Black Water Sister
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Catherine Ho
-
By:
-
Zen Cho
About this listen
A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy.
Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke, and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there's only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god - and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it.
Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she'll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.
©2021 Zen Cho (P)2021 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
- Singing Hills Cycle, Book 1
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
-
-
I feel like I’m not smart enough to understand why this is supposed to be so great
- By J. Angel on 08-06-20
By: Nghi Vo
-
The Chosen and the Beautiful
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society - she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her. But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
-
-
Ignore the Boring Brigade
- By Jo on 09-28-21
By: Nghi Vo
-
Witchmark
- By: C. L. Polk
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be a slave to his family's interest or to be committed to a witches' asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn't leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family. Even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veteran's hospital, Miles can't hide what he truly is.
-
-
hell of a ride
- By Dianthaa on 01-05-20
By: C. L. Polk
-
Siren Queen
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her.
-
-
Dark magic masterpiece
- By Rachel Fisher on 05-19-22
By: Nghi Vo
-
She Who Became the Sun
- By: Shelley Parker-Chan
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
-
-
Almost great.
- By stacey on 09-13-21
-
Spirits Abroad
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again”. A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people.
-
-
An Array of Magic
- By Suzi on 05-06-24
By: Zen Cho
-
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
- Singing Hills Cycle, Book 1
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
-
-
I feel like I’m not smart enough to understand why this is supposed to be so great
- By J. Angel on 08-06-20
By: Nghi Vo
-
The Chosen and the Beautiful
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society - she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her. But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
-
-
Ignore the Boring Brigade
- By Jo on 09-28-21
By: Nghi Vo
-
Witchmark
- By: C. L. Polk
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be a slave to his family's interest or to be committed to a witches' asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn't leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family. Even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veteran's hospital, Miles can't hide what he truly is.
-
-
hell of a ride
- By Dianthaa on 01-05-20
By: C. L. Polk
-
Siren Queen
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her.
-
-
Dark magic masterpiece
- By Rachel Fisher on 05-19-22
By: Nghi Vo
-
She Who Became the Sun
- By: Shelley Parker-Chan
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
-
-
Almost great.
- By stacey on 09-13-21
-
Spirits Abroad
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again”. A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people.
-
-
An Array of Magic
- By Suzi on 05-06-24
By: Zen Cho
-
Gideon the Ninth
- By: Tamsyn Muir
- Narrated by: Moira Quirk
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap out of the audio, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse.
-
-
Fun. Not art, very gory, but 100% fun.
- By Sarah K. on 10-27-19
By: Tamsyn Muir
-
Light from Uncommon Stars
- By: Ryka Aoki
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: To escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate. But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four.
-
-
Awesome with a few hitches.
- By Levi Fay on 10-01-21
By: Ryka Aoki
-
Sorrowland
- A Novel
- By: Rivers Solomon
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vern - seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised - flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.
-
-
This Book Was Written For Me
- By Legend F on 06-23-21
By: Rivers Solomon
-
Storm Front
- The Dresden Files, Book 1
- By: Jim Butcher
- Narrated by: James Marsters
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires....
-
-
Excellent Story, Distracting Sound Engineering
- By Tom on 05-20-10
By: Jim Butcher
-
The Midnight Bargain
- By: C. Polk
- Narrated by: Moira Quirk
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world reminiscent of Regency England, women's magic is taken from them when they marry. A sorceress must balance her desire to become the first great female magician against her duty to her family.
-
-
I wanted to love this
- By Cass Kachel on 03-25-21
By: C. Polk
-
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse
- Arithmancy and Anarchy: The Thorne Chronicles Series, Book 1
- By: K. Eason
- Narrated by: Nicole Poole
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rory Thorne is a princess with 13 fairy blessings, the most important of which is to see through flattery and platitudes. As the eldest daughter, she always imagined she'd inherit her father's throne and govern the interplanetary Thorne Consortium. Then, her father is assassinated, her mother gives birth to a son, and Rory is betrothed to the prince of a distant world. When Rory arrives in her new home, she uncovers a treacherous plot to unseat her newly betrothed and usurp his throne.
