Review of The Darkness Outside Us, by Eliot Schrefer, read by James Fouhey

Audiobooks, Science Fiction, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Darkness Outside Us

by Eliot Schrefer
read by James Fouhey

HarperAudio, 2021. 9 hours, 49 minutes.
Review written January 10, 2025, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

Wow! I’d be very sorry I missed reading this book in its publication year – except for the lovely fact that I have the sequel in my Holds queue already. This is powerful space travel science fiction, with a side of a sweet love story between two young men.

The book is narrated by Ambrose Cusk, the son of the powerful owner of the Cusk Space Travel Corporation and the DNA of Alexander the Great. He’s been training for space travel, and he wakes up on a spaceship on a planned mission to rescue his sister Minerva, who sent out a distress beacon from Titan.

Funny thing, though – he doesn’t remember the launch. The ship’s operating system, which has his mother’s voice, tells him he was in a coma for two weeks. Next he discovers that his ship has been joined to a ship from the one other country on earth, Demokratea, and there is a space traveler on the other side of the ship, named Kodiak. Both of them have been assigned maintenance tasks that the O.S. tells them are urgent to accomplish before they arrive on Titan.

Ambrose works little by little on earning Kodiak’s trust. Unfortunately, at the same time, they lose trust in the operating system. It won’t explain to them why neither of them remembers the launch. Or why some other details don’t add up. And then Ambrose finds some blood and hair with DNA that matches his own, but no memory of such an injury.

Well, solving this mystery is by no means the end of the book. Dealing with what they learn is what makes the book so interesting. And the ins and outs are expertly crafted. I have to say that I can get extremely nitpicky about science fiction, and easily skeptical as to whether things described could actually work. In this case, there was nothing in the book that triggered my skepticism at all, and I loved the way the author thought of repercussions and reactions to what was happening that seemed realistic when they happened – but hadn’t crossed my mind at all. (I hope that’s vague enough to be intriguing without giving anything away!)

This was also a lovely exploration of love during extreme circumstances. Ambrose and Kodiak don’t have anyone else to love, but the book beautifully showed how their love and appreciation for each other grows under duress.

And there’s so much more I wish I could say! In couched terms, I will also say that this is a book that could have gotten repetitive, and I loved the way the author kept the reader guessing and expanded on the ideas in surprising ways. He also had the two teens acting consistently with their characters – but still surprising us and making us think about the emotional and psychological turmoil they were going through – and how we might react in such a case.

Okay, I’ve probably said enough. If you like science fiction at all, read this book!

eliotschrefer.com

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Review of Give Me a Sign, by Anna Sortino, read by Elizabeth Robbins

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Give Me a Sign

by Anna Sortino
read by Elizabeth Robbins

Listening Library, 2023. 9 hours, 21 minutes.
Review written September 23, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Give Me a Sign is a story about Lilah, a 17-year-old who’s hard of hearing and looking to find her place in both Hearing culture and Deaf culture. Her school friends seem to get tired of repeating themselves when Lilah doesn’t understand, but they also aren’t careful about letting her see their lips when they talk so she can use lip-reading to help. When Lilah lands a summer job at a camp for the Deaf and Blind that she once attended as a camper, she looks forward to increasing her American Sign Language fluency – but when she arrives, she wishes she could pick it up more quickly.

There’s not a whole lot of plot to this book, but there’s enough to keep it going. Will the potential summer romance with that cute Deaf counselor work out? Will the camp get enough funding to continue, or will this be its last year of existence?

What drives the book, though, is Lilah’s interactions with the world around her. And that window into her world is fascinating enough to make this book a great read (or listen). She has some hearing, so she struggles whether she’s even “allowed” to call herself Deaf. And her family never taught her to sign, so can she learn, or should she continue to just try to fit in with the hearing folks around her?

Lilah encounters people from many different backgrounds in this book, and there’s a strong message that people have different responses to their own hearing loss, and each person should get to make their own choice about how they want to live in the world, whether hearing aids or cochlear implants or sign language, or some combination of all of the above. She also learns to speak up for herself and not be ashamed of being Deaf and to tell her friends what she needs.

