The Marbury Lens

By: Andrew Smith

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time: he is kidnapped, but escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner.

When Jack and Connor arrive in London as planned for their summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury.

There is a war in Marbury, which is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there, too. But he's trying to kill them.

Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl and afraid he's losing his mind. Conner tells Jack that everything is going to be okay. But it's not....

Andrew Smith has written his most beautiful and personal novel yet, as he explores the nightmarish outer limits of what trauma can do to our bodies and our minds.

©2010 Andrew Smith (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Like an addiction, I just couldn't stop listening.

This book was creepy yet I couldn't put it down. I felt a lot like Jack in that I couldn't keep away from the book. It was not my kind of book and yet I am glad to have listened to it and hope there is another to follow...

The Addiction of Needing to Know

Would you put yourself in a horrible nightmare again just to see what happens? This seems to be the predicament of Jack, the main protagonist of "The Marbury Lens". Jack has something horrible happen to him in this world, and then later finds that he exists in another world where horrible things are happening constantly. He is unable to keep from returning, the same way an addict is unable to quit the source of addiction. This is true even when he has a love interest in his 'real' world — he cannot keep from going back to the 'other world' to see what will happen next.

The story is very well told, although the f-bombs felt a bit heavily salted through the dialog. Maybe it is the way teenagers talk, but I'm from another generation, and I didn't think the story needed that language as much as it was used. The story was exciting and fast-paced on its own. Jack's romance with Nicki is convincing and touching, and his friendship with Connor is the backbone of the story.

The Marbury 'world' is a brutal alternate earth, and the author allows the door to be open for either returning to Marbury, or choosing a new, possibly scarier, world to visit at the risk of being sucked in again.

I am probably ready to take the next trip with Jack, wherever he goes.

Great book

Would you listen to The Marbury Lens again? Why?

Yes it was a great book

What did you like best about this story?

The story captivates you

What does Mark Boyett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have been following Mark Boyett since I first heard him in B.V Larson's books. Plays each character well and brings you into the story

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

If I had enough time I would have listen to it all at once however I listen to it in parts when driving I couldn't wait until the next time I drove.

Any additional comments?

I cant wait until the next book. I wonder what the blue ones are for