Middlegame

Seanan McGuire

May 2019 · Alchemical Journeys Book 1 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Amber Benson

About this audiobook

"Amber Benson's compelling narration brings to life a world in which numbers and words are more than they seem, alchemy is real, and time is not a constant." -- AudioFile Magazine

A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST!

This program is read by Amber Benson.

New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces listeners to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in the standalone fantasy, Middlegame.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

Ratings and reviews

The way the audiobook is narrated is unbearable. The only reason I managed to finish it was because I was able to set the audio to play at 2.0x speed. But even then, the way the narrator read the villains' dialogue sapped any dramatic tension from the conflicts because it sounds like she's putting on a goofy voice to make children laugh. The story itself had some interesting elements, but the execution was mediocre. If the premise still interests you, just get the ebook instead.

Excellent excellent, excellent!! Great concepts, fantastic pacing and man do I want a sequel! I never wanted the story to end so badly that I restarted it immediately after the last words. Sheesh, I didn't expect to love this book the way I did. You did it again, Seanan! Wow, what a fascinating world and it's many fates that you've conjured up in this one! Thank you!!

About the author

SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, Alex and Locus Award-winning Wayward Children series, the October Daye series, the InCryptid series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She won the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 became the first person to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot.