This is a first for everywhere and nowhere, an audiobook review and it also counts as another book toward my retelling reading challenge.
–
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.
But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.
When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.
Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository
–
My first audiobook, to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I actually quite enjoyed the experience, it maybe wasn’t as immersive as I usually find reading but I still felt like part of the adventure.
I have to say I loved the voices that narrator Kate Reading created for the characters, it made it very easy to differentiate between them and added depth to the story, she was very clear spoken and had a voice that kind of disappeared into the story, which I mean as a compliment because I would have hated to be aware of it.
The story was fun and I liked the convergence of characters from well-known tales, even if you weren’t clued up on the originals the insights that you get into the girls’ background give enough information. The girls of the Athena club were all interesting, a bit of a ragtag bunch who end up a family however there were other characters such as Holmes and Watson who fell a little bit flat.
Since they are characters that most people know I expected them to be a bit more exciting I know that they are playing second string to the girls but they could still have had a little sparkle.
There were also interjections from the characters throughout the story, kind of as if they are writing the story and then commenting on it at the same time, which possibly when reading wouldn’t have been so jarring but at first when listening it took me a while to figure out what was happening. I did get used to it eventually and as I got to know the characters a bit more it added some extra humour.
I also felt like the story wasn’t concluded very well, it came to a point that it was ending and then there was an authors note that was a bit superfluous, I kind of wanted to stop listening because I didn’t feel it was relevant. However, I was also curious to see how it would be left but my attention was definitely waning and I’m pretty sure I didn’t take everything in.
–
–
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 