The Mussorgsky Riddle

By: Darin Kennedy

Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Psychic Mira Tejedor possesses unique talents that enable her to find anything and anyone, but now she must find a comatose boy wandering lost inside the labyrinth of his own mind.

Thirteen-year-old Anthony Faircloth hasn't spoken a word in almost a month, and with each passing day his near-catatonic state worsens. No doctor, test, or scan can tell Anthony's distraught mother what has happened to her already troubled son. In desperation she turns to Mira for answers, hoping her unique abilities might succeed where science has failed. At their first encounter, Mira is pulled into Anthony's mind and finds the child's psyche shattered into the various movements of Modest Mussorgsky's classical music suite Pictures at an Exhibition. As she navigates this magical dreamscape drawn from Anthony's twin loves of Russian composers and classical mythology, Mira must contend with gnomes, troubadours, and witches in her search for the truth behind Anthony's mysterious malady. The real world, however, holds its own dangers. The onset of Anthony's condition coincides with the disappearance of his older brother's girlfriend, a missing-person case that threatens to tear the city apart. Mira discovers that in order to save Anthony, she will have to catch a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets contained in Anthony's unique mind from ever seeing the light.

©2014 Darin Kennedy (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Beautifully captivating.

The intertwining lives, people, musical references and stories will keep you riveted, listening to the end. So many parallels in a young boys mind, revealed through someone drawn into his world. Anthony holds secrets, he’s afraid and reaches for help to solve the secrets through the layers. Mira knows she can help, but will she be lost in the process?
I thought the characters, parallels and imagery was wonderful. An adventure that I highly recommend!

An amazing adventure!

This story is filled with art, music, mystery, fantasy, and the paranormal. It caught and held my attention from the beginning. It has a very close feel to The Wizard of Oz, which I picked up on immediate. This is a must read!

Excellent idea

Loved the idea to use such a theme as the basis of this book, beginning middle and end I enjoyed it. I thought the love triangle, if you can call it that, left a LOT to be desired. I disliked the dated pop culture references and I could not stand the fact he gave the names sterling and archer to characters because all I could think of constantly was the Tv show Archer and neither of the characters has any resemblance to that character. The narrator has an excellent voice but needs work with accents and consistency.

Great Story! Unique

Where does The Mussorgsky Riddle rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book takes you to another world. It analyzes the complexity of the human brain and emotional nature. The story and it's characters are unique. I really enjoyed it!

an exciting adventure awaits you

I was so excited to start this book, and I haven't been disappointed. I think if they were to do a revision of this series it would be cool to hear snips of some of the music that is in this story to make it more real. I look forward to listening to the other 2 books in this series.

Reintroducing me to fantasy fiction

First audio book review ever, but the work is deserving: I read almost exclusively non-fiction, research, and historical fiction. I am trying to read more sci-fi and fantasy fiction to break out of my comfort zone. This was a great PG-13 read. I appreciated that the book was a book targeted at adults with no need to add gratuitous sex and violence. For someone who does not typically like fantasy fiction, I found the characters and story compelling. I liked the abstractions of both the riddle and its manifestation. I did my research on the author, and I will be reading everything he has written and sharing his work my teenage and college-age children. I was particularly impressed with the voice artist as well. It was a challenging book with the many characters, ages, and accents. I do voice work in other languages, and bravo to Elizabeth Evans for accepting the challenge.

A Vividly Captivating Dreamscape

I finished listening to The Mussorgsky Riddle last night. I'd definitely recommend it.

Normally I avoid books written in present tense unless they're in a noir detective genre because it usually feels forced and is distracting but this one wasn't.

It was a well written narrative with lots of sensory information and a rolling momentum that kept me engaged.

Some aspects of it remind me of the movie "The Cell" with Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn. But it's more magical and whimsical than that.. And... frankly, less icky. Not that I minded the nastiness and violence in The Cell. It was part of the horror.

But this is not like that. It's a bit more family friendly, though there are some sensitive topics. The Mussorgsky Riddle has some great dreamscape imagery and scary imaginative characters.

I'll definitely be checking out Darin Kennedy's other books.

MUST READ! So Imaginative and a thrilling read!

For all book lovers this story is a must read/listen! I binged the book in one weekend. The storyline is thrilling, and emotional, and smart, and so much more. The storyline took the compositions of Modest Mussorgsky (a Russian composer from the 1800’s) and so artfully incorporated them into the dream world and characters that interact with a psychic trying to save a comatose boy on the spectrum from his own mind…. While also trying to understand this world and the clues in it enough to solve the disappearance of a girl connected to the boys family. I really loved this book and hope that anyone who reads my review takes the time to also read the book! So worth the read!