The Secret Chapter

By: Genevieve Cogman

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this bookish adventure, a Librarian spy must fall in with a nefarious group to achieve her goals. Imagine Ocean’s Eleven meets James Bond with a pinch of magic. The Secret Chapter is the 6th novel in Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series. Irene and Kai have to team up with an unlikely band of misfits to pull off an amazing art heist. Or they must risk the wrath of a dangerous villain, in his secret island lair. 

As Irene tries to manage a fraught Fae - dragon truce and her overbearing parents, she’s given a hot new mission. The world where she grew up is in danger and only one book can save it. This is held by Mr Nemo, secretive Fae villain and antique dealer, so Irene and Kai travel to his Caribbean retreat to strike a deal. But in return for the book, they must steal a painting from 21st century Vienna. 

They’ll join a team of dragons, Fae gamblers and thieves, so their greatest challenge may be one another. And some will kill to protect this painting, which hides an extraordinary secret from a past age. 

©2019 Genevieve Cogman (P)2019 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Beware new reader

I’ll try again tomorrow but tonight the new readers voice grating on my ears. They need warnings when then change a reader on a beloved series I forced myself through about 3 hours and I don’t know if I’ll finish it.

Don't change narrator mid series.

This is a great series but I am struggling with the narrator change on this book. Even my co-pilot, who doesn't really pay attention, noticed everything just felt dull compared to any of the other books we have listened to together. I think I will be making a trip to the library to finish this one the old fashioned way.

New Narrator? Why

I am a few chapters into this book and realized that it is just working. I am thoroughly intrigued by the story but the narrator just runs her character voices together.

Dear Author, why in the world did you not push for the same author. That voice IS Irene. This woman's Irene sounds dry, drab and feels like someone reading a book and not someone voicing a character. The sarcasm and quick wit falls flat because of her dull delivery. This is an awesome story but I can't deal with the remainder of this book with this awful narration.

New Narrator

Love the story but, like others have said, the new narrator takes some time getting use to.
Story line is fun and what I have come to expect from the series.

Great story, but miss the original narrator

I have been re-listening to these books, one after the other, which makes the change in narrator far more striking than it was when I listened to each book as it was released. While the story is up to Ms. Cogman's usual excellent standard, I am really disappointed that Susan Duerdon was replaced as the narrator. A great narrator is able to provide distinctly different voices for each character, and this new narrator does not seem able to do that. It makes it much harder to track which character is speaking when they sound so similar! She seems unable to have clearly distinguishable male and female voices. Moreover, this new narrator seems to be reading the story, rather than acting it, which makes the whole experience somewhat flat.

I am especially disappointed that the original recordings have been pulled and are being replaced with new recordings using the new narrator. I enjoy the world Ms Cogman has created enough to continue to buy future works in this series, but I am seriously considering buying them as ebooks rather than audiobooks.

A delight!

The reading of this book was a delight! The reader was absolutely fabulous, bringing each character to life with great individuality!

Another Exciting Chapter

Loved it! New exciting dangers for Irene and Kai. Dragons, Fae and getting a rare book to save a world favored by Irene, and a highly desired rare painting. All in a days work!

Excellent series continuation

I read a lot of reviews about this narrator which were less than flattering. I stridently disagree with the negative comments.

I find her voice equally suited to the content and story as the previous voice artist in earlier books.

Love the story and characters — lots of fun.

I enjoy Atherton as a narrator very much

She does excellent character voices and consistently makes action scenes snap. I'm very glad she took over the narration of this series.

Fun!

I enjoyed this...was it an ensemble story? The various Fae and Draconic characters were just written for so much fun! I liked the little pokes at popular fiction like... perhaps James Bond and Oceans 11? If I were plugged into those genres better, I might have loved it even more! This is the first in the series I have listened to with the newer narration, and while it was a shock, there was certainly more variety in her voices... so she grew on me.

Finally!!! A wonderful narrator

I tried to listen to the series before but didn’t like the narrator. I hope the entire series is done by Kristin Atherton, so I can start from the beginning.

Even though this is the middle of the series, it did t take too long to understand the premise.

Another enthralling tale that draws you in!

I consumed this in one sitting! The story is as fantastic as always. The plot, the characterisations are spellbinding as always, winding their way around the imagination and bringing you to the heart of this detailed and engaging universe.

My only gripe is the changes in pronunciation and narrator who is not as natural as Susan Duerden. However, the story grabs you enough to overlook this.

It’s another 5 star review from me!

Brilliant and a new narrator who isn't irksome!!

Loving these books even more that we have a new narrator who isn't annoying to listen to. A brilliant book, now just have to wait patiently for the release of the next installment!!

Kristin Atherton’s Reading Makes ALL the Difference!

As always, a spellbindingly brilliant addition to The Library; this time also beautifully delivered by Kristin Atherton, entirely in a voice I deeply appreciate 💥🧙‍♂️🧝‍♀️🧚‍♀️🐉🦁🦄👑🌹.

Tally 😎😇🐝💚💜

Disappointing

After waiting impatiently for the new book it was devastating to hear that the voices the new narrator gave Kai and Irene completely changed the characters beyond recognition. Spoiled the whole series as Irene went from having a certain vulnerability about her to a strong almost uncaring character. Kai was portrayed as a somewhat naive minor. Story line was very confusing with too many characters

Where is Susan Duerden?

I don’t know what has happened between Genevieve Colman and Susan Duerden but the whole book has changed. Kristin Atherton narrates very well but for me, Susan Duerden is Irene. She is all the characters and I don’t feel the same way about the book anymore. Such a shame.

Great story slightly awkward narration

At first you may, like me, find the narration a little flat, akin to a news reader in delivery, but after a while it settles and becomes more plausible. The characters are well voiced and overall it works well. The story is a great addition to the series

Another stunning book in this series!

Possibly Genevieve Cogman’s best book yet! Loved the storyline, was on the edge of my seat. Narration has dramatically improved from the other books. Can’t wait for the next one!!

Didn’t feel fully done

This book fits well in to the series, but having read (listened to on audible) the previous ones this book didn’t quite match up.

The plot felt confusing and didn’t dive into parts of the story you wanted to hear in others.

The writing style redeems the book. With witty little comments on fiction or nerdy facts you felt sure only you knew. The characters are as deep and as loveable as ever.

Worth a read I just hope the next book is as good as it could be with all the open story lines.

Entertaining & Different

This series is quite novel and entertaining. The author has created some very interesting different worlds, mythologies, mysteries and characters. I’m really enjoying listening to these books. I especially like the idea of the Fey/Fae and their chaotic need to develop affiliations to various literary tropes. This trait leads to quite a lot of the more comic moments in the stories. These books would definitely make a decent fantasy Netflix/Prime Video type series as they are action led but with decent plots, developing relationships and varied settings. I’d definitely watch a tv series if it was done well.