Cragbridge Hall, Book 1

The Inventor's Secret

By: Chad Morris

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Imagine a school in the year 2074 where students don't read history, but watch it happen around them; where running in gym class isn't around a track, but up a virtual mountain; and where learning about animals means becoming one through an avatar. Welcome to Cragbridge Hall, the most advanced and prestigious school in the world. Twins Abby and Derick Cragbridge are excited as new students to use their famed grandfather's inventions that make Cragbridge Hall so incredible. But when their grandfather and parents go missing, the twins must follow a mysterious trail of clues left by their grandfather. They must find out where their family is, learn who they can trust, and discover what secrets are hidden within Cragbridge Hall. Abby and Derick soon realize they are caught in a race with a fierce adversary to discover their grandfather's greatest secret - a dangerous discovery that could alter both history and reality.

©2013 Chad Morris (P)2013 Shadow Mountain

Critic reviews

"A fantastical futuristic read that should engage kids and families." (Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times best-selling author)

A Fun Book for Young Readers

I think that this book will appeal to young readers because of the time travel aspects, and that the Heros of the story are kids. I enjoyed the book, and I am looking forward to the sequel. However, I hope that Carol learns to control her speech and learn a bit more on relating with people. Every time she spoke in the book, I was annoyed with her..the first couple of times were cute, and the narrator handled it just right. But the annoyance grew, and detracted from the story.

nice fantasy. enjoyable drama, fun story

a good teen read. neat ideas for futuristic junior high. fun characters and good drama.

Wonderful start to a new YA series!

If you could sum up Cragbridge Hall, Book 1 in three words, what would they be?

funny, exciting, inventions

Who was your favorite character and why?

Carol is easy our favorite character. She is spastic and hilarious, and her constant talking and flirting with "any boy with a pulse" creates great comic relief.

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

This was a fantastic performance; Kirby Heyborne did a wonderful job adding personality to each actor, and even getting all the accents, but unfortunately, the volume was very poorly leveled, so when Kirby has to shout to get the character's proper tone, the volume is excruciatingly loud. These moments should have been turned down so that the entire reading had a similar volume, while still keeping the tonal changes in the voice.

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

There are several very moving moments in history described in great detail, and they were great to visualize.

Any additional comments?

As mentioned in the title, this is a fantastic book, and a great start to a fresh new series. As with any work of literature, there are very common themes found in this story line. An eccentric inventor grandfather, a special school for top tier kids, a girl who feels like an outcast... But these themes are used because they work. There are plenty of unique aspects to this book, and the story is easily different enough that it doesn't feel like a rehash.

Abby and Derick (twins) are the main characters, but most of the story focuses on Abby. Her friend Carol is hilarious and my wife and I frequently found ourselves laughing out loud at Carol's ridiculously fast and random way of speaking.

The Audible narrator, Kirby Heyborne, who is a professional actor, does a fantastic job adding personality to each voice, and even does some pretty good accents. One big problem with the narration was the audio levels, which were all over the place. When characters seemed to be yelling, whether because they were excited, angry, or just to be heard, Kirby would yell. This is fine, as it gets the correct tone of voice across. However, the audio engineer apparently did not do proper volume leveling on the recording, because the volume of the yelling is cringeworthy (to be clear, it is very, very loud).

Aside from that, I have few complaints. Some of the inventions are a bit hard to swallow. For example, robot avatars controlled with your mind that are so incredibly real that they are indistiguishable from the real animal, and their eye cameras are apparently high enough resolution and fidelity that the image feed going back to the controller feels like real eyes. But other inventions are intriguing and realistic enough, like computer rings that connect with contact lens screens and allow typing and other computer functions on-the-go. The flow of time theory used in this fictional universe is a bit different from the more common ones, and maybe not quite as thought out.

All things considered, though, with a young adult target audience, this book really hits the mark. Entertaining, funny, gripping, but not too dark, deep, or otherwise inappropriate for a young audience. Carol's extremely funny flirtatiousness is about as steamy as it gets, so parents, nothing to worry about here. There is an underlying theme of learning from the past, which should be pretty universally upheld. Disasters and trials can bring out the best in humanity, and there is much to learn from history in that regard. Looking forward to reading the next book, and the rest of the series!

Enjoyed

I got this book on the dailydeal. and it was a good by if your looking for a easy teenager style book read.

it was epic book

Will the grandpa diy 👍👍👍👍👍boom lol love it so hard for ever seen in adbil

Fun, fast paced book

I enjoyed the story and characters. Fast enough pace to keep my interest. Well thought out story. Narrator did a good job.

Cute story, but faded at the end....

This was a good book. I usually quite enjoy young adult books, and this one is no different. Maybe they are just more on my level than I want to admit. Haha... This was a great storyline, but I did feel as if the story got a little too big for the author by the end. The last 1/3 of the novel was not as satisfying for me as the beginning, but well worth completing! The narrator did a fine job, too. Very good.

A very good book for the younger crowd

I enjoyed everything about this book! I am a grandmother and would like my g'kids to read this when they are older. It is a book that would bring younger children to to become interested in some stories in history. Kind of a Harry Potter situation where the students can witness history in a life like visual effect. Also an Avatar aspect where the students can control animals. I will be listening to more of this series. I also like Kirby Heyborne as the narrator.

Pretty good

This listen was quite entertaining for a book written for young adults. I always enjoy this narrator.

Well crafted YA fiction

Bottom line up front: This is solid young adult fiction that can be enjoyed by older readers. I can recommend it as I did enjoy the story.

The book does, however, use many of the tools used in the Harry Potter series. Kids separated from the adults, a grandfather figure, magic (in this case very advanced technology), etc. If you can accept this and not let it impede your experience, then you should be able to appreciate the imaginative aspects of this book.

The narrator was well matched to the work and put in a solid performance. This series should find a following in it's target audience, and it deserves to.