Melting Stones

This audiobook original, released well before the print version, will please the author's legions of fans. The new Circle of Magic fantasy features Grace Kelly as Evvy, an apprentice stone mage. She is able to suspend her physical self and explore the depths of the earth, sensing and, at times, influencing the course of nature. With her mentor, Rosethorn, and the powerful Luvo, she is challenged to solve the mysterious withering of an island whose plants and waters are dying. While the production has some over-the-top sound effects, Kelly delivers a strong performance, and the Full Cast voices align well with their characters. Listeners will especially enjoy the author's participation. L.D.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

January 28, 2008
Almost as prolific as she is popular, Pierce bucks convention and brings this novel to audio a year in advance of its hardcover publication. Once a writer for radio theater, Pierce tailors the narrative to audio, which is evident in the enhanced use of dialogue to convey plot and the streamlined descriptions. The story itself is a continuation of adventures begun in Street Magic
, part of the author's Circle of Magic cycle—fortunately, listeners can easily enter the fantasy world here without any previous acquaintance. Narrator Evvy, a young and battle-scarred mage whose words and thoughts are crisply, even commandingly read by Kelly, goes with her guardian Rosethorn to a “battle island” where the plants are dying off. With help from her friend Luvo, the living heart of a mountain (his voice sounds a bit robotic), she discovers that volcanic spirits plan to erupt. Production values are consistently high: carefully integrated original music raises the emotional stakes, and a skilled cast delivers full-bodied performances, even making good on lines like “his voice was as hard asdiamonds, and as soft as chalk.” The novel is not one of Pierce's more surprising or innovative, but her typically strong characterizations and the superb acting camouflage its deficiencies. Ages 10-up.