Revolution

Andi and Alex live centuries apart, but their tormented parallel lives eventually intersect. Andi Alpers, 17, is on the edge of suicide after the death of her younger brother when she finds the eighteenth-century journal of Alexandrine Paradis. Alex is trying to save the doomed Prince Louis-Charles during the French Revolution. Each narrator has a range of emotions and expressions. Emily Janice Card catches the contemporary tones of Andi, veering from despair to sardonic humor and making much of the satirical lists that characterize the first-person narration. Emma Bering portrays a breezy, opportunistic Alex who soon becomes a tortured figure, haunting to Andi and to listeners. As if drawing on the story's musical themes, the narrators deliver an accomplished audio duet. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine


According to English comedian and activist Russell Brand, our political system is broken, our culture lacks substance, and it's time to break out of our apathy and start a revolution to bring about change. Brand's fervent call to action is brought to listeners by none other than Brand himself, with a pronounced British accent and frenetic delivery. He often speaks quickly, using different voices and accents for comedic effect. After touching on his own personal history and challenges, he describes the post-revolutionary political climate he envisions. While he's certainly full of energy and vigor, his delivery often sounds bombastic rather than enlightening as esoteric words mix with profanity and crude humor. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

September 13, 2010
Donnelly (A Northern Light) melds contemporary teen drama with well-researched historical fiction and a dollop of time travel for a hefty read that mostly succeeds. Andi Alpers is popping antidepressants and flunking out of her Brooklyn prep school, grieving over her younger brother's death. She finds solace only when playing guitar. When the school notifies her mostly absent scientist father that she's flirting with expulsion, he takes Andi to Paris for Christmas break, where he's testing DNA to see if a preserved heart really belonged to the doomed son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Andi is ordered to work on her senior thesis about a (fictional) French composer. Bunking at the home of a renowned historian, Andi finds a diary that relates the last days of Alexandrine, companion to (you guessed it) the doomed prince. The story then alternates between Andi's suicidal urges and Alexandrine's efforts to save the prince. Donnelly's story goes on too long, but packs in worthy stuff. Musicians, especially, will appreciate the thread about the debt rock owes to the classics. Ages 14–up.