DNF Audiobook Review – The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 16 hours and 28 minutes
Publisher:‎ Macmillan Audio
Release Date: September 24, 2024
ASIN: B0CW3VLWBF
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook for Review from NetGalley
Rating: 2/5 stars

“There’s nothing more dangerous than an unnamed thing

When the words went away, the world changed.

All meaning was lost, and every border fell. Monsters slipped from dreams to haunt the waking while ghosts wandered the land in futile reveries. Only with the rise of the committees of the named—Maps, Ghosts, Dreams, and Names—could the people stand against the terrors of the nameless wilds. They built borders around their world and within their minds, shackled ghosts and hunted monsters, and went to war against the unknown.

For one unnamed courier of the Names Committee, the task of delivering new words preserves her place in a world that fears her. But after a series of monstrous attacks on the named, she is forced to flee her committee and seek her long-lost sister. Accompanied by a patchwork ghost, a fretful monster, and a nameless animal who prowls the shadows, her search for the truth of her past opens the door to a revolutionary future—for the words she carries will reshape the world.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this on audiobook for review from NetGalley.

Thoughts: I listened to this on audiobook. I stopped listening to this about 33% of the way in. This is my second time attempt to listen to this and I really struggled to stay interested in it. I gave it a second try because I got it for review and I don’t like to DNF review books. I usually don’t give DNFs below 3* but the way I struggled with the story (trying to get through it multiple times), combined with the poor audiobook quality on this one put it in 2* territory for me.

The world here is very confusing; there is never a plausible explanation for why the names of everything would have gone away; I struggled to wrap my mind around this. The only information you get is that the names of things were lost “when something fell from the something tree”.

I also struggled a lot with the characters; they are hard to picture and relate to. There is a whole culture around naming things and divining the names of things. Given that I just couldn’t get over my disbelief of everything losing its name, I really struggled to understand the plot and the motivation for the characters.

Things did get more interesting about 25% of the way through the book, however they also got more confusing. It’s revealed that our main character (a nameless courier) can dream nightmares into existence. I thought, “wow that is interesting, maybe this is getting better”. Then suddenly, we were in a very long story about the founding of the city of Whisper that didn’t seem to have much to do with our main protagonist, and I was like “What the heck am I listening to now?”

I did get this on audiobook and I would not recommend it. The narrator’s voice is both raspy and kind of whispering, and I found it grating and unpleasant to listen to. Maybe if I have gotten this book to review in ebook format rather than audiobook I would have gotten farther in? Honestly, I probably would have just skimmed the boring parts, which would be the whole beginning of the book.

Not sure what to say about this one. It is creative and different. However, it leaves any sort of logical thinking or plausibility behind, and I struggle to read a sci-fi where nothing I am reading makes any sense at all.

My Summary (2/5): Overall I did not enjoy this book. It is a creative premise that is never well explained and seems implausible. The story only gets more confusing as it goes along. There were elements of the story I found intriguing, like the never ending train journeys, nameless monsters, and dreaming nightmares into reality. However, I could never quite figure out what was going on and lost interest in this. I did give this a shot a couple of times but couldn’t make it through. It didn’t help that I found the narrator’s voice for the audiobook grating and hard to listen to.