
The Bird King
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

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Elmira Rahim
-
By:
-
G. Willow Wilson
About this listen
From award-winning author G. Willow Wilson, The Bird King is an epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition.
G. Willow Wilson’s debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and it established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice. Now she delivers The Bird King, a stunning new novel that tells the story of Fatima, a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a secret - he can draw maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls? As Fatima and Hassan traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate.
©2019 G. Willow Wilson (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Epigraph translation © Richard Davis and Afkham Darbandi, from The Conference of the Birds by AttarListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Mere Wife
- A Novel
- By: Maria Dahvana Headley
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.
-
-
Really not good
- By T on 07-21-18
-
Alif the Unseen
- By: G. Willow Wilson
- Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients — dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups — from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif — the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind.
-
-
21st Century Arabian Nights
- By Ryan on 05-28-14
By: G. Willow Wilson
-
All My Rage
- A Novel
- By: Sabaa Tahir
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan, Kausar Mohammed
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.
-
-
Touching
- By Darline DeBry on 07-28-22
By: Sabaa Tahir
-
Clytemnestra
- By: Costanza Casati
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You are born to a king, but marry a tyrant. You stand helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. You play the part, fooling enemies who deny you justice. And slowly, you plot. But when your husband returns in triumph, what then? Acceptance or vengeance—death follows both. So you bide your time and force the gods' hands in a wretched game of vengeance.
-
-
A killer story for the killer Queen
- By Stefan Filipovits on 05-02-23
By: Costanza Casati
-
Spice Road
- Spice Road, Book 1
- By: Maiya Ibrahim
- Narrated by: Krupa Pattani
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the hidden desert city of Qalia, there is secret spice magic that awakens the affinities of those who drink the misra tea. Sixteen-year-old Imani has the affinity for iron and is able to wield a dagger like no other warrior. She has garnered the reputation as being the next great Shield for battling djinn, ghouls, and other monsters spreading across the sands.
-
-
♥️♥️♥️♥️
- By Ashley Overfield on 03-01-23
By: Maiya Ibrahim
-
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
- A Novel
- By: Emma Törzs
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy.
-
-
The most difficult audiobook I've ever listened 2
- By John on 06-04-23
By: Emma Törzs
-
The Mere Wife
- A Novel
- By: Maria Dahvana Headley
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.
-
-
Really not good
- By T on 07-21-18
-
Alif the Unseen
- By: G. Willow Wilson
- Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients — dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups — from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif — the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind.
-
-
21st Century Arabian Nights
- By Ryan on 05-28-14
By: G. Willow Wilson
-
All My Rage
- A Novel
- By: Sabaa Tahir
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan, Kausar Mohammed
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.
-
-
Touching
- By Darline DeBry on 07-28-22
By: Sabaa Tahir
-
Clytemnestra
- By: Costanza Casati
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You are born to a king, but marry a tyrant. You stand helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. You play the part, fooling enemies who deny you justice. And slowly, you plot. But when your husband returns in triumph, what then? Acceptance or vengeance—death follows both. So you bide your time and force the gods' hands in a wretched game of vengeance.
-
-
A killer story for the killer Queen
- By Stefan Filipovits on 05-02-23
By: Costanza Casati
-
Spice Road
- Spice Road, Book 1
- By: Maiya Ibrahim
- Narrated by: Krupa Pattani
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the hidden desert city of Qalia, there is secret spice magic that awakens the affinities of those who drink the misra tea. Sixteen-year-old Imani has the affinity for iron and is able to wield a dagger like no other warrior. She has garnered the reputation as being the next great Shield for battling djinn, ghouls, and other monsters spreading across the sands.
-
-
♥️♥️♥️♥️
- By Ashley Overfield on 03-01-23
By: Maiya Ibrahim
-
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
- A Novel
- By: Emma Törzs
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy.
-
-
The most difficult audiobook I've ever listened 2
- By John on 06-04-23
By: Emma Törzs
-
The Magician's Daughter
- By: H. G. Parry
- Narrated by: Rose McPhilemy
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea-salt air and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the only home Biddy has ever known. Washed up on its shore as a baby, Biddy lives a quiet life with her guardian, the mercurial magician Rowan. A life she finds increasingly stifling. One night, Rowan fails to return from his mysterious travels. To find him, Biddy must venture into the outside world for the first time. But Rowan has powerful enemies—forces who have hoarded the world’s magic and have set their sights on the magician’s many secrets.
-
-
Cute and Enjoyable
- By Cherise on 04-12-23
By: H. G. Parry
-
Sorcerer to the Crown
- A Sorcerer Royal Novel
- By: Zen Cho
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, one of the most respected organizations throughout all of England, has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty's lands. But lately the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace, naming an altogether unsuitable gentleman - a freed slave who doesn't even have a familiar - as their Sorcerer Royal and allowing England's once profuse stores of magic to slowly bleed dry. At least they haven't stooped so low as to allow women to practice....
