Audiobook Review: Goblin Secrets by William Alexander - **** 4 Stars

Title: Goblin Secrets by William Alexander

Blurb: In the town of Zombay, there is a witch named Graba who has clockwork chicken legs and moves her house around—much like the fairy tale figure of Baba Yaga. Graba takes in stray children, and Rownie is the youngest boy in her household. Rownie’s only real relative is his older brother Rowan, who is an actor. But acting is outlawed in Zombay, and Rowan has disappeared.

**Audiobook provided by Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.**

Book/Audiobook: **** 4 Stars/**** 4 Stars

Things I liked:

• This book was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time. It is incredibly imaginative and makes a truly fun unique world setting.
• I thought Graba was really cool and I love that her leg is made of clockwork. She is truly spooky and scary at times.
• I also loved the Goblins. They were not what I expected them to be; they were fun but still felt powerful, magical and at times menacing.
• I loved the scenes set in the theater, especially the ones in which the main character interacts with the masks.

Things I disliked:

• A lot of the children and the Goblin’s had similar names/characteristics so at first it was difficult to keep track of all of the action, once the characters became more established it became much easier.
• Sometimes the pacing was a bit slow in the story. It spends a lot of time building up the world which is important with such a complicated mythology but that didn’t always lend it self well to pushing forward the plot.

Favorite Moment:

When Rownie first encounters the troupe of Goblins and puts on the giant mask. It was an incredibly inventive and exciting scene in the story.

How it worked as an audiobook:

The author William Alexander did this particular audiobook and I though the did a great job with the voices. I think he was at his best when he was doing the voices of the Goblins and Graba, however it was a little hard to distinguish his male from his female characters. Overall though it was really well done and I was engaged throughout the book!

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this. I thought it had an incredibly unique and wonderful setting. Though sometimes I felt the pacing was slow and that some of details of the world building were confusing at first, I was left with the feeling that this is a world I have never been to or read anything similar too. It was really nice to travel into the world of Goblin Secrets and I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

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Tags: audiobook, Goblin Secrets, middle grades, PMR Bookclub, William Alexander

This entry was posted by picturemereading.

• March 19, 2013
• Audiobook Reviews, Audiobook: Fantasy, Audiobook: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Middle Grade
• 18 comments