-
-
A delight, if not exactly science fiction
- By HappyatHeart on 10-26-19
By: K. Eason
-
The Beautiful Ones
- A Novel
- By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are the Beautiful Ones, Loisail’s most notable socialites, and this spring is Nina’s chance to join their ranks, courtesy of her well-connected cousin and his calculating wife. But the Grand Season has just begun, and already Nina’s debut has gone disastrously awry. She has always struggled to control her telekinesis- neighbors call her the Witch of Oldhouse - and the haphazard manifestations of her powers make her the subject of malicious gossip. When entertainer Hector Auvray arrives to town, Nina is dazzled.
-
-
Beautifully Written, Beautifully Boring, Horrifically Slow
- By Mary D on 04-29-21
-
The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry
- By: C. M. Waggoner
- Narrated by: Ava Lucas
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent - again. Then she sees a “wanted” sign seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins. Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn.
-
-
Do not recommend
- By Sullivan on 01-30-21
By: C. M. Waggoner
-
The Address
- A Novel
- By: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibility - no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America. The opportunity to be the female manager of the Dakota. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in the Dakota with his wife and three young children.
-
-
Should be a movie!
- By Linda Slater on 10-19-17
By: Fiona Davis
-
The City of Brass
- A Novel
- By: S. A. Chakraborty
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by - palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing - are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to reconsider her beliefs.
-
-
it's a love/hate thing
- By Zahai on 02-28-18
-
The Night Tiger
- A Novel
- By: Yangsze Choo
- Narrated by: Yangsze Choo
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dance hall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever.
-
-
very satisfying
- By Ian Macdonald on 03-19-19
By: Yangsze Choo
-
Trail of Lightning
- By: Rebecca Roanhorse
- Narrated by: Tanis Parenteau
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse have destroyed most of the planet…yet out of these waters, Dinétah, a former Navajo reservation, has been miraculously reborn. Listen along as Tanis Parenteau's impeccable narration, capturing the rhythms of Navajo speech, fully envelopes you into the Sixth World. Trail of Lightning follows our heroine as she walks the land alongside gods, heroes of legend, and monsters alike.
-
-
The person you hire when the heroes fail
- By Cynthia on 08-09-18
Related to this topic
-
The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
-
-
Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
-
Murder in Plain Sight
- By: Marta Perry
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Did a sweet-faced Amish teenager brutally murder a young woman? To save her career, big-city lawyer Jessica Langdon is determined to defend him against the community's bitter and even violent outrage. Yet without an understanding of Amish culture, Jessica must rely on arrogant businessman Trey Morgan, who has ties to the Amish community and believes in the boy's guilt.
-
-
Awesome!!!
- By Hugsbie on 12-21-19
By: Marta Perry
-
Dragonfly Summer
- By: J.H. Moncrieff
- Narrated by: Natalie Gold
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jo Carter never thought she'd return to Clear Springs, Minnesota. But when the former journalist receives a cryptic note about the disappearance of her friend Sam twenty years before, she's compelled to find out what really happened. During her investigation, she learns another high school friend has died in a mysterious accident. Nothing is as it seems, and Jo must probe Clear Springs' darkest corners and her own painful and unreliable memories to discover the truth - and save herself from the killer who could still be on the hunt.
-
-
Home is not always where the heart is...
- By shelley on 02-15-20
By: J.H. Moncrieff
-
The Night Raven
- Crow Investigations, Book 1
- By: Sarah Painter
- Narrated by: Kate Rawson
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lydia has always known she has no power, especially next to her infamous and more-than-slightly dodgy family. Which is why she carved her own life as a private investigator far away from London. When a professional snafu forces her home, the head of the family calls in a favour, and Lydia finds herself investigating the disappearance of her cousin, Maddie.
-
-
Ask yourself
- By Ijw on 10-21-19
By: Sarah Painter
-
Introductions
- The Academy: The Ghost Bird, Book 1
- By: C. L. Stone
- Narrated by: Natalie Eaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone. When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way.
-
-
Great story, great listen
- By Twinmom on 04-13-18
By: C. L. Stone
-
Lost and Found
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
That's the question that has haunted 14-year-old Ezekiel Blast all his life. But he's not a thief, he just has a talent for finding things. Not a superpower - a micropower. Because what good is finding lost bicycles and hair scrunchies, especially when you return them to their owners and everyone thinks you must have stolen them in the first place? If only there were some way to use Ezekiel's micropower for good, to turn a curse into a blessing. His friend Beth thinks there must be, and so does a police detective investigating the disappearance of a little girl.