-
-
So. Much. Fun!
- By Eliza on 10-05-15
By: Zen Cho
-
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
- A Novel
- By: Shannon Chakraborty
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq, Amin El Gamal
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.
-
-
Not City of Brass, A Fun Swashbuckling Adventure
- By Pele on 03-23-23
-
Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
-
-
Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
By: Susanna Clarke
-
Spells for Forgetting
- A Novel
- By: Adrienne Young
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Dan Bittner, Mark Deakins, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emery Blackwood’s life changed forever the night her best friend was found dead and the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her. Years later, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence on the misty, remote shores of Saoirse Island and running the family’s business, Blackwood’s Tea Shoppe Herbal Tonics & Tea Leaf Readings. But when the island, rooted in folklore and magic, begins to show signs of strange happenings, Emery knows that something is coming.
-
-
A love story
- By Anonymous User on 01-07-23
By: Adrienne Young
-
A Deadly Education
- A Novel (The Scholomance, Book 1)
- By: Naomi Novik
- Narrated by: Anisha Dadia
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life. Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans. I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts; I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, making myself the dark queen of the world.
-
-
Intersting concept, way too much self pity
- By Rune on 10-13-20
By: Naomi Novik
-
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
-
Victory City
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
-
-
Rushdie never fails to engage.
- By Tom on 02-23-23
By: Salman Rushdie
-
A Monster Calls
- Inspired by an Idea from Siobhan Dowd
- By: Patrick Ness
- Narrated by: Jason Isaacs
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting - he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.
-
-
A good "one-timer" for all ages
- By TVNerd95 on 09-10-16
By: Patrick Ness
-
New Spring
- The Wheel of Time Prequel
- By: Robert Jordan
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For three days battle has raged in the snow around the great city of Tar Valon. In the city, a foretelling of the future is uttered. On the slopes of Dragonmount, the immense mountain that looms over the city, a child is born, an infant prophesied to change the world. That child must be found before he can be killed by the forces of the Shadow.
-
-
Read it after reading others in the series
- By Stacy Fair on 12-13-07
By: Robert Jordan
-
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 Last Dreamwalker
- By: Rita Woods
- Narrated by: Nedra Marie Taylor
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wake of her mother's passing, Layla Hurley unexpectedly reconnects with her mother's sisters, women she hasn't been allowed to speak to, or of, in years. Her aunts reveal to Layla that a Gullah-Geechee island off the shore of South Carolina now belongs to her. As Layla digs deeper into her mother’s past and the mysterious island’s history, she discovers that the terrifying nightmares that have plagued her throughout her life and tainted her relationship with her mother and all of her family, is actually a power passed down through generations of her Gullah ancestors.
-
-
Fascinating story
- By Ms. Marisa G. Brown on 03-16-25
By: Rita Woods
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Lavinia
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Highly acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin lends a resonant voice to a pivotal yet often overlooked character of Vergil's The Aeneid. Born into peace and freedom, Lavinia is stunned to learn that she will be the cause of a great war - or so the prophecies and omens claim. Her fate is sealed, however, when she meets a man from Troy.
-
-
Fascinatingly well written
- By Kennet on 03-11-09
-
Alif the Unseen
- By: G. Willow Wilson
- Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients — dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups — from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif — the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind.
-
-
21st Century Arabian Nights
- By Ryan on 05-28-14
By: G. Willow Wilson
-
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
-
Mirage
- A Novel
- By: Somaiya Daud
- Narrated by: Rasha Zamamiri
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, 16-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day she, too, will have adventure and travel beyond her isolated moon. But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: She is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram.
-
-
WOW
- By S. L. Devenport on 09-17-18
By: Somaiya Daud
-
Gods of Jade and Shadow
- By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Narrated by: Yetta Gottesman
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it - and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother.
-
-
I can’t finish this
- By zoomcity on 08-07-19
-
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws
- And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities
- By: Adrienne Mayor
- Narrated by: Nancy Crane, Adrienne Mayor
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from antiquity, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries.
-
-
Random Historical Information for the Noggin
- By leahck on 03-11-25
By: Adrienne Mayor
-
Lavinia
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Highly acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin lends a resonant voice to a pivotal yet often overlooked character of Vergil's The Aeneid. Born into peace and freedom, Lavinia is stunned to learn that she will be the cause of a great war - or so the prophecies and omens claim. Her fate is sealed, however, when she meets a man from Troy.
-
-
Fascinatingly well written
- By Kennet on 03-11-09
-
Alif the Unseen
- By: G. Willow Wilson
- Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients — dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups — from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif — the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind.
