Audiobook Review: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
Title: Born Wicked
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Audiobook: 9 hours
Published February 7th 2012 by Penguin Audio
Bought
Narration: This was my very first professional audiobook, so I might not be the best person to judge this. Overall I was pretty satisfied with Nicole Sudhouse’s performance. She has a very clear pronunciation and reads at a nice slow pace that’s easy to follow. I did find her intonation of the different characters slightly off sometimes. She would talk in a very desperate voice, when the character’s words would be angry. She really did love her despairing voice. I want such a big fan of it though, it made the characters sound whiny.
The Book: I was really looking forward to this book. I’ve read some interviews with Ms Spotswood and she made Finn sound so amazingly swoonworthy (I can’t resist a geeky love interest) and the fact that it was about three sister witches made it sound even better.
I was a bit sad to find out that nothing really happens for the most part of the book. There is just angst, some more angst, and some angst followed by internal monologue about how much Cate’s life sucks. I completely agree, her life does suck. Her mother died years ago, witchery is forbidden, she has to take care of her two younger sisters, her father is absent. She doesn’t have an easy life under the oppression of the Brotherhood, but to be honest I got pretty sick of her passiveness. Seriously, if my life and my sisters’ lives were in that much danger, I would just run away. She comes from a rich family, money is never an issue. If there really is that much danger, why don’t you flee instead of sitting on your pretty dresses thinking about how you hate your situation?
I did like Tess. She’s the youngest sister, but pretty awesome. I really hope she’s going to be this amazing witch when she grows up.
The world Ms Spotswood creates is interesting, but not interesting enough to keep the entire book going. I would like to know more about how the Brotherhood came to be the power-holders as they are now. How did they win a war from the witches if they don’t have any powers?
Born Wicked was an enjoyable listen, but it leaves me with more questions than answers. I will probably check out the next book in the series, if only to see how poor Finn is doing.
Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.
Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word… especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.
If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.
- Review: What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang (4/5 Stars)
- Review: Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (4/5 Stars)
- Review: Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel (4.5/5 Stars)
- Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (3.5/5 Stars)
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