-
-
Good book from a great Author
- By Jim on 03-30-21
By: Orson Scott Card
-
The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
-
-
Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
-
Murder in Plain Sight
- By: Marta Perry
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Did a sweet-faced Amish teenager brutally murder a young woman? To save her career, big-city lawyer Jessica Langdon is determined to defend him against the community's bitter and even violent outrage. Yet without an understanding of Amish culture, Jessica must rely on arrogant businessman Trey Morgan, who has ties to the Amish community and believes in the boy's guilt.
-
-
Awesome!!!
- By Hugsbie on 12-21-19
By: Marta Perry
-
Dragonfly Summer
- By: J.H. Moncrieff
- Narrated by: Natalie Gold
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jo Carter never thought she'd return to Clear Springs, Minnesota. But when the former journalist receives a cryptic note about the disappearance of her friend Sam twenty years before, she's compelled to find out what really happened. During her investigation, she learns another high school friend has died in a mysterious accident. Nothing is as it seems, and Jo must probe Clear Springs' darkest corners and her own painful and unreliable memories to discover the truth - and save herself from the killer who could still be on the hunt.
-
-
Home is not always where the heart is...
- By shelley on 02-15-20
By: J.H. Moncrieff
-
The Night Raven
- Crow Investigations, Book 1
- By: Sarah Painter
- Narrated by: Kate Rawson
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lydia has always known she has no power, especially next to her infamous and more-than-slightly dodgy family. Which is why she carved her own life as a private investigator far away from London. When a professional snafu forces her home, the head of the family calls in a favour, and Lydia finds herself investigating the disappearance of her cousin, Maddie.
-
-
Ask yourself
- By Ijw on 10-21-19
By: Sarah Painter
-
Introductions
- The Academy: The Ghost Bird, Book 1
- By: C. L. Stone
- Narrated by: Natalie Eaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone. When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way.
-
-
Great story, great listen
- By Twinmom on 04-13-18
By: C. L. Stone
-
Lost and Found
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
That's the question that has haunted 14-year-old Ezekiel Blast all his life. But he's not a thief, he just has a talent for finding things. Not a superpower - a micropower. Because what good is finding lost bicycles and hair scrunchies, especially when you return them to their owners and everyone thinks you must have stolen them in the first place? If only there were some way to use Ezekiel's micropower for good, to turn a curse into a blessing. His friend Beth thinks there must be, and so does a police detective investigating the disappearance of a little girl.
-
-
Good book from a great Author
- By Jim on 03-30-21
By: Orson Scott Card
-
The Wolf at the Door
- The Big Bad Wolf Series, Book 1
- By: Charlie Adhara
- Narrated by: Erik Bloomquist
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hunting for big bad wolves was never part of Agent Cooper Dayton's plan, but a werewolf attack lands him in the carefully guarded Bureau of Special Investigations. A new case comes with a new partner: ruggedly sexy werewolf Oliver Park. Park is an agent of The Trust, a werewolf oversight organization working to ease escalating tensions with the BSI. But as far as Cooper's concerned, it's failing. As they investigate a series of mysterious deaths unlike anything they've seen, every bone in Cooper's body is suspicious of his new partner....
-
-
TERRIBLE MONOTONE NARRATOR
- By 🎧📚 addict📚🎧 on 11-07-19
By: Charlie Adhara
-
In the Absence of Miracles
- By: Michael J. Malone
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Docherty’s mother has just been taken into a nursing home following a massive stroke and she’s unlikely to be able to live independently again. With no other option than to sell the family home, John sets about packing up everything in the house. In sifting through the detritus of his family’s past he’s forced to revisit, and revise his childhood. For in a box, in the attic, he finds undeniable truth that he had a brother who disappeared when he himself was only a toddler.
-
-
Wonderful Book
- By Amazon Customer on 03-16-21
-
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
- A Novel
- By: Sonali Dev
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who’s achieved power by making its own nonnegotiable rules: Never trust an outsider, never do anything to jeopardize your brother’s political aspirations, and never, ever, defy your family. Trisha is guilty of breaking all three rules. But now, she has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn’t repeat old mistakes.
