Tavia Gilbert skillfully narrates this dark tale featuring two sisters in long-ago Poland, based on an 1862 poem by Christina Rossetti. At the market, beautiful, outgoing Minka is enchanted by Emil, a goblin disguised as a handsome boy who offers her forbidden fruit. Lizzie, Minka's sister, is smart, frank, and likely autistic. After eating the fruit, Minka falls sick. Gilbert conveys Minka's illness by infusing her kind voice with a dreamlike detachment and portrays Lizzie with a lack of emotion. As the story progresses, Lizzie becomes more assertive but maintains her innate matter-of-fact tone. Gilbert also reflects Emil's mercurial temperament, speaking in enticing tones to Minka and to Lizzie with dismissiveness, disdain, and, finally, deadly menace. Haunting music during tense moments adds suspense.
(Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2023
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781430145349
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The audiobook has the comforting, magical quality of an irresistible bedtime story.
Author/narrator Coelho’s bright, friendly first-person narration brings 12-year-old Relic Hamilton to life. When Relic encounters a dangerous genie in his grandfather’s antique shop, he leaves his ordinary London life behind for a supernatural adventure that transports him through history and around the globe. While the journey has thrills and scary moments, the characters always have hope—a central theme of the audiobook. Coelho brings variety to the voices of his other characters, like Relic’s grandfather’s “Jamaican-teacher voice” and the gravelly rumble of a pirate captain from the Age of Sail who sounds exactly like an archetypal pirate ought to.
The audiobook has the comforting, magical quality of an irresistible bedtime story. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798349162169
Publisher: Dreamscape
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
A magical blending of fantasy and reality.
Narrator Emily Eiden's expressive rendition of Auden "Denny" Greene and her best friend Runa is feminine and childlike, suitable for a tale of girls on the cusp of turning 12. Denny and Runa manifest their active imaginations in a magical world they call Sorrowfeld, filled with dragons and princesses, but Denny is dismayed to find that Runa seems to be growing out of this world and into a new phase of her life. Denny, however, still needs the escapism of Sorrowfeld to cope with challenging circumstances in her real life—while in Sorrowfeld, Princess Auden struggles against actual dragons.
A magical blending of fantasy and reality. (Fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063348189
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
