When did you see her last? (Audio book Review)

Title: When did you see her last?
Author: Lemony Snicket
Narrator: Liam Aiken
Pub. Date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Length: 4.5 hrs

Audio book Info:
This is the second in the highly anticipated new series by Lemony Snicket, the enigmatic author of the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the fading town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, young apprentice Lemony Snicket has a new case to solve when he and his chaperone are hired to find a missing girl. Is the girl a runaway? Or was she kidnapped? Was she seen last at the grocery store? Or could she have stopped at the diner? Is it really any of your business? These are all the wrong questions.






Author Info:


Lemony Snicket had an unusual education which may or may not explain his ability to evade capture. He is the author of the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, several picture books including The Dark, and the books collectively titled All The Wrong Questions.







My Review:
So this review may be a little biased here because I am a Lemony Snicket fan! Having read a Series of Unfortunate Events Overall, I have been dying to get my hands on a copy of the books from his new series but was unable to untill this review oppurtunity came along! I have to say I was not disapointed! I liked it, I did have a few issues with it (but we will get to that later) overall though it was a good book.

The plot and the writting style were clasic Lemony Snicket, witty and eccentric and filled with lots of mystery and definitions of words (which is a good thing its part of what makes his books fun!) The themes in the book were the same too, the kids solving whats going on while the adults or completly oblivious. The only quam I had is that I felt this book was somewhat to simplistic. What I mean by that is that I felt the Series of Unfortunate Event books were more complex in comparison but this new series may get better with time.

The characters were ok overall I didnt find anyone that I really liked but they were all very good and well made characters. Also I felt that all the characters needed to be there as they helped the plot along and I was interested in what happened to the characters throughout the whole story. The only thing was the villan Hangfire he annoyed me he felt so much like the villan from the Series of Unfortunate events. I was hoping so much for a new villan but it feels like I got a bit of the same old same old.

The Narration: This was where I was a bit disappointed I thought the narration was only ok. I was excited when I read who the narrator was: one of the actors from the Series of Unfortunate Events movie, so I thought he would do it some justice but I was wrong. I felt it parts he just read the book and when he did voices they didnt sound authenic. What I mean by this is that they sounded rather fake or silly, at least thats what I felt. It really disappointed me I think these books should be read by a more seasoned narrator one who could really express the whimsy and oddities of Snicket's writting style.

I also want to mention that while the cover on the box for this audio is not my favorite I do like the style it was drawn in, to make it kind of look like a comic book.


My final verdict:
Overall it is a good book and I would recommend it! It think it would be fun to read it in print and to listen to it as well. I would recommend both versions even though I was disappointed in the narration I still think its fun to listen to!

Now my one disadvantage here was I didnt read the 1st book in this new series so I was alittle confussed at frist but you cacth on pretty quickly and because eacth book has a different mystery you could probably read it/listen to it as a stand alone but for a fan like me I want to read them all!

I would like to thank Micth from Hachette for letting me listen to and review this audio book!