-
-
From the Male Perspective
- By Consumer Products Tech Geek on 05-20-19
By: Sonali Dev
-
Something She's Not Telling Us
- A Novel
- By: Darcey Bell
- Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny, Carly Robins, Pete Simonelli, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlotte has everything in life that she ever could have hoped for: a doting, artistic husband, a small-but-thriving flower shop, and her sweet, smart five-year-old daughter, Daisy. Her relationship with her mother might be strained, but the distance between them helps. And her younger brother Rocco may have horrible taste in women, but when he introduces his new girlfriend to Charlotte and her family, they are cautiously optimistic that she could be The One. Daisy seems to love Ruth, and she can’t be any worse than the klepto Rocco brought home the last time.
-
-
Should be "Something Almost Happened"
- By Kimberly Wasilewski on 05-03-20
By: Darcey Bell
-
To Kill a Mocking Girl
- A Bookbinding Mystery
- By: Harper Kincaid
- Narrated by: Renee Dorian
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quinn Victoria Caine is back in her quirky town of Vienna, Virginia, starting her new life as a bookbinder in her family-owned bookshop. With her trusty German Shephard RBG - Ruff Barker Ginsburg - by her side, what can go wrong? Okay, sure, bumping into her ex Scott or her former high-school nemesis Tricia is a drag. It certainly doesn't help that they’ve acquired the new hobby of shoving their recent engagement in her face every chance they get. But that doesn't mean Quinn wanted to find Tricia dead in the road. So why does half the town think she may have done it?
-
-
AMAZING NEW COZY SERIES
- By Debbie Lacey on 04-16-20
By: Harper Kincaid
-
Final Cuts
- New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles
- By: Ellen Datlow
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the secret reels of a notoriously cursed cinematic masterpiece to the debauched livestreams of modern movie junkies who will do anything for clicks, Final Cuts brings together new and terrifying stories inspired by the many screens we can't peel our eyes away from. Inspired by the rich golden age of the film and television industries as well as the new media present, this new anthology reveals what evils hide behind the scenes and between the frames of our favorite medium.
-
-
Not Poor, Not Rich
- By Gary & Jay on 08-23-20
By: Ellen Datlow
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Ghost Bride
- A Novel
- By: Yangsze Choo
- Narrated by: Yangsze Choo
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lims' handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.
-
-
Muddled
- By L on 06-01-19
By: Yangsze Choo
-
The Friend Zone Experiment
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Rebecca Yeo
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the outside, Renee Goh’s life looks perfect. She’s thirty and beautiful, runs a glamorous—and profitable—women’s clothing company in London, and is dating a hot Taiwanese pop star. But Renee is lonely. Estranged from her family in Singapore, she practically lives at the office, and now she’s just been dumped by her supposed boyfriend. Who she never saw anyway, so why is she ruining her Instagram-ready makeup by crying? Before she can curl up on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, Renee’s father calls.
By: Zen Cho
-
Strike the Zither
- Kingdom of Three, Book 1
- By: Joan He
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves. But Zephyr knows it's no contest. Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged—while Ren's honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed.
-
-
rushed
- By Robin on 10-07-23
By: Joan He
-
Son of a Trickster
- By: Eden Robinson
- Narrated by: Jason Ryll
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows a guy like Jared: the burnout kid in high school who sells weed cookies and has a scary mom who's often wasted and wielding some kind of weapon. Jared does smoke and drink too much, and he does make the best cookies in town, and his mom is a mess, but he's also a kid who has an immense capacity for compassion and an impulse to watch over people more than twice his age, and he can't rely on anyone for consistent love and support, except for his flatulent pit bull, Baby Killer (he calls her Baby) - and now she's dead.
-
-
Not Enough Fantasy. Too much pot.
- By Rena Tarlini on 09-07-19
By: Eden Robinson
-
Upright Women Wanted
- By: Sarah Gailey
- Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her - a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
-
-
Mildly entertaining
- By Ellen on 03-04-20
By: Sarah Gailey
-
Spirits Abroad
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again”. A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people.
