Excellent casting of an audiobook is a necessity for a great listening experience, and this multilayered performance offers it in spades. Each narrator brings a distinctive voice and personality to the characters, providing variety and deeper meaning to the complex mystery as it unfolds. Duy, Phong, Minh, and Edmond start to follow a path that was foretold years before amid the lush, vivid decadence of 1920s Saigon: One of them will be murdered, and they’ll all be suspects. Notable performances by all—in particular, Quyen Ngo, David Lee Huynh, and Graham Halstead—pull the listener into a world that includes boarding school, opium, secrets, and murder. Each of the men, along with their mothers, servants, and lovers, has something to contribute.
Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
Duration: 9 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668130919
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ayla, one of the "others," is adopted by a clan of Neanderthal cave people. She struggles to conform to their ways, but her advanced human traits overwhelm and threaten their primitive culture in this initial installment of an immensely popular series. Although the story might benefit from abridgment, Rowena Cooper easily carries out the formidable task of enlivening the mostly silent and stereotypical characters with consistent, diverse personalities and human dimension. Through skillful phrasing and inflection, she maintains the reader's interest and suspense, especially with Ayla and her plight, throughout this rambling and imaginative story.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This lyrical, sensual novel of woman's lot in Manchu, China, is as well researched as it is well written. Authentic in tone, it's nonetheless written for Westerners by a Western expert on China. Moreover, Susan Clark performs the demanding text superbly, with only occasional signs of fatigue. For the most part she not only sustains the quaint diction and Asian atmosphere, but also, creates whole worlds with her voice. She acts the book, rather than reads it, and, in so doing, turns a pretty trifle into a stupendous beauty.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Audio Literature
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 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.
