Audiobook Review – The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw, Narrated by Casey Turner (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 8 hours and 59 minutes
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: March 13, 2018
ASIN : B07B3Q23JG
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…
Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.
Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.
Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.
But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I listened to this on an audiobook which I bought from Audible.
Audiobook Quality (4/5): The audiobook quality was fine. The narrator sounds very typical of other YA narrators; a little overly dramatic for my taste but still does a good job with character voices and emotions.
Thoughts: I enjoyed the dark, mysterious, small town atmosphere of this book and the history of the town of Sparrow. There are some good twists and turns in the story that have you gasping “Oh, no!” and I like how things were resolved. This was a wonderful fall read, despite being set in summertime.
This is written in a very beautiful style but also had a bit too much of that over-the-top YA description for me…you know, writing about storms in people’s eyes and other cloyingly dramatic descriptors. I would have preferred a bit of humor at points, this story takes itself vveerrryy seriously.
Still, it kept me intrigued until the end and I enjoyed the atmosphere. I could have done without a lot of the teen drama and overly descriptive tender moments between our main characters, but between all of that there was a decent story here.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. I loved the setting of the town of Sparrow and the look into the history of witch hunts. A lot of this was a bit too much of an over-the-top teen romance drama but between all of that there’s a creepy story here that I really enjoyed. There are some excellent twists in the story and it is beautifully written.
