The Laughing Listener
July 2018
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Billie Fulford-Brown
Length: 9 hours & 36 minutes

Story Rating: 3 Stars
Performance Rating: 4 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

If I'm being honest, I probably would have skipped this book completely had it not been in the November 2017 Owlcrate box. Luckily for me, it WAS in the Owlcrate box and I ended up listening to the audiobook. Although it didn't blow my mind, the world building was great and I had a lot of fun with it!

It took me a little bit of time to connect with the characters, so initially the universe is what captured my attention. It was so interesting!! There was such an interesting mix of old world ideas meeting new advanced technology. And the use of alchemy was really cool! Listening to Gerdie and Wil talk about alchemy and creating new inventions was really fascinating. Plus, DeStefano took some time in the beginning to showcase the great relationship Wil had with her brothers Gerdie and Owen and I really loved it. It was so nice reading a YA book that didn’t just immediately devolve into a romance.



Once the story got going, I really grew to love Wil too. She had a quiet kind of strength that I always appreciate in my female characters. And her power was so crazy cool to watch! I really felt for her after everything happens and she has to come to grips with her abilities.

That being said, this book was sloooooooow. A lot of it was was just world building and establishing the plot, which I can completely understand being the first book and all, but I felt only half invested the whole time. Plus, I really wasn’t feeling the romance between Wil and Loom at all. He was kind of an ass for half the book and then they’re suddenly all googly-eyed at each other. It felt a little too insta-lovey without enough substance for my taste.



FINAL WORD

Despite being a little slow, this was a fun book! I can DEFINITELY tell there’s going to be loads of drama in the next book, so I’m totally here for it. I gotta see how this story ends.