-
-
An Array of Magic
- By Suzi on 05-06-24
By: Zen Cho
-
The Ghost Bride
- A Novel
- By: Yangsze Choo
- Narrated by: Yangsze Choo
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lims' handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.
-
-
Muddled
- By L on 06-01-19
By: Yangsze Choo
-
The Friend Zone Experiment
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Rebecca Yeo
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the outside, Renee Goh’s life looks perfect. She’s thirty and beautiful, runs a glamorous—and profitable—women’s clothing company in London, and is dating a hot Taiwanese pop star. But Renee is lonely. Estranged from her family in Singapore, she practically lives at the office, and now she’s just been dumped by her supposed boyfriend. Who she never saw anyway, so why is she ruining her Instagram-ready makeup by crying? Before she can curl up on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, Renee’s father calls.
By: Zen Cho
-
Strike the Zither
- Kingdom of Three, Book 1
- By: Joan He
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves. But Zephyr knows it's no contest. Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged—while Ren's honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed.
-
-
rushed
- By Robin on 10-07-23
By: Joan He
-
Son of a Trickster
- By: Eden Robinson
- Narrated by: Jason Ryll
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows a guy like Jared: the burnout kid in high school who sells weed cookies and has a scary mom who's often wasted and wielding some kind of weapon. Jared does smoke and drink too much, and he does make the best cookies in town, and his mom is a mess, but he's also a kid who has an immense capacity for compassion and an impulse to watch over people more than twice his age, and he can't rely on anyone for consistent love and support, except for his flatulent pit bull, Baby Killer (he calls her Baby) - and now she's dead.
-
-
Not Enough Fantasy. Too much pot.
- By Rena Tarlini on 09-07-19
By: Eden Robinson
-
Upright Women Wanted
- By: Sarah Gailey
- Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her - a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
-
-
Mildly entertaining
- By Ellen on 03-04-20
By: Sarah Gailey
-
Spirits Abroad
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho’s Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again”. A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people.
-
-
An Array of Magic
- By Suzi on 05-06-24
By: Zen Cho
-
Burning Roses
- By: S.L. Huang
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosa, also known as Red Riding Hood, is done with wolves and woods. Hou Yi the Archer is tired, and knows she's past her prime. They would both rather just be retired, but that's not what the world has ready for them. When deadly sunbirds begin to ravage the countryside, threatening everything they've both grown to love, the two must join forces. Now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, they begin a quest that's a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family, and the quest for immortality.
-
-
Fairy tales blended with Asian sentiment
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 12-17-23
By: S.L. Huang
-
Gentlest of Wild Things
- By: Sarah Underwood
- Narrated by: Isabel Adomakoh-Young, Fern Kay
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the island of Zakynthos, nothing is more powerful than Desire—love itself, bottled and sold to the highest bidder by Leandros, a power-hungry descendant of the god Eros. Eirene and her beloved twin sister, Phoebe, have always managed to escape Desire’s thrall—until Leandros’s wife dies mysteriously and he sets his sights on Phoebe. Determined to keep her sister safe, Eirene strikes a bargain with Leandros: If she can complete the four elaborate tasks he sets her, he will find another bride.
By: Sarah Underwood
-
Not Good for Maidens
- By: Tori Bovalino
- Narrated by: Laura Knight Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beneath the streets of York, the goblin market calls to the Wickett women—the family of witches that tends to its victims. For generations, they have defended the old cobblestone streets with their magic. Knowing the dangers, they never entered the market—until May Wickett fell for a goblin girl, accepted her invitation, and became inextricably tied to the world her family tried to protect her from. The market learned her name, and even when she and her sister left York for Boston to escape it, the goblins remembered.
-
-
Hidden Gem
- By Amazon Customer on 09-23-24
By: Tori Bovalino
-
The Black God's Drums
- By: P. Djeli Clark
- Narrated by: Channie Waites
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an alternate New Orleans caught in the tangle of the American Civil War, the wall-scaling girl named Creeper yearns to escape the streets for the air - in particular, by earning a spot onboard the airship Midnight Robber. Creeper plans to earn Captain Ann-Marie's trust with information she discovers about a Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls "The Black God's Drums". But Creeper also has a secret herself: Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, speaks inside her head and may have her own ulterior motivations.
