Thorn

By: Anna Burke

Narrated by: Annette Romano

On a cold day deep in the heart of winter, Rowan’s father returns from an ill-fated hunting trip bearing a single, white rose. The rose is followed by the Huntress, a figure out of legend.

Tall, cruel, and achingly beautiful, she brings Rowan back with her to a mountain fastness populated solely by the creatures of the hunt. Rowan, who once scorned the villagers for their superstitions, now finds herself at the heart of a curse with roots as deep as the mountains, ruled by an old magic that is as insidious as the touch of the winter rose.

Torn between her family loyalties, her guilty relief at escaping her betrothal to the charming but arrogant Avery Lockland, and her complicated feelings for the Huntress, Rowan must find a way to break the curse before it destroys everything she loves.

There is only one problem...if she can find a way to lift the curse, she will have to return to the life she left behind. And the only thing more unbearable than endless winter is facing a lifetime of springs without the Huntress.

©2019 Anna Burke (P)2019 Bywater Books, Anna Burke

True sacrifice for love

The story is so descriptive that I could picture everything. The beauty and the harshness of winter is how I see Huntress at the beginning. Rowan challenges her and starts to crack through to her heart. This is a story you need to experience for yourself in order to really appreciate it. The narrator was fantastic.

I can't stand this narrator but the book is lovely

I really want to enjoy this book but the narrator is making it so difficult. She emphasize way too many words. It is overwrought. She does a disservice to the beautifully written book with its evocative language. It is like she's trying to make it exciting for a child and trying too hard. She's infusing too much melodrama into a each moment of the book. There any never any levels - like she's tryng to be William Shatner and not quite succeeding. I usually go through a few Audible books a week and I have never considered stopping a book because of the narrator before.

Not to be missed

I wish I could write a review as amazing and well written as this book deserves alas I am not Anna Burke whose descriptive imagery and character development transported me into this story and I did not want to leave nor did I want the story to end. There was self discovery, empowerment, loss, love, sacrifice, redemption, action, and so much more. This was my first time listening to Annette Romano narrate, she did a fantastic job and I loved the brogue she used for The Huntress. I will without hesitation listen to her again. This is a book and audiobook not to be missed!

A good story but....

Too repetitive. Too many chapters with more or less the exact same words. A story that could have been told in two hours went on for several. The narrator sounded like she was reading an encyclopedia. Stilted and somewhat annoying but perhaps not all her fault as she basically repeated the same words time and again. I did struggle to finish this book and skipped chapters. In this book if you heard one chapter you heard them all.

Okay

Worth a listen. Story was decent. Queen MC written with awkward speech, which may have been intentional based on her age and lack of human interaction. When this writing was combined with the narrators lack of fluidity, it made the story difficult to maintain my interest. Still, I’m glad I finished.

An excellent story very well told

Caveat: I read the book when it was released a few months ago. So my experience listening to it may or may not be influenced by having previously read the story.

Thorn is a beautiful story. Burke's use of language is rich and layered. Rather than being a re-telling of the Beauty and the Beast story, Thorn is a re-imagining. Yes, yes, there are undoubtedly similar elements and plot lines, but Burke takes us beyond the fairy tale. Definitely beyond the Disneyfied version of the fairy tale. It's a book/story well worth your time.

The audio version of Thorn is quite good! Burke's use of language and the textures she folds into her storytelling make for a compelling audio experience. Annette Romano had great material to work with. And she worked well with the material she was given.

I particularly enjoyed the slight brogue she used to tell the Huntress's part of the story. It lent a depth and rawness to her character that was fitting.

The narration was clear and appropriate for the different characters in the book - whether main or secondary. There were a few moments when I wanted just a bit more from the performance - a bit more emotion, a bit more variation. But those moments were nicely countered at other times when I could hear the nuance of a deep sigh or a shuddering gasp. Overall, it was a nice balance.

Now, this is just a personal thing. I had to turn up the narration speed to 1.25 for it to sound natural to my ears. FOR ME, the performance sometimes felt a bit too purposeful or deliberate. Almost over-articulating. But, again, that's ME. I'm used to fast speech - both my own and others'. But putting the narration speed at 1.25 worked to give the flow of the narration a more natural sound.

In general, this is a highly worthy audiobook! I very highly recommend it.

WLW beauty and the beast

Honestly a very pretty and sweet retelling of beauty and the beast but with its own twists and flair, the romance between the main characters was very loving to read!
Definitely adding this book to my top favs!

I like it

I really love how Anna Burke has reimagined Beauty and the Beast. I was not expecting it to have to twists that it did but I was not disappointed at all. I am looking forward to anymore audiobooks that Anna Burke has.

Simple & easy to listen to

Simple & easy to listen to, it is basically Beauty and the Beast if the Beast was a beautiful but cold woman.

It felt rushed

At first I thought I accidentally started playing a court of thorns and roses. The intro is very similar. The author introduced characters and then gave no further explanation about those characters even though they seem to play paper roll rolls and I almost thought I had skipped A chapter and I had to go back but no I think the author had to get the chapter and also there were some editing issues. But it was easy to listen to at work.