And all of this is wrapped up in a fun story of summer camp, so its strong message doesn’t feel like medicine, but like an interesting window into someone else’s world. I also imagine that for many Deaf teens out there, it may provide the delightful experience of seeing someone like themselves as a protagonist. The author reminds us at the end that Lilah’s experience isn’t representative of every Deaf person’s experience. But the book itself does a lovely job reminding us that we are all individuals and we should all be able to make our own choices.

annasortino.com

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Review of Icarus, by K. Ancrum

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Icarus

by K. Ancrum
read by Kirt Graves

HarperTeen, 2024. 8 hours, 32 minutes.
Review written January 14, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2024 CYBILS Award Finalist, Young Adult Fiction

Oh my goodness. After the CYBILS Award Finalists were announced, I put all the books on hold (I do a program for other librarians about award winners, and this *probably* gives me a head start for ALA award winners), and this was one of the first audiobooks to come in. And it is amazingly good! If the other Finalists are anywhere close, the second round judges are going to have a difficult time.

This isn’t a retelling of the Greek myth, but it borrows themes from the myth. Our hero is indeed Icarus, a teen who lives alone with his father, but he lives in modern times. He and his father are both expert artists – but they’re also expert thieves. Icarus has been trained all his life to steal objects of art from the mansion of Angus Black and replace them with forgeries. And now that his father’s hands have begun to shake, all the active work falls on Icarus.

At school, Icarus makes a point of having one friend in each class – so that he’s not part of a friend group that expects him to do things with him after school. He’s never had anybody over to his house, and he never can have anybody over to his house. His goal is to stay under the radar.

But then some of those classroom friends start noticing that he can’t stay awake. They seem to care, which Icarus isn’t sure he can handle.

At the same time, Icarus gets spotted when stealing in the Black mansion – Angus Black’s son is there, with no phone and no internet and a cuff to keep him in place. They develop a friendship that looks like it’s going toward romance – and as the reader, I got awfully worried about how it would turn out once it was revealed that the son’s name is Helios. Because I know how that story ends.

So there’s lots and lots of tension in this book, and teens in tough situations – but there are also beautiful portrayals of friendship. Icarus learns how to be a friend and how to accept friendship. And all of the interactions and character growth make this book shine brightly – while keeping up the tension throughout the whole book. And yes, tender romance. Oh, and the audiobook is wonderfully done, too. This book will linger with me for a long time to come.

kancrum.com

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Review of Twenty-four Seconds from Now…, by Jason Reynolds

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Twenty-four Seconds from Now . . .

A LOVE Story

by Jason Reynolds
read by Guy Lockard

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2024. 4 hours, 28 minutes.
Review written January 7, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2024 CYBILS Award Finalist, Young Adult Fiction
2025 Capitol Choices selection

Yes, this is a book about a seventeen-year-old boy having sex for the first time. And it turns out to be very sweet.

I was afraid it would go into detail about each second building up to the moment of connection. But no, it’s much more interesting than that. It does open with “Right now” where the teenage boy, Neon, is in the bathroom of his girlfriend Aria’s house, looking at a picture of her dog – a dog he dislikes that is now living in his own house – and feeling extremely nervous about what’s supposed to happen in approximately twenty-four seconds from now.

But instead of going into excruciating detail about those seconds, the story backtracks to 24 seconds before that – when they were kissing in her bedroom, and he had to excuse himself to go to the bathroom, he was so nervous.

But then we look at 24 minutes before that – when he was using the whole note knocker on her front door (made by his family’s door knocker company), bringing her the chicken nuggets that she loves.

And then it switches to 24 hours before that – when he was interviewing other students for their high school’s video yearbook, which Aria also works on. And he was having his sister make a special door knocker for Aria to take to college with her. And his sister has some good advice about what’s going to happen.

And then we move to 24 days before that – when he walks with his Gammy and that same dog to visit his grandfather’s grave and he hears Gammy tell the story of how they met, and gives Neon some advice about love. And he’s talking with Aria because they want to have sex, but they want to make it special. And his mother has some good advice.

And then we see 24 weeks before that – when Neon took the dog off Aria’s hands, because her mother didn’t like his barking – and Gammy fell in love with that dog. And his father has some good advice.

And finally we see what happened 24 months ago, when Neon was at his grandfather’s funeral, and an out-of-control dog interrupted them, and he met Aria, and his life was never the same again.

Before we finally come back to the present and what’s about to happen.

And all of this shows us the story of these two teens and their families. And how much they care for each other and care about each other. And there’s some good advice in what Neon hears.

And no, it doesn’t describe the details. This isn’t a how-to manual. But it shows the thought and care and love that went into the decision these two teens make. A decision that’s ultimately, as it should be, about the two of them.

