Victoria Reads "Sandry's Book"

Today I finished Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce. I've long been a fan of the Tortall books by Pierce (though I haven't read them in a long time), and I've been meaning to read her Emelan books for ages as well, but I always put it off for some reason or other (for one, I used to have the hardest time figuring out which to read first. I thought "The Circle Opens" sounded like it would precede The "Circle of Magic" quartet, so that was counter-intuitive to me that CoM would be first, and then I couldn't remember the order of the characters' books).

But I finally got the e-audiobook from the library a few days ago and have been listening to it while I've been cleaning up for the moving company's surveyor to make note of our belongings.

It was not until I finished the audiobook that I learned that Tamora Pierce was the narrator! I'm not sure I'd ever heard her speak before. The end of the book also had a portion where Tamora spoke about how she got her ideas and inspiration for the Circle of Magic characters and world. So that was pretty cool to listen to as well.


On a whole I was not overly fond of this book. I'm not sure why. I think it's either because it's now too juvenile for me to enjoy, or because the audiobook performance made it feel that way. It gave me the same vibe that I got from the audiobook for Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (and in fact I think the same girl who voices Sandry in this audiobook voiced Miri in that one). That book also struck me as too-juvenile for me, so I decided not to finish the series. But I will stick with this series because I've read more books by Tamora Pierce that I loved than I have by Shannon Hale, so I trust that at some point I may start enjoying this series as much as the Tortall ones.

But I AM beginning to suspect that the audiobook is not doing any favors for the book. It's strange because usually I love audiobooks just as much as reading the book (if not more), unless the narrator is really bad. I think everything about the audio is "fine" except... it just seems like it's for children more than adults. I don't know what it is about it that leaves that impression on me, but I think it must be the audiobook more than the story itself because I watched a couple of Mark Oshiro's youtube videos of him reading the book, and somehow it made me like the book more than when I was listening to the audio. So I don't know what's up with that. I kind of want to try reading the second book (Tris's Book) instead of listening to the audio to see if that improves my opinion of the series, but I already have it available as an audiobook, and I'd have to pay $5 to get it right now on ebook... And it would take me longer to get through... so we'll see.

I'll admit there were times in the book that I really spaced out on what was going on. I think I have a tendency to do this when a fictional world is still very unfamiliar to me (especially when I'm listening to an audiobook, because I don't usually pause to absorb the details and re-listen, I just keep it moving forward to get through it). I've been listening to Dune with my husband on long car-rides and there are definitely details that slip through the cracks. So I think I have a good idea of the gist of what happens throughout the books, but I bet if I could remember more of the details I'd have a greater appreciation for the story/characters. But if I paused and relistened as much as I probably should, then it wouldn't be much faster than if I'd just read it, now would it? :)

I guess the way I see it is I just need to "get through" a book when it's on my to-read list. And if I decide by the end of it that it was good enough to warrant a closer read, then I put it on my list to re-read someday, and I can go back and catch all the little details that slipped through on the first time though. But some books/series are not enjoyable/interesting enough even on the first time through for me to want to do a re-read. I imagine this series will get better and will make me want to go back through it again in the future, but I think if it doesn't get any better than this book, I probably won't reread the series.