The Laughing Listener
February 2020
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Kate Simses
Length: 9 hours & 12 minutes

Story Rating: 3 Stars
Performance Rating: 2 Stars
Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Woooooow, okaaaaaay… What a ride that was. I’ve been sitting on this series for quite a while now because I had a feeling this wouldn’t exactly be my cup of tea, but I saw it the other day and thought “what the hell?” I needed some entertainment and decided to go for it. And uhhh entertainment is definitely what I got. Let’s just dive into this thing.

THE UGLY

First of all, I listened to the audiobook of this and ohhhhhh man. Not the move friends. Not the move. The narrator Kate Simses wasn’t the worst, and she’s actually a pretty good voice actress. But she sounds so young!! It threw me off in the beginning because she sounds more like a 10 year-old than the teenager Juliette is supposed to be. And THE SCRATCHING SOUNDS. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE GODDAMN SCRATCHING SOUNDS. I came so close to DNF-ing this because the scratching was so annoying and confusing. Seriously didn’t know what was going on for the first 25-ish% of this novel. I had to look up the actual text and SEE it to understand why the hell it was happening. But even then, it STILL made some of the dialogue hard to understand because sometimes I couldn’t tell what was ACTUALLY being said and what Juliette was just THINKING about saying. UGH. Okay, moving on…



There was BARELY any plot to this book ya’ll. This is categorized as a dystopian novel, but it’s basically a romance with some dystopia sprinkled in for flavor. I read this entire book and still BARELY understand what’s going on outside of Juliette’s relationship with Adam. How did civilization end and why has the world been turned upside down?? Who knows! But there’s a lot of talk about the “clouds changing color” and “birds not flying” which I guess is supposed to be the explanation???

Instead, this book was about Juliette meeting Adam, remembering Adam, thinking about Adam, hugging Adam, kissing Adam, making out with Adam, falling in love with Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam. The guy isn’t even interesting! Can we maybe take a two second break from ADAM to get some more plot or world building??

Also, can we please please please please PLEASE stop romanticizing guys who are actually stalkers??? PLEASE. I’m begging. Why is this a thing?????

THE GOOD

*Sighs aggressively* Despite the rough start and the ADAM-ness of this, I eventually kinda got hooked onto the story. I feel bad for Juliette and I understand why, after everything she’s been through, she would hold on to her newfound relationship with Adam so tightly. HE bugs the crap out of me because he’s so two-dimensional and boring, but I really did feel for Juliette. And her power is so cool! I’m curious to learn more about it and see how it really works.

I also really loved Warner. I know he’s a super mega creep, but he’s easily the most interesting character out of the bunch and it was kinda fun watching his evil ass go. Since I’ve waited so long to read these books, I already know who he ends up with and I’m suuuuuper curious to see how that ship sets sail.



My brain has put this series on the same level as The Selection books. Like, are they the greatest examples of fiction? Maybe not, but I’m sure as hell gonna have fun watching all the drama go down.



FINAL WORD

I meeeeeeean… *Shrugs* I can see the appeal, but I’m not really the target audience. Can’t say I loved this, but it was great entertainment and I definitely plan on continuing with the series just to see what happens.


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