-
-
Exceptional story!
- By Wynter Mcgruder on 06-23-19
By: P. Djeli Clark
-
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
- Singing Hills Cycle, Book 1
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
-
-
I feel like I’m not smart enough to understand why this is supposed to be so great
- By J. Angel on 08-06-20
By: Nghi Vo
-
Phoenix Extravagant
- By: Yoon Ha Lee
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint. One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers. But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes - and the awful source of the magical pigments they use - they find they can no longer stay out of politics.
-
-
Wonderful read!
- By storm baughman on 09-27-23
By: Yoon Ha Lee
-
Redemption in Indigo
- A Novel
- By: Karen Lord
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paama is a marvelous cook who’s had the bad fortune to marry Ansige. He was the least eligible bachelor in his village: self-centered, foolish, and food-obsessed. Paama has had enough of this miserable life with her gluttonous husband, and so leaves him to return to her old life with her family. But Paama does not know that this is the beginning of a remarkable adventure. Because the Undying Ones are watching her. These spirits observe the follies of mortal life . . . and sometimes meddle and make mischief.
By: Karen Lord
-
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water
- And Other Tales
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she could have ever imagined.
-
-
Too short for a world it describes
- By Amazon Customer on 06-27-20
By: Zen Cho
-
A Sweet Sting of Salt
- A Novel
- By: Rose Sutherland
- Narrated by: Aven Shore
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a sharp cry wakes Jean in the middle of the night during a terrible tempest, she’s convinced it must have been a dream. But when the cry comes again, Jean ventures outside and is shocked by what she discovers—a young woman in labor, drenched to the bone in the bitter cold and able to speak barely a word of English.
-
-
Atmospheric in the Best of Ways—not to miss!
- By Syd Young on 04-11-24
By: Rose Sutherland
-
Siren Queen
- By: Nghi Vo
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her.
-
-
Dark magic masterpiece
- By Rachel Fisher on 05-19-22
By: Nghi Vo
-
Kaikeyi
- A Novel
- By: Vaishnavi Patel
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on legends of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.
-
-
Good effort but dissappointing
- By Purva on 08-17-22
By: Vaishnavi Patel
-
The Vanishing
- By: Wendy Webb
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recently widowed and rendered penniless by her Ponzi-scheming husband, Julia Bishop is eager to start anew. So when a stranger appears on her doorstep with a job offer, she finds herself accepting the mysterious yet unique position: caretaker to his mother, Amaris Sinclair, the famous and rather eccentric horror novelist whom Julia has always admired...and who the world believes is dead.
-
-
Convoluted
- By LaurelOlivia on 04-11-14
By: Wendy Webb
What listeners say about Black Water Sister
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- just asking for some common sense
- 04-27-22
A wild afterlife romp
A dead grandmother inhabits her young adult granddaughter. What could go wrong? Apparently a lot. This book was pretty great, with humor, violence, secrets, cultural observations and consequences of differences, family dynamics, criminal activity, spirits, gods, almost gods.
The main character is from Malaysia, but grew up in the USA. Now she is back in Malaysia with her parents and strange things are happening. You might have to suspend disbelief and just let this be. I loved the book and the narration. I listened quickly because I had to know the ending!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lynn Boyles
- 08-27-23
STRUGGLE
I really struggled in the first part of the book that dragged on way too long. I’m really grateful that I hung in there with the story . It eventually hooked me in and the story became entertaining. I hate that it took so long to get to that point of enjoyment because it really is a great story. The narrator was wonderful and probably kept me listening even when I wasn’t invested! Thanks for that Catherine!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary
- 06-09-21
Another all-star from Zen Cho
I loved everything about this books- the characters and setting were lush, dynamic and fully realized. The story was both esoteric and approachable- this may be the most identifiable ghost and god story I've ever read. There are also layers to this tale which come together in a delicious tiered cake wrapped in phenomenal narration. Nothing was unnecessary but it never felt sparse, the stakes felt real and the anxiety, helplessness, power and thrills were all beautifully rendered.