I don’t think of this as a book that promotes teens having sex so much as a book that promotes teens giving thought and care into their decisions about when and whether to have sex. And it tells a good story, too! The strategy of going backward in time piques our interest and is used extremely effectively.

jasonwritesbooks.com

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Review of The Last of the High Kings, by Kate Thompson

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Last of the High Kings

by Kate Thompson
read by Marcella Riordan

Clipper Audiobooks, 2009. 5 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written December 7, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve been meaning to listen to this book ever since I listened to The New Policeman back in 2011. But in those days, I listened to audiobooks on CD and never as eaudiobooks, but that was the only version the library had of this sequel. I’d been so taken with the Irish music mixed into The New Policeman audiobook that I wasn’t going to settle for reading it in print.

Well, sadly The Last of the High Kings doesn’t have any Irish music in the audiobook, though it does include the delightful Irish accent of the narrator. We’ve got the same main character, J. J. Liddy, but fifteen years have passed since he first visited Tir na nOg, and now he’s a father with a family.

And his eleven-year-old daughter Jenny never wants to stay indoors and can’t seem to follow directions. She can see and talk with the ghost who guards the ancient beacon at the top of the hill. She laughs when he thwarts archaeologists from digging into it. But she can also talk with the pooka who masquerades as a goat, who also seems to have designs on the old beacon.

Meanwhile, their old neighbor Mikey says he’s the last of the High Kings of Ireland. He wants to visit the top of the mountain one last time – maybe by helicopter? J. J.’s too distracted to make it happen, but his son Donal tries to see what he can do.

And those are the bare bones of what’s going on, but we’ve got more Irish magic and ultimately the fate of the world depending on some cleverness. But I especially like that the entire Liddy family gets involved in the magic that happens in this book. And there’s plenty of music and dancing.

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Review of In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

Audiobooks, History, Nonfiction Review, True Stories 0

In the Garden of Beasts

Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

by Erik Larson
read by Stephen Hoye

Random House Audio, 2011. 12 hours, 53 minutes.
Review written January 8, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’m not sure where I noticed the suggestion, but I do know that somewhere I saw the suggestion that I read this book about the rise of Hitler in order to gain insights about the rise of Donald Trump. Even though the book is 14 years old, there was still a wait for the audio. Now that I’ve read the book in that context, let’s just say that I was not reassured.

This is the story of William Dodd, the American ambassador to Nazi Germany in 1933 through 1937, just after Hitler became chancellor to Germany. Dodd was an academic, not the usual wealthy donor to get an ambassadorship, but newly-elected FDR was having trouble finding someone willing to go. Dodd brought along both his adult children, and the book gives extra attention to his daughter Martha, who had affairs with a wide assortment of men, including the first head of the Gestapo and a Russian Communist.

The chilling part of this book is how so many people simply didn’t take Hitler seriously. They believed him when he’d earnestly lie to their faces and claim he would put a stop to any harassment the people might do to American citizens or Jews. When I think about World War II, I think about the years after America entered the war, and had no idea how early Dachau was built, and that international visitors toured it, saw the prisoners in “protective custody” and said they were well-treated.

Of course, it was mostly unsettling. At first Dodd and his family didn’t believe the Jews were actually being mistreated, except for isolated incidents. And nobody really thought Hitler’s regime would last long. And Hitler improved unemployment! And inflation! And he found people to blame. Roused up national pride. While the main concern from America’s president was that Germany would repay its debts to American banks. (I always forget how soon after World War I Hitler rose to power. Not even fifteen years later.)

The author doesn’t take a grand overarching view of history. He shows us what it was like for one family, transplanted from America to Berlin. He heavily uses descriptions from their writings and keeps their viewpoint – which is all the more poignant, knowing what we know now.

I hated the way they shut their eyes to the threat from Hitler – as I continue to shut my eyes to the parallels I saw. Humans don’t want to believe that bad things are coming. I am still very much hoping this book is simply a fascinating in-depth look at the history of the lead-up to a madman taking power in one country and causing the upheaval of the world. May any parallels simply be products of wild imagination.

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Review of The Turn of the Key, by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

The Turn of the Key

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Review written December 30, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2019. 12 hours, 13 minutes.