-
-
21st Century Arabian Nights
- By Ryan on 05-28-14
By: G. Willow Wilson
-
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
-
Mirage
- A Novel
- By: Somaiya Daud
- Narrated by: Rasha Zamamiri
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, 16-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day she, too, will have adventure and travel beyond her isolated moon. But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: She is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram.
-
-
WOW
- By S. L. Devenport on 09-17-18
By: Somaiya Daud
-
Gods of Jade and Shadow
- By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Narrated by: Yetta Gottesman
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it - and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother.
-
-
I can’t finish this
- By zoomcity on 08-07-19
-
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws
- And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities
- By: Adrienne Mayor
- Narrated by: Nancy Crane, Adrienne Mayor
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from antiquity, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries.
-
-
Random Historical Information for the Noggin
- By leahck on 03-11-25
By: Adrienne Mayor
-
Faebound
- A Novel
- By: Saara El-Arifi
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yeeran was born on the battlefield, has lived on the battlefield, and one day, she knows, she’ll die on the battlefield. As a warrior in the elven army, Yeeran has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future. When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven Lands, both sisters are forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders.
-
-
Interesting story, narrator is meh
- By lori m. anderson on 02-14-24
By: Saara El-Arifi
-
May the Wolf Die
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Heider
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nikki Serafino is enjoying the sunset from her boat in her beloved port city of Naples, Italy, when she discovers the body of a man in the warm waters of the bay. An investigator working as the liaison between local police and American troops, Nikki is certainly no stranger to violence and organized crime, but this case grows complicated when the victim turns out to be a U.S. Navy captain stationed at the nearby military base—and the autopsy reveals foul play.
-
-
Gripping story from the first page!
- By L. Roach on 08-07-24
By: Elizabeth Heider
-
Black Woods, Blue Sky
- A Novel
- By: Eowyn Ivey
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birdie’s keeping it together; of course she is. So she’s a little hungover, sometimes, and she has to bring her daughter, Emaleen, to her job waiting tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but she’s getting by as a single mother in a tough town. Still, Birdie can remember happier times from her youth, when she was free in the wilds of nature. Arthur Neilsen, a soft-spoken and scarred recluse who appears in town only at the change of seasons, brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods. Most people avoid him, but to Birdie, he represents everything she’s ever longed for.
-
-
The mixture of fantasy and reality
- By Amazon Customer on 03-23-25
By: Eowyn Ivey
-
This Woven Kingdom
- By: Tahereh Mafi
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight. The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.
-
-
YA tropes, writing immature, wait for more books
- By Jatinder Singh on 03-13-22
By: Tahereh Mafi
-
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 Familiar
- A Novel
- By: Leigh Bardugo
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to improve the family's social position.
-
-
The performance was superior!
- By anonymous2812 on 04-14-24
By: Leigh Bardugo
couldn't wait for it to be over.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There's Alway a First
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Evocative and Beautifully Told
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Other readers had problems with the narrator, but don't let that stop you from listening. She was brilliant for bringing to life the main characters, and fine for the minor characters. There were some awkward pauses now and then, and maybe the timing was off a little sometimes, but I found speeding up the narration to 1.25 fixed that. I alternated the speed throughout the book.
Good Book - A Lot to Like
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Need more practice
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Definitely was skeptical how a White American woman would write about Arabic / Islamic characters. Everything is generally, ok, but one GLARING, IRRITATING, feature of this story: Fatima.
Two things about Fatima:
1. If you have lived around Arabic speaking people or Muslims, you know good and darn well that the abbreviation for Fatima or Fatiha is ONLY EVER: FATI (pronounced: FAH-TEE; the a in achoo, not the a in fat, and not pronounced, "Fatty" - as in fat person -, which is what I can only assume this author thought she'd be avoiding by abbreviating Fatima to FA. Ugh!!! Cultural rewrites like this, are annoying and it assumes that readers of a book like this are just not smart enough to get cultural context.)
2. The narrator makes Fatima sound like the most irritating, whiny, self-absorbed, acting strong, weak person that you've encountered in a book; and she is all of those things as a character and the narrator embodies it so well...I cringe every time the character has to speak on anything. She's always shrill while blaming other people or lauding herself. She's fortunate to have had Hassan as a friend...
Otherwise, the story is generally interesting and engaging when Fatima isn't complaining, whining, being shrill.
You Can Ignore This Review
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found the story hard to follow
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A different tale
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Audio advice
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It is not worth a listen. I wanted to quit this book a lot, as the narrator speaking very haltingly, and not following normal punctuation. Imagine a break mid-sentence and an already slow narrator. It’s maddening.
Read, don’t listen
Very interesting story, but voice work is rough
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.