I love it!!

I'm actually not done listening yet but I fell in love with the story already and the characters. I can't stop smiling while listening to it. Can't wait to unravel the story more.

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a great delve into a parallel world

great performance, brought a wide variety of characters to life. The alternate world was well created and has given me great hopes for the next books

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Charming

A sweet and enchanting story line. I hope for more character development in the next books.

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1 person found this helpful

My son loved this book

We listened to this once before and now we are doing it again because it was amazing

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unexpectedly good!

what an unexpected book this was! it was part of the membership included books and because I love magic and fairy content I thought I would give it a try and was rewarded with an actually interesting book that would be suitable for young adults to adult. the magical premise is lots of fun and doesn't keep you quiet for long. there's always something happening and the supporting characters are really good.

I also enjoy the unexpectedly timed humor that pops up here and there. it makes it a lot of fun and a really great listen.

I.the world building in this novel is fantastic. detailed and incredibly visual but not over the top. nor does it take over chapter after chapter. it just evolves along with the story.

I enjoyed both the narrators although I found some of the voices did sound very similar.

overall I highly recommend for a lot of fun and a great book to have your Harry Potter / dark academia fix.

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2 people found this helpful

Good story shareable with the family

Enjoyable story shareable with the kids
Has a lovely imaginative storyline
Open the door and start your adventure

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1 person found this helpful

Love the whole series

Lynette Noni has a great imagination. This kids book will also appeal to young-at-heart adults. My son and I listened to the series together and loved analyzing all the plot turns and how things work in the parallel world of Madora. The reader is easy to listen to. I hope someone picks up the script as I think it would be super fun to see it translated to the screen. Enjoy!

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loved it

what an adventure!!! I totally got into this story and couldn't stop. my kids too

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Could have been good...but... (spoiler warning)

hmm... this book series was very promising. But as the story goes on, Alex is more and more irritating. why do they make female characters absolutely useless and predictably dim whitted for the sheer purpose of weak plot convenience. The last couple chapters hopefully change things around, or else this series won't be worth finishing.

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1 person found this helpful

Fun Story.. If You're Nine

Australian Author Lynette Noni is clearly writing for children here. I am a rabid reader of Fantasy/SciFi books (including those aimed at YA, NA, and Children).. so I'm comfortable concluding that this book comes across as strikingly immature.. but it's not terrible.
Noni does a nice job of worldbuilding (a mix of supernatural and tech drive the parallel universe of 'Medora') and provides enough action and interesting characters to keep a hold of listeners' attention. A striking focus on food, silly jokes, cutesy relationships, overdone distinctions between ideal families and dysfunctional ones, and straightforward "friends good"/"enemies bad" dynamics abound, however.. this story - completely lacking in nuance - is obviously aimed at little kids.
'Akarnae' is a relatively childish riff on the 'Magical Boarding School' template.. but a passable one.

Reader Carly Robins admirably recognizes the "family-friendly" tone of the text and delivers a commensurate (albeit often cartoonish) performance that brings it to life.

Audible Studios cast this project *perfectly*.

Unfortunately, the narration falls apart a little bit. To be sure, Robins's diction, cadence, and rate of reading are professional - and her voice-acting is fantastic - but she reads the book with an occasionally shrill treble timbre that repeatedly gave me the impression that Bart Simpson was reading the book.. it got very annoying very quickly.

If you fit into Noni's demographic (you're listening with kids), this audiobook is a reasonable distraction - perfect for.. say.. a long drive to Grandma's house - but if you're an adult listening alone, this 5.5/10 star audiobook isn't great. If you can get it as a 'Plus' option - as I did - do so by all means.. but if they ask for a Credit, other (better) selections beckon.

[Note: The couple of amusing/blissfull descriptions of being drunk/high on drugs in this book are mildly disturbing. No, kids, getting wasted isn't harmless, quirky fun]

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