I picked up this audiobook after reading both this book and book 2 in the Beasts of the Briar series, so I knew the story already. I’ve been getting into more audiobooks lately and was happy to pick this one up for a familiar story. I didn’t realize how absolutely amazing the narration was! Both narrators do an amazing job of putting emotion into the characters and their thoughts. The only time I’ve had narration this good was when I’ve listened to the graphic audio productions for the ACOTAR books, and they have a full cast and music/effects to enhance them – the narrators were able to do this just with their own acting, cadence, and inflection!
I absolutely love this series and look forward to hearing the Woven by Gold audiobook later this year and reading Forged by Malice in December! This audiobook definitely enhanced my excitement!
For newer readers to the story – The first book is a lot of set up for the characters and does lean more into the “Beauty and the Beast” retelling angle (and you can definitely tell when quotes are added in or it leans more into the source material), but there is also a lot of original worldbuilding in it. By the next book (Woven by Gold) most of the references are left behind and it really grows into its own world.
I’m eager to see where Elizabeth Helen takes the story for the anticipated 7 books!