, and that it is not a superpower of her own that makes it possible are also positive elements of the story. Corina felt like a real teenager, mercurial and sarcastic but yearning for connection and a sense of how she fits in the world, not quite adult but not a child any more either.

The book flows smoothly, starting off perhaps a bit slowly and then speeding toward an increasingly intense, emotional, and satisfying ending in which our characters really find a better appreciation for what makes each other tick.

My main complaint about this book is that the author is never content to say a thing once. It's always a staement followed by three elaborations or rewordings on the statement. It's not just windy, it's gusting like a tornado, enough to blow her socks off, so windy she can't breathe. A paring down of the descriptive phrases would allow the reader to focus on the deeper messages more than the wordplay.

The narration by Julia Knippen is very good. She was a believable teenager without being grating, and handled pacing and the male voices well.

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.