SoundtrackReview posted March 27, 2026.
Listening Library, 2025. 6 hours, 29 minutes.
Review written February 16, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2026 Odyssey Honor Audiobook
I always listen to Odyssey Award Winners and Honorees, because they are without exception excellent productions. Even knowing that, I was blown away when I listened to this book.
Jason Reynolds wrote this as an original audiobook - they're coming out with the novelization next month, but the audiobook came first. It's about a kid fresh out of high school forming a band in New York City and then playing in subway stations and gaining a following. And the audiobook production is incredible. It's got a full cast (and a large one), with full sound effects. When they're talking in a group, you hear them as if they're talking in a group, there's crowd noise and sounds of objects they refer to - and music!
Throughout the entire production this story about a young band is accompanied by the sounds of a band jamming to music. It's astonishingly good.
For a minute there, I was astonished on this audiobook's behalf that it had "only" won Odyssey Honor, because I was misremembering which one won the award. Then I remembered that the actual winner was Trans History, also with a full cast and full sound effects, and including the actual voices of present-day trans folks - and I understood the decision better. Still, this audiobook is incredible, and together these books have raised the bar on what an audiobook production can be.
Our main character in this book, Stuy, is the drummer, and his mother was a drummer before him, who dropped out of her band when she gave birth to Stuy and his father left. But now Stuy's mom's boyfriend throws his drum set into a corner, and Stuy goes to stay with his Uncle Lucky - where he meets a kid who plays the guitar. That leads to finding the rest of their band, and the whole adventure is tremendous fun - though with some serious undertones (fair warning).
It was a truly engaging story - and the music and the cast made the whole thing into an experience.