I like to go into a familiar author without knowing anything about the story and recommend you not seek spoilers either. This is a 10/10 recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alex
- 04-30-23
slow start but
It was slow to start but a third or halfway in, I got really into it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Denise R
- 10-02-23
Sometimes confusing
I really liked this book, not loved it . Sometimes stuff dragged on. Some scenes were confusing . Good characters
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rori Song
- 05-30-21
5 Stars across the board!
Couldn’t put this one down! If you’ve even thought in passing of checking this one out, DO IT! Jess moves to Malaysia with her parents, only to wind up possessed by her grandmother’s ghost. Ah Ma was the medium for the god Black Water Sister and is determined to have Jess become the god’s next medium so the god can take revenge on a developer who plans to redevelop her temple. Of course Jess, who spent most of her life in the US, has no idea what she’s agreeing to and quickly gets in over her head. To be fair, she does try to bargain with Ah Ma, but knowing the duplicitous nature of many spirits, we were anticipating betrayal. If only Jess had read the Dresden Files! 😂 Jess must figure out who to trust, while juggling complicated family dynamics, cultural expectations, and a secret lesbian romance. Zen Cho does an excellent job balancing insider and outsider cultural perspectives, making this story accessible to any reader. She keeps the twists coming and the ending is unforeseen, powerful, and satisfying.
Catherine Ho does a brilliant job narrating. So brilliant we’re disappointed she’s not narrating Zen Cho’s upcoming short story collection Spirits Abroad. Emily Woo Zeller, who seems to be Audible’s go-to for female Asian narration, was tapped instead. And Zeller is great. But Catherine Ho really gets the potent combination of emotion, magic, and gritty reality in Black Water Sister and brings it all out for the listener. While she does use accents for some characters, it’s never difficult to understand and all the voices are distinct.
The very first sentence was confusing because it ends in a Hokien word. We weren’t expecting that and at first thought we had misheard. Keep going; the word will be explained. This was the only instance where the experience suffered from being audio, simply because we couldn’t tell it was a non-English word and not terrible narration or our hearing by looking at the text.
A Word to the Wise (Content Warnings)
Major: Sexual assault, homophobia, violence, manipulation/gaslighting, religious abuse.
Moderate: Heteronormativity.
Minor: Brief mention of drugs.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nico Chuka
- 01-09-24
I LOVED this book
Holy cow I LOVED this book. It’s a paranormal story about a woman, her grandmother and gods in Malaysia. It was a ride and I quickly finished this. It often has a humorous tone that resonated with me, but it tackled some heavy issues as well. I didn’t absolutely love the novella I read previously by Cho, but this put them on the radar for me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stanley Sim
- 08-29-21
Great story
I haven't bothered with writing reviews on Audible before but feel compelled to add my 5 stars to this. Admittedly I am biased being of Malaysian origin and of the same dialect group as described in the story though from the other side of the country, not Penang, but this story is so emblematic of Chinese-Malaysian families. Never mind the ghost aspect, which is funny and not really the main point, the interactions between the protagonists are straight out of the late 20th century SE Asian family playbook. Some film producer shuld snap up the rigts to this book - its funnier than Crazy Rich Asians, more realistic (no tycoon heroes, thank god) and has a more nuanced female central character. Just listen to this !
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anomaly6
- 12-16-23
Generations collide whit ghosts gods and gangs
I really felt the generations colliding in this story and the longer it went on the more my fondness for all the characters grew. I just really enjoyed this, excellent narrator too.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael G Kurilla
- 06-12-23
Malaysian fantasy with annoyed gods
Zen Cho’s Black Water Sister is the tale of a recent Harvard grad who returns to her native country of birth, Malaysia, with her parents. Shortly after arriving, she begins to hear the voice of her deceased grandmother in her head. Her grandmother has some unfinished business that involves a dispute be-tween a wealthy real estate developer and a long-standing temple over property rights. Her grand-mother had served as a medium for the temple deity. At the same time, she is looking for employment and dealing with her stateside lover, but also learns that some of her local relatives are involved in organized crime.
Cho crafts an engaging tale of a young woman dealing with quite a lot. While much is made of her lesbianism, that plot element merely serves as angst over her possible parents’ reactions. There is the classic modernity versus ancient adherence to rituals with the interesting twist that the son of wealthy tycoon is more old-fashioned that his father.
The narration is well done with excellent character distinction. Pacing is brisk.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful