The Emerald Atlas Audiobook By John Stephens cover art

The Emerald Atlas

Books of Beginning

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Emerald Atlas

By: John Stephens
Narrated by: Jim Dale
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.60

Buy for $21.60

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

"A strong . . . trilogy, invoking just a little Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events along the way."—Realms of Fantasy

Siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.

Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.

Until now.

Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world . . . a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And—if an ancient prophesy is true—what they do can change history, and it's up to them to set things right.

"A new Narnia for the tween set."—The New York Times

"[A] fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy."—Publishers Weekly

"Echoes of other popular fantasy series, from "Harry Potter" to the "Narnia" books, are easily found, but debut author Stephens has created a new and appealing read . . ."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

©2011 John Stephens (P)2011 Listening Library
Action & Adventure Family Life Fantasy Fiction Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Witty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editorial reviews

The Emerald Atlas author John Stephens has a Hollywood background, so it’s not surprising that his debut novel feels like a movie in the making, with elements that recall the Harry Potter series and other kid-friendly fantasy epics. It’s to Stephens’ credit, though, that Atlas never comes off like a cash-in or a cheap imitation: It has its own fully realized world and compelling characters, and the familiar aspects of the story serve mainly to place it in an honorable tradition.

The set-up is easily relatable and recognizable: A trio of siblings (Kate, Michael, and Emma) have been left to the fates after the disappearance of their parents, bounced from one comically horrific orphanage to the next. Their latest home, however, is somewhat different: It’s a mystical town that hides some magical secrets, and soon the kids have discovered a mysterious book that transports them back in time. There they face down an evil witch who is holding the town’s residents hostage. Wizards, dwarves, and ancient prophecies all come into play in a story that takes advantage of plenty of well-worn genre tropes.

Narrator Jim Dale handles it all masterfully, with a warm and inviting tone and some highly entertaining voices for the colorful supporting characters. Some of it might be a little too colorful, though, as Dale’s animated voice acting can become a little distracting. Still, he neatly delineates the various players in Stephens’ grand tapestry, and enhances the suspense of the various moments of peril. The book ends, naturally, with the set-up for the next installment of a planned trilogy, but it’s a satisfying enough story on its own. We can only hope for the same for the inevitable movie version. Josh Bell

What listeners say about The Emerald Atlas

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,119
  • 4 Stars
    473
  • 3 Stars
    174
  • 2 Stars
    33
  • 1 Stars
    31
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,317
  • 4 Stars
    199
  • 3 Stars
    60
  • 2 Stars
    15
  • 1 Stars
    15
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    930
  • 4 Stars
    444
  • 3 Stars
    175
  • 2 Stars
    37
  • 1 Stars
    24

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good first in a series

Enjoyable listen, not the best ever written but well done and worth the credit. I am a big Jim Dale fan since the Harry Potter books and the only thing I found unusual was that some of the character voices were very similar to the Potter voices:

Dr Pym = Dumbledor, Cavendish = Peeves, Gabriel = Madeye Moody, The Countess = Belatrix and a few more.

I look forward to the next books in the series.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story! Less thrilled about the the narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Sure! It was a great story! I don't mind the obvious influences... at all, actually.
I thought it was a gripping and engaging and (sometimes even a little bit of a) scary story and in it's own right too, in spite of being obviously inspired by works of Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling among (I am sure) many others. Honestly It's rather difficult to find fantasy-lit that does not exhibit common traits with, if not the above-mentioned authors then, other authors in the category.
I am looking very much forward to reading/listening to the next two books in the trilogy! :)

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I am sure that opinion on Mr. Jim Dale as narrator will be much diverse, but for me he just didn’t fit quite right... For one thing the story is set in America and I was therefore a little distracted by the various British dialects (some almost caricature-ish)... And although he was good at doing the adult voices such as the dwarfs and Dr. Pym, I didn’t feel he got the teenage/kid-dialog... I sensed how a kid might say it and – for me – it was just off...
I am sure Mr Dale would be fantastic at reading Tolkien though!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could I probably would have.. alas, life had to be dealt with as well ;)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

I mostly liked the dwarves

( im not micheal)

jim dale womderful as always will listen to the next two books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

fantastically fiction

If you could sum up The Emerald Atlas in three words, what would they be?

Like harry potter

Who was your favorite character and why?

The three children were very likable.

What does Jim Dale bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

We got this book because we missed hearing Jim dale. he is one of the best readers we have ever had the pleasure of listening to.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book keeps the reader wanting to keep going.

Any additional comments?

Great book for 10 YEAR OLDS AND UP

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

A wonderful book full of detail i am getting the rest of the series to enjoy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Jim Dale brings alive a wonderful fantasy world.

I re-listen to this over and over, falling in love with the characters Dale brings to life, every time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

predictable YA story

Storyline​ pretty predictable. Kept wanting to ditch but made it through. Jim Dale did a good job with the performance - very similar to his Harry Potter narrations.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Emerald atlas

Great to listen to, easy to follow and entertaining. I could pick up the story line every time I came back to this book all in all an enjoyable performance. Thrilling but not scary.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Add a star if this is your first YA fantasy

A suspenseful, quest to find maybe dead parents and save the world. Depending on your reading background it may seem new (add a star) or familiar (hence just 3 stars). Orphans, the "found book" and the resulting quest is a comfortably familiar storyline. So also (later in the series) is the accusation that Mentor character may actually be grooming the children to die in order to save the world. On the lighter side, I did enjoy the comedic elements in visual descriptions and the repartee supplied by the cook and the dwarfs.

Sadly, good orphan caregivers are overshadowed by systemic failure. As a result, these 3 children get to ignore, distrust, disobey or lie to adults who are trying to care for them. In turn, as in the real world, adults tell lies as opposed to having different opinions.

I wonder why the family orphan-causing disaster is moved from Halloween to Christmas Eve - is this some kind of anti-Potter move? In retrospect based on reading the full series twice, it feels like a story that JKR might have written had she not spent years developing her plot.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen!

Listened over a few weeks which made it hard for the kids to follow but my husband and I thought it was a great story. Jim Dale never disappoints.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!