Lab Rat One

Touchstone, Book 2

By: Andrea K. Höst

Narrated by: Stephanie Macfie

In the months since Cassandra Devlin walked off Earth onto another planet, she has grappled with everything from making blankets to helping psychics battle the memories of monsters. Not able to find a way home, she has instead gained friends and a purpose. Unfortunately, that purpose brings with it the pressure of being more than a little valuable, and those she has befriended are also her guards, ordered to explore and control her abilities to find out just what it is a touchstone can do.

"Test subject" was not the career path Cass had been planning. With no privacy, too-frequent injuries, and the painful knowledge that she must always be an assignment to her Setari companions, Cass can only wish for some semblance of normality and control. And as her abilities become more and more dangerous, tests and training may be the only thing capable of protecting Cass from herself.

©2011 Andrea K. Hosth (P)2019 Andrea K. Hosth

Screwed by Audible they are failing to provide book three.

An excellent adventure away from reality giving the readers the chance just to enjoy listening, Book three needs to be completed now

Fantastic story

Love this series
Have read the book and are now enjoying the audible storyline
Like the Australian accents

Lab rat one

Loved the series...now waiting for the third one. Just enjoyed the Australian accent telling an Australian girl's story. Well done indeed.

Fantastic story, bought audiobook BECAUSE of it

So, story: 10/10. seriously. The whole series is a slam dunk and the rest of the authors' books are also fantastic. Do yourself a favor and give Medair a read... I could wax poetic on her world creation for hours here. She's... fresh, for lack of a better descriptor.

Audiobook: The reader was rushed and at times mispronounced or muddled words. Or got caught off guard by a sentence continuing on the next line. I didn't enjoy the voice, either. It wasn't the accent, it was the tone, a little higher pitched. But that's a personal preference - and there's nothing a person can do about the sound of their voice - so we'll ignore that part, shall we?
What I didn't like, and feel is a valid criticism, was feeling like I was listening to a podcast at 1.5X, and the mistakes here and there. Anyone can make mistakes, but this isn't a live performance, take a breath, pause the recording, and re-do. Please and thank you. End of rant.

Though.. if this was the voice actors first series, then valid effort, B-. Do try to enunciate the words better in the future, and pay attention to where sentences end.

Lab Rats Rule!

I was so thrilled that this series was finally pulled from the Ena to come to Audible. Though the Australian narrator doesn't do male voices well, she does make the format of the story, told in the form of a diary, really come alive. "Lab Rat One" is the second book of Andrea K. Höst's 'Touchstone' series, which sees Cassandra's adventures on new worlds with new supernatural powers really jump into action. (But read or listen to "Stray" first so you understand all the characters and the world-building.)

The story really gets intense with scary encounters that are horrifying to experience--which tells you how good the author is at pulling the reader into the book. It's impossible to tell more without spoiling the action, but the reader/listener will find "Lab Rat One" engrossing.

Ms. Höst delivers a coming-of-age tail with little angst but a whole lot of heart. I love the character of Cassandra--I just wish I could hit that inter-dimensional gate and visit Muina as well.

As a final note, the books have a great index at the end that explains Australian idioms. I had to refer to it several times because the only phrase I really knew was about "the barbie."

Love the book, not so much the voice actress

I adore the original book. But the voice actress sounds like a robot. There is no flow in her voice and every sentence sounds like it exists in it's own space without correlation to the rest of the story, sentences or paragraphs. It made it so hard to continue listening. If I wouldn't have read the story prior already, I would have stopped after the first 5 minutes. It was still very hard to finish the audio book, only my love for there original made that possible.

Intricate story and well developed characters

This story, written as a diary, Is very engaging. The narrator does a nice job, but indiscriminately drops and ads negatives and articles and occasionally substitutes words that are malaprops. Nevertheless she is easy to listen to.