The Turn of the Key is Ruth Ware at her most frightening. Never mind what I said in my last review of one of her books – even though this is the fourth one of her books I’ve read in the last half of 2024, I had no idea what was going to happen in this one. Well, except what the person telling the story told us – she was in prison for murder for the death of a child. The book is her writing to a lawyer the other ladies in prison have said is good for no-chance cases.

Before I talk about the book, let me say that this book is extremely well-written and had me on the edge of my seat all the way. The plot wasn’t predictable, and so many small things combined to keep the tension high. So why am I not giving it a star? Well, a child dies. And even watching all the pieces come together to explain mysterious events isn’t enough to make me feel good about the story. I was left with a sinking feeling at the end of the book, so I feel like my review has to include a fair warning. Not only does someone die whom you’ve come to care about, it’s a child.

And the author absolutely tells you that right from the start. So if I wasn’t able to handle that, I probably shouldn’t have read the book. And I did thoroughly enjoy reading the book and couldn’t stop thinking about it – but it didn’t give me the usual happy feeling at the end when a mystery is solved.

Anyway, that said, the story is told by Rowan Caine. She discovered an opportunity to be a nanny for two architects and their four children in a remote part of Scotland. Rowan is up front that she told some lies to get the position, and her reasons are some of the mysteries in the book. But it has an enormous salary, and the family seems nice, and the teenage daughter is off to boarding school when Rowan is first due to arrive.

The initial interview – a day with the family – went great, but when Rowan shows up for duty, she’s told the parents are heading to a conference the very next day. The previous nannies have left because they thought the house was haunted, but Rowan firmly believes that’s a load of bunk. All the same, when she starts hearing pacing in the night above her room – where there shouldn’t even be a room – and when the “smart” house malfunctions in the night, and when the children get her told off after they lead her into the poison garden on the grounds – well, she doesn’t know what’s going on or where to turn. The lady who comes in to clean doesn’t seem to like her, and the handyman/driver is helpful, but she doesn’t want him to think she’s a neurotic female who needs to be rescued.

The situation builds, with one thing after another. Just when Rowan thinks she’s getting a break, something more happens. And it all ends with the death of a child. And when Rowan tried to explain to the police what had been going on, she only makes them more suspicious.

It’s another thriller with expertly done, twisty suspense. Pick it up with a fair warning.

ruthware.com

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Review of A Christmas Visitor, by Anne Perry, read by Terrence Hardiman

Audiobooks, Christmas, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

A Christmas Visitor

by Anne Perry
read by Terrence Hardiman

Blackstone Audio, 2006. 3 hours, 59 minutes.
Review written December 24, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

Okay, here’s one last cozy Christmas mystery for this year. This is the second one written by Anne Perry. The sleuth in this book is the gentleman Henry Rathbone, a friend of William and Hester Monk from her Victorian mystery series. He’s the same main character as in A Christmas Odyssey, a book I decided not to review because it’s not really a cozy mystery, searching the “dark underbelly” of London for a friend’s long lost son, and contains some casual transphobia against the characters found there.

But this book has plenty of coziness and snow-covered landscapes to get you in a Christmas mood. Henry Rathbone is the title visitor, visiting a family of friends at their estate in the Lake District of England. But unfortunately, a few weeks before, Judah, the owner of the estate, was found dead after apparently trying to cross icy stepping stones late at night after his son’s recital. Judah was a judge, and meanwhile, a man recently freed after years in prison, is accusing Judah of wrongfully imprisoning him in order to buy his estate.

As the family gathers from far-flung corners of the earth, it’s left to Henry to break the news to Judah’s siblings, rather than leave it to his widow. It seems strange that Judah would have gone for that walk late at night, and no one believes the accusation for a moment, so there’s plenty to investigate, and we get time with the interesting family members at the same time.

I have clearly listened to too many Anne Perry Christmas mysteries this year – I’m starting to be annoyed by how they can be weak on actual proof of the crime, and that it’s just about figuring it out, which is often guesswork. But still, taking me to Victorian England in the snow at Christmas time is a nice way to honor the holiday.

anneperry.us

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Review of When the World Tips Over, by Jandy Nelson

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

When the World Tips Over

by Jandy Nelson
read by Michael Crouch, Alex McKenna, Briggon Snow, Caitlin Kinnunen, and Julia Whelan

Listening Library, 2024. 17 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written December 17, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

When the World Tips Over is a family saga for teens, with a strong dose of magical realism. Our main characters are the three siblings Wynton, Miles, and Dizzy Fall, all named after their missing father’s favorite trumpet players, as well as a mysterious rainbow-haired girl who joins the story later along the way.

