Winterkeep

Xanthe Elbrick, narrator of two other audiobooks in the Graceling Realm series, here uses tone, mood, and accents to distinguish characters and transition between settings. Five years after Queen Bitterblue has assumed rule of her country, she is en route by ship to the kingdom of Winterkeep to investigate the disappearance of her diplomats when she is swept overboard and kidnapped. Elbrick subtly shifts between fantastical elements like tender, empathic sea creatures and telepathic foxes to realistic characters and situations like the heartbroken daughter of two prominent Winterkeep politicians and the unrealized love of Bitterblue and Giddon, her defender. These disparate elements create a unified whole that speaks to the power and caring that transcend the story's treachery. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine