THE TEMPEST opens with the titular violent storm at sea, complete with booming thunder, driving rain, and the panicked shouts of people onboard a ship about to be wrecked. It's just one of the ways that the sound medium is used to especially good effect throughout the production. Seagulls cry, soothing lute music plays, and the listener can easily imagine the setting. Sir Ian McKellen wields his commanding voice masterfully as the wizard Prospero reigns over his island dukedom, orchestrating events. The other performers are also compelling, particularly Scott Handy who, as the spirit Ariel, is called upon to sing as well as act. It's a magical production, enhanced (but not overshadowed) by McKellen's star power.
(Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2004
Duration: 2 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Sanderlin brings gravitas to the story’s most serious scenes while adding humor to its frequent moments of whimsy.
Mark Sanderlin tells this middle-grade story as the Royal Chronicler, an unnamed adult at an entertaining scholarly remove from the adventures of the main characters. Eleven-year-old Olly leaves his younger sister, Jenny, at home when he reluctantly goes out to find work, a necessity for kids in their struggling community. Their bleak reality becomes more colorful when Olly’s first job ends up being at a secret refuge for endangered dragons, and when Jenny develops magical powers. As they stumble into a quest to save the fantastical species, Olly and Jenny’s dialogue sounds convincingly kidlike, a nice contrast with the chronicler’s news anchor-style delivery of the rest of the prose.
Sanderlin brings gravitas to the story’s most serious scenes while adding humor to its frequent moments of whimsy. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 24 mins
DD ISBN: 9798898850296
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
A futuristic tale that illustrates the uncertain boundaries between humanity and technology.
This middle-grade audiobook is full of robots, and Ferdelle Capistrano’s performance of their voices, while carefully portraying them as not-quite-alive, is still lively and never dully mechanical. Entrenched inequality, unchecked corporate power, and rapid technological change are all threatening forces in this setting, but even the darkest moments of the story are delivered in a bright, kid-friendly way. Capistrano adjusts her tone to distinguish the dialogue of kids, adults, and machines; some of the adults’ voices are a bit cartoonish in their villainy or well-meaning cluelessness.
A futuristic tale that illustrates the uncertain boundaries between humanity and technology. (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
Duration: 3 hrs, 18 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063485983
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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