Audiobook Review: Daughter of Dust and Bone by Laini Taylor, Narrated by Khristine Hvam
When Brimstone calls, you always listen. That’s a lesson that Karou, the blue haired and mysterious art student in Prague, has learned well in her 17 years. She keeps her two lives separate, practicing her art at school and in her spare time running errands for monsters that live in a shop – a shop that doubles as a portal between earth and “Elsewhere”. Brimstone and his band of monsters are the closest thing to a family she’s ever known. Karou has no idea where “Elsewhere” is, or how she came to be part of this strange little family. She is plagued by the feeling that she isn’t whole, and that secrets are being kept from her. When the doors to “Elsewhere” start to close forever she is faced with a choice – stay in the earthly life she knows or risk the war-torn world on the other side of the portal?
This book is the first in a trilogy, and sets the scene perfectly for the larger story arc. Laini Taylor uses beautiful language to weave together the threads of her tale, and expertly pulls the reader in with just the right amount of intrigue and action. The character’s conflicts are laid out at just the right pace to have the reader crossing their fingers hoping that things work out – and set their heart pounding at the thought that they might not!
Khristine Hvam was the perfect pick to narrate this book - her inflections, tones and voices were spot on and made it easy for the listener to completely lose themselves in the story. The production quality of this audiobook was also top notch, without any issues of background noise or poor audio. Kristine Hvam didn’t just read this book to the listener, but performed it in that way that brought each character to life in their individual uniqueness.
This knockout team of Laini Taylor and Khristin Hvam meant this audiobook easily earned 5 stars, and had this reviewer instantly purchasing the rest of the trilogy to continue the adventure. But a word of warning, dear listeners, don’t expect to get much sleep when listening to this as you won’t be able to put it down for long!