The Agapéd Bearer: Wishing Stars

By: Hannah Taylor Lindsey

Narrated by: Emily Turtle, Sebastian Brown

"The most powerful force in the universe falls out of the sky and into the hands of a magicless thirteen-year-old girl."

Lisa Robbie, a freckled, soon-to-be-eighth-grade girl from Keyport, New Jersey, happens upon a shooting star that isn’t merely space debris but is magic—the Agapéd Magic. This leads her to a whole new way of life where she learns she has the most powerful magic in all four galaxies, a power that the Guardians have waited 120 years for... and they are not too thrilled about it.

The only person who sees her worthy enough to wield this magic is the 700-year-old brutish Wishing Star gardener, Gaius. Still, even he won't tell her the Agapéd’s true purpose—the purpose for Lisa’s life. Curiosity takes Lisa’s new life down a path of nightmares as the Agapéd Magic begins to take a toll on her heart, and she must decide if this new way of life is worth all the pain and sorrow tagged along with it.

The Agapéd Bearer: Wishing Stars begins the epic light-versus-darkness saga, a fantasy adventure perfect for those who enjoy constant tugging at their heartstrings and plenty of magical encounters.

©2023 Hannah Taylor Lindsey (P)2024 Hannah Taylor Lindsey

Adorable start to a series!

This story has to be the most perfectly summarized book out there. It is literally exactly as described and if the summary captures your attention I say go for it. Emily Turtle did an excellent job narrating this massive story. And the narrator for Gaius was so perfect. There are some notes on the story itself but I believe this is a debut author so I'm sure with time any problems will be ironed out. Sentence flow could be awkward and redundantly wordy. But writing is an endless process of learning what works and doesn't. A little editing could have tightened it up. The story picked up for me in part 2. Lisa has the adorable innocence of a studio ghibli character. Felt like an issekai in the best possible way.
Oh my god the cover art is absolutely beautiful. I'm in love with the style!!! Can't wait to continue the series and see how this author and story grows.

my new favorite series

this book is INCREDIBLE. voice acting is spot on. and so realistic and raw. they cry and the characters cry they are in pain when the characters are. the performance is So good! and the book? the plot is epic. high stakes, high fantasy magical worlds! it's beautiful. the relationship are so real and genuine and believable. I loved seeing the mother daughter relationship and the mentor mentee relationship with Lisa and guias grow into something more familial. and the friendships? it explores how some people only tolerate you but that real friendship can be found with the right people. athen there is the grief. there is lasting effects of the terrible and terrifying things that happen to Lisa, as it should be, the way the author has her process her grief with you is so real and raw and beautiful.
literally my new favorite book/series. I can't wait to lead more!

Fantastic

My name is Ali and I’m 11 years old and I’m Kim’s daughter. I have loved this book, all the magic is so detailed and you got all of the emotions with Gaius, Lesa, and Tuff, in the book including Cal. I love how Lisa and Cal’s relationships as friends felt very real. Otherwise the backstory rawness was just beautiful so thank you Hannah for giving me a new addiction.🤩

a good time TM

I’ve been wanting to read TAB forever after seeing Hannah’s gorgeous art, but the book was so long I kept procrastinating- so I decided to try the audiobook. This livened up many many commutes to and from college. I really enjoyed the story, and I ADORE the world and vibes. There were times I was mildly annoyed by Lisa’s inner monologue or just felt it wasn’t realistic but uhhh that’s mostly a me problem, I have this bad habit of nitpicking. I almost cried multiple times while driving so yeeeeeah the story do be pulling on the emotions. I laughed at Gaius during his chapter (so I wouldn’t cry 😀). I already bought the audiobook for Paragon Games and I’m super excited for it!!

Perfect voice for MC

Review by Erika::
This story was beautiful! I was whisked away into a magical world and got to watch Lisa learn about her magic with Gaius, Inna, Cal and so many others it felt like I was there! The narrator Hannah found for Lisa was perfect for her! While there were a few moments where sentences were repeated or the pitch changed slightly, I didn’t really mind. She did a really lovely job portraying Lisa’s emotions, wonderment, and thoughts. Her other voices were amazing too! I really love how she voiced Kamari.
Anyway. I loved listening to this story and can’t wait to start the next book! Hannah has done such a beautiful job! I laughed and cheered and worried and even shed a tear or two, which is very rare for me! Can’t wait to see what’s in the next journey!

A fun emotional ride

a good start to what I'm sure will be an amazing series, rich lore, interesting characters and some heart breaking scenes, the author thrives when it comes to writing characters and they're emotions, both narrators did a solid job

Emily brought Lisa to life 🩷

This was the perfect voice for Lisa!!!!! I adore the accents and the attention to detail with the dialogue. And my gosh, I got teary. Sebastian did Gaius’ chapter, and can I just say I was sobbing from the emotion🥲 They brought Lindsey’s story to life!

meh...

The narrator was fine. The writing of this book itself needs tightened up. Alot. It has the promise to be glorious. But, the redundancy and over indulgent Tolkien-esque descriptors kinda kill it.