Angelbound

Great world-building, fun main character, lackluster narration

Story: 4 ⭐️s
Narration: 2.5 ⭐️s

‘Angelbound’ is an interesting opener to what looks to be a fun series. With cool characters and solid world building, there is a great deal here to both entertain and intrigue. The pacing easily moves the reader through with a blend of humor, paranormal drama, and action. Myla,the MC, is a quasi-demon with as much spunk and spirit as fighting skills. The story is told exclusively from her p.o.v. At times, this can be a weakness because she does have a couple grating character moments (which is typical of a know-it-all 18-year-old, but -for me at least - first person narration often compounds the negative aspects of a character ). Her love interest, Lincoln, is a bit a mystery and I would like to know more of his interiority, so I plan to check out the stories from his p.o.v, though I wish they were all in one book and things hopped back and forth. There are also some great secondary characters like Walker and Myla’s mom that made me long from third-person head-hopping, just to get a fuller picture of people I just wanted to know more of without Myla as a filter. Still, this is a minor gripe and the novel is a fun first installment despite that.

The bonus short story on this anniversary edition was pretty great and I wish it had been a little longer. It was enjoyable to get a glimpse into Myla and Walker’s bond. And there are some fun moments between Myla and her demon tail, too. It was just a cute slice-of-life taking place before the events of the novel.

The narration for this book was a let-down compared to the story itself. It was read by the author, and though Bauer writes a compelling story, she is a less compelling narrator. While it’s true that no one know their own characters better than an author, and this allows her to add fitting inflection, tone, and emphasis to key moments, I still think the narration would have been better served by an independent narrator. Another aspect is that Bauer’s voice is too mature sounding to voice teenagers and is just not plausible as an 18-year-old. I couldn’t help but long for a performer like Lessa Lamb or CJ Bloom - as either would have been a great match for Myla’s appealingly snarky sass.

Overall, the story is definitely worth reading and I intend to continue on with the series, but I don’t know that I will listen if they are narrated by the author.

I received an ALC copy of the audiobook via Home Cooked Books. All opinions are my own.