Stars Above

By: Marissa Meyer

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Soler's narration fits the tone of each story and provides unique voices for each character, including a breathy, high-pitched voice for Winter and a harder, cruel voice for Mistress Sybil." - AudioFile Magazine

The #1 New York Times Best-selling Series!

The enchantment continues....

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories - and secrets - that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With six stories - two of which have never before been published - and an exclusive never-before-heard excerpt from Marissa Meyer's novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is the essential audiobook for fans of the best-selling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

©2016 Rampion Books, Inc (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Shorts from Lunar.

The stories make me want to reread the whole series over again, although most are stories we know, only they are expounded upon in depth here, the real jewel is the last story.

1. The Keeper. Cinders arrival to Earth and the beginning years with Scarlett. 1 hr. 18 mins.

2. Glitches. Cinders arrival at the Lin's home. Cinder meets Iko. 48 mins.

3. The Queens Army. Wolf's induction genetic modification and to the Queens Army. 54 mins.

4. Carswell's guide to being Lucky. Carswell's law breaking beginnings. 1 hr. 2 min.

5. After Sunshine Passes By. Crescent beginnings, be careful what you wish for. 32 mins.

6. The Princess & the Guard. When Winter stops using her gift. 1 hr. 32 mins.

7. The Little Android. A new story that doesn't have anything to do with the main story. Mech 6.0/Star, the android who loved. 1 hr. 18 mins.

8. The Mechanic. When Kai meets Cinder. 31 mins.

9. Something Old, Something New, or Stars Above. The wedding we have all been waiting. The couple is who I thought it would be, which makes me happy. Roughly about 1 hr. 30 mins.

The last part is a preview of the new series Marissa Meyers is coming out with.

24 of 24 people found this review helpful

The narration was a little off this book.

So, I love all the other books. and Rebecca Soler was wonderful. This time the narration was off and did hold up to the quality that the other books had in the Lunar Chronicle's. I hope it was a fluke that this book was not up to par....

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Nice addition to the series

What didn’t you like about Rebecca Soler’s performance?

I think Rebecca is a great performer and did a great job with the voice acting HOWEVER she either has a cold or there is something wrong with the audio because she sounds stuffy and I found it very distracting.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Fairytale ending, utterly delightful!

Love, love, love this addition! Always ready to read more about my friends whom I miss now that the series is over.

The stories here are cutting-room-floor deleted scenes from Cinder, Scarlett, and Cress. Some people may be annoyed that there is no "advancement" to the stories; we already know these little events in their lives. (Everybody loves watching deleted scenes from movies.) These are the scenes that are the basis of the fairy tales: Red Riding Hood's journey to her grandmother's house, the witch locking Rapunzel in the tower, and the wicked stepmother thrusting Cinderella into the cold kitchen and making her work. These were glossed over in the Chronicles; in this book we get the details: Thorne's episode with the math whiz Falo girl, Cress being imprisoned in the satellite, and Scarlett leaving her lay-about father and traveling by herself to live with her grand-mère, then overhearing the conversation with Lin Garren regarding the princess. Sure, the stories are repetitive since we know what happened from the series books. Sure, you could be annoyed that there is nothing new. But it was all enjoyable and pleasing to revisit. Even when it gets around to Kai's first trip to the fix-it shop in the marketplace, and it sounds just like the beginning of Cinder, we get it from his side, and it is delightful all over again. There are smiles and chuckles all the way through, as we go with our friends to the last, inevitable scene of every fairy tale. And again, as throughout the whole series, it is totally modern, totally believable, not childish or simplistic as most fairy tales are.

And, AND! There is a completely new story in the middle! It really has nothing to do with anything, but it shows M.M's ability to take a tale and make it futuristic and grown-up.

You don't need to check the cover to verify the narrator even though it does not sound like Rebecca Soler at first. Good news is it IS R.S. and she gets over the stuffy head and laryngitis she has at the beginning of the book, and then sounds like herself again. As the hyper-critical listener that I am, I noticed several misplaced emphases that would have delivered better if corrected, but most people won't notice. And her Chinese pronunciation has degraded from the Chronicles readings, but then most readers don't speak Chinese, so, again, they won't notice (I do and I did.) Despite all that, she delivers most of the conversational lines flawlessly, adding to the humor and pathos. I can't imagine anyone else reading these stories.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Stories Good, Narrating Horrible

I've loved every single narration Rebecca Soler has done for Marissa Meyer except for Stars Above. Half the book she had a cold and it was super apparent in they way she narrated and made it VERY hard for me to continue listening. Other than that, I still enjoyed listening to the stories as I loved the Lunar Chronicle series.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Loved it but...

I agree with another reviewer that poor Rebecca must've been sick because signs of her being stuffy were throughout the stories. It was a bit distracting but what was more distracting was the few parts you could tell had been added later. The quality was different and her voice was higher. It's not her fault, you have to work when you're sick and I don't blame her for that. I do wish that tptb could have found a way to make those other parts flow smoother.
Regardless, Rebecca's telling of these stories is part of the reason why I've loved them so much. And I'd have been way more upset if they had someone else do Stars Above.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Rebecca has a cold...

I LOVE Rebecca Soler as the narrator, but it was a bit distracting that she had an obvious cold through 2/3 of the book. Her accents and voices are wonderful, but the cold affected the reading. Glad she was feeling better towards the end!

A nice fill in of the story book!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

An Amazing end

loved it and the peak into heartless. Carswell Thorne my favorite character " Aces!, they haven't even kissed and already they're making me nauseous!"

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Narrator Sounds Sick

The narrator sounds like she has a severe sinus cold. I've just started listening and hope she will sound better as the audio progresses but right now it is very distracting.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

amazingly creative

I adore this story line and LOVE the Author.... I would most definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes gritty magical characters that are seeded in dystopian societies. . not the fluffy sparkle fairytale or boring run of the mill story of future societies.... it's different not just another way to tell the story of hunger games