Summers at Castle Auburn

By: Sharon Shinn

Narrated by: Gabrielle Baker

As a child, Coriel Halsing spent many glorious summers at Castle Auburn with her half-sister - and fell in love with a handsome prince who could never be hers. But now that she is a young woman, she begins to see the dark side of this magical place....

©2001 Sharon Shinn (P)2018 Tantor

Enthralling

So well written, I was caught up in the story from the start, could not stop listening. Different from other writings of this Author, I hope there will be more.

Wonderful, so wonderful.

This is a wonderful coming-of-age kingdom fantasy story. I really tried to savor it and listen to it slowly, in small chunks here and there, because it was truly marvelous and I wanted to drag it out as long as I could. The story follows Corie, the female lead, over several years as she spends her summers at the castle with her sister and other family members. She spends the rest of the year with her grandmother back in her small village cottage, learning herbs and potions. As we see her growth over the summers at the castle, we see Corie transform from a young girl with a wide-open, trusting, ideal view of the world around her and everyone in it...to an older young woman who sees the world as imperfect, just like the people in it. It is heartbreaking for her to learn that people she has idolized actually have flaws and it is also hard to witness a few things that happen in the story, but overall the growth of Corie and the rest of the cast is wonderful and true, and it makes for the most wonderful of slow-burn tales. The way everything ends is SO GOOD, I just couldn't believe it. I thought I knew how it would all end, but I was so wrong! I can absolutely 100% see myself returning to this one in the future for a re-listen (probably multiple times) because I loved it so much. It was my first Sharon Shinn title but I can't wait to listen to another one and I highly recommend Summers at Castle Auburn to other fans of high fantasy or kingdom fantasy. It was so, so good.

Fantastic book, disappointing narration.

I’ve loved this book for years and was thrilled to see that an audiobook had finally been recorded. And although she has a lovely voice, Baker’s narration leaves a lot to be desired. Several of her character pronunciations are inconsistent - a real pebble in the shoe for a fantasy book where there are several made up names. And there are many outright vocabulary mistakes; it’s hard to tell if this was the fault of the narrator or the person whose job it was to have the text arranged for her to read. A character’s name is switched for another character at a critical moment, and if I hadn’t read the book before I would have been VERY confused. Is this the fault of the narrator or the vocal director? Hard to say. These would be easy mistakes to correct.

EXCELLENT

I don’t usually choose fantasy books but must say this is excellent & I stayed up all night listening to the end. It has many lessons about life, but not sure I like the ending lesson about the villain , ..that two wrongs DO make a right. But otherwise loved everything else about this book!

Great book!

Worth a read. I listen to it over and over. It’s a bit old fashioned, but I love it.