I really only have two reviews for this month’s audio books, but they were both outstanding.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Author: Hank Green

Narrators: Kristen Sieh, Joe Hempel, Jesse Vilinsky, Nicole Lewis, Kevin R. Free, Robert Petkoff, Angelo Di Loreto, Oliver Wyman, Hillary Huber, P.J. Ochlan, Gabra Zackman

Yes, there are that many narrators, although really only five mains, one for each main point of view character. Kristen Sieh returns as April, and is joined by Joe Hemple as Andy, Jesse Vilinsky as Miranda, Nicole Lewis as Maya, and Kevin R. Free as Carl. The others are used to narrate the newscasts, articles, podcast clips, social media posts, and other bits that are featured between chapters. It works so well and made the whole book so much more immersive and gives it such a good atmosphere. It was also funny to hear Hank Green as a cocky dudebro postcast host.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Narrator: Carolyn McCormick

I have been enjoying listening to this series so much. It’s always been a favorite of mine and it’s been fun to experience it in a different way. I will say that it took me a little while to warm up to McCormick, mostly because she sounded a lot more adult than I was expecting for Katniss. It only took a few chapters into book one before I was fully into it. While McCormick does have a mature voice for a teenager, since Katniss is older than her years, it still works and, once I got used to it, I started to really enjoy her performance. I also appreciated that she narrates the entire trilogy (Mockingjay as well, which I’m listening to now).

Categories: Audio Roundup

Tags: audio round up, books