As the story opens, 12-year-old Dizzy has had a terrible day, with a disgusting boy farting in her face and her former best friend joining in the laughter about it. So she climbed over the fence and walked blindly away from the school, but she wasn’t paying attention when she stepped into the street, and that was her first encounter with the rainbow-haired girl, who pushed her out of the way of the truck barreling down upon her. But she didn’t see the girl afterward, so Dizzy is convinced she’s an angel.

Miles is the next sibling to see the rainbow-haired girl. His siblings call him “Perfect Miles,” but not fondly. What they don’t know is that he’s quit track, the math club, academic decathlon, volunteering at the animal refuge, and even going to school altogether. He’s been intercepting notes to his mother. On top of that, he’s gay but hasn’t dared to come out to anyone. Oh, and he can have conversations with dogs. The next-door neighbor’s dog is his best friend.

And then he meets the rainbow-haired girl, when he should be in school. They drive around in her vintage orange truck, and he can open up to her like nobody he’s ever met before. He can feel hope returning.

Then there’s Wynton, the oldest brother. He’s been kicked out of the house after driving under the influence and knocking the head off the statue of their ancestor in the town square, and after stealing their mother’s wedding band to pawn for money to buy a new bow for his violin. Wynton has his big chance coming up – he’s going to perform in front of a scout that could bring him into the big time. But his mother has heard it before, and nobody’s paying attention. And he runs into the rainbow-haired girl after the concert, when he’s again under the influence. But she’s not able to get him out of the road in time.

That’s all just the beginning. As the story winds on, we learn more about the rainbow-haired girl, and how she grew up driving around northern California with her mother in an RV named Sadie May. We also learn about the history of the Fall family and their ancestors who came to Paradise Springs from Europe, bringing magical vines. We learn the identity of those ghosts Dizzy’s always been able to see, where their mother got her gift for baking food so good it makes you fall in love, why their father left and never came back, and how that rainbow-haired girl turns out to be connected to them.

There are lots of coincidences in this book, but they’re explained by magic and destiny – which ended up being a little weak for me, but that’s the grinchy part of me, and it makes a nice story.

But there’s also lots of abandonment and betrayal in the back stories, and that’s where it was just a little too harsh for me, along with the Cain-and-Abel curse on the family. I’ve been abandoned and betrayed myself, so that hit me a little too hard to be completely outweighed. And this covers not only romantic partners, but children as well – so it’s not quite a feel-good story for me.

Though I do completely love the explanation at the end for the title:

I do believe now that when the world tips over, joy spills out with all the sorrow.

But you have to look for it.

That’s a message I can get behind.

jandynelson.com

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Review of A Christmas Escape, by Anne Perry

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

A Christmas Escape

by Anne Perry
read by Steven Crossley

Recorded Books, 2015. 3 hours, 41 minutes.
Review written December 20, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

Yes, I’m listening to one Anne Perry Christmas novella after another in the lead up to Christmas, after I finished all the eaudiobooks my library has available that are eligible for the Cybils in the Young Adult Speculative Fiction category. Overdrive informs me that this is the thirteenth one she wrote.

I enjoyed this one for having quite a different flavor from the others – instead of being set in a remote English village, it’s set on an island in Italy, next to an active volcano. Our main character Charles Latterly isn’t obviously from any other of Anne Perry’s books. He’s a lonely gentleman going on vacation over Christmas to warmer shores. The host makes him welcome in the small hotel, with wonderful food, and assures them that it has stood safely there at the foot of the volcano for generations.

Charles goes out walking on the hillside the next day and encounters a charming fourteen-year-old girl and her elderly guardian. But when they get back to the hotel, there’s disharmony among the guests when the visiting author claims that someone tried to push him off the mountain.

And then things get much more frightening the next day when the volcano begins to erupt. To be completely safe, they need to get down to the beach, but that means walking a long way – and sure enough, before they set out they discover a murder.

I enjoyed listening to this one a bit more than the others, because the danger of the eruption had me riveted. The mystery itself felt contrived, and the motive unlikely, and it wasn’t solved by deduction so much as guesswork. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. And I liked the friendly, almost fatherly relationship that developed between Charles Latterly and the teenage girl in the time of danger.

And, yes, everything resolves and most of the characters reach safety on Christmas Day.

anneperry.us

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