As winter sets in, build a warm fire, grab a book, or connect to an audio and let the magic of storytelling transport you to the amazing destinations of these three new YA fantasies.
Ship breaker, Bacigalupi, Paolo (Little Brown, ages 12 and up)
Seventeen-year-old Nailer is lucky in his dangerous postapocalyptic world. While stripping a beached tanker, he’s trapped in a chamber filled with oil and lives to tell the tale, then discovers a modern clipper ship washed up on the coast and ripe for scavenging. But what about the “swank” aboard? Should he slit her throat, sell her for parts and cash in on her yacht’s wealth? Somehow near-death has made him compassionate and that’s not a helpful trait for survival. He may be able to escape the traitorous shipping thieves from the drowned city of Orleans, but will he elude his scary, abusive father? Fast-paced adventures and sophisticated psychology make a gripping story.
Read by Joshua Swanson (Brilliance, unabridged, 8CDs, 9 hours, 11 minutes)
Swanson captures the dismal nature of this dystopian world, the ominous dangers Nailer faces, the complexity of his personality, and the tense driving force of non-stop action.
Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock (Candlewick, ages 10 and up) The story opens ten years after Lumatere has been taken over by an imposter king who murdered the royal family and scattered the population. The hero, Finnikin, son of a royal guard, has wandered the land hoping to find his father and his childhood friend Balthazar, heir to the throne. He has struggled with his scholarly dipolomatic bent and his wish to use force for revenge. All comes to a head when he and his guardian are charged with the care of Evanjalin, a mysterious prophetic novice.
Read by Jeffrey Cummings (Brillance, unabridged, 11CDs, 12.5 hours)
Jeffrey Cummings immediately immerses listeners in this fantastical world, dramatically defining passions and connections in dialogues between Finnikin and Evanjalin. He superbly translates the plot’s tensions and poignant themes of guilt, fear, and revenge. His tone speaks for an entire land held in the grip of darkness and ready for redemption.
The Ring of Solomon, Jonathan Stroud (Hyperion, ages 11 and up)
Fans of Bartimaeus, the sarcastic djinni who starred in a Victorian alternate-world trilogy will welcome him back in this prequel from 950 BC. Bartimaeus is this time controlled by a cruel and curious magician from King Solomon’s court. He teams with young Amsira, a young guard determined to protect her Queen and land of Sheba from Solomon. As the two work to obtain Solomon’s ring of power there’s slapstick, magic, adventure, rich detailing, wit and best of all, Bartimaeus’ attitude.
Read by Simon Jones (Listening Library, unabridged, 10 CDs, 12.5)
A welcome reading return by Simon Jones who’s read all the others in the series. He enlivens every entertaining word of Stroud’s book, maximizes dialogue through pacing and fabulous characterizations, and puts just the right amount of acid in Bartimaeus’ sharp-tongued snarkiness.