I really enjoyed this book! I was sucked in from the very beginning! The sound effects from the narrator did an amazing job with everyone's voices! The plot is easy to follow and I love that when a new chapter starts you can tell. I really enjoyed this read and cant wait to see what happens next!

I listened to the audiobook of The Spiral of Life, and it was quite enjoyable. The story is the first in a YA series, Eilean in the Otherworld, about a Scottish teenager who is pulled into a world of folklore, along the same lines as Percy Jackson but queer and Celtic which is totally my jam.

I really liked Eilean as a character, I found myself empathizing with her experiences and self-doubt. She cares a lot about her family, particularly her Mamó (grandmother), and has regret about an event that’s greatly affected her present view of herself. I also really liked Freya and her blossoming friendship with Eilean, and all of the supporting characters. Rebecca Daltry did a great job giving them all distinct voices, her narration was smooth, and this American loved her accents.

There were some sound effects that were added throughout, and some effects added to the voices here and there. I don’t know if this was done because it was a YA book and the intent was to make it more interesting for a teenage listener, but I found a bit distracting. It was still a nice production, though, and I’ll definitely check out future installments of the series.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It has a bit of everything: Celtic gods, female blacksmiths, a girl with anger issues, a fantasy adventure, and hints of a sapphic romance!

That said, it didn’t completely feel like YA and seemed to often dip into more middle grade territory. This, of course, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just felt a bit jarring at times.

In terms of narration, I love Rebecca Daltry. I know it’s almost certainly done with effects but Brahdaine’s voice (if that’s how you spell it? That’s the trouble with audiobooks) was INCREDIBLE and so very effective at being both chilling and comforting.

I will definitely be reading the sequel.

09/26/2024 || The Spiral of Life: An Old Gods Story (Eilean in the Otherworld Book 1) by Francesca McMahon and Narrated by Rebecca Daltry || #TheSpiralofLife #NetGalley #LGBTQAI+ #Fantasy #MythsandLegends #CelticMythology #Audiobook

Thank you NetGalley, Francesca McMahon and Rebecca Daltry, and Bandele Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for making this e-ALC available!
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.
All of my thoughts are my own~

4.75 stars

What worked for me:
The narration was stellar and Daltry was an excellent choice for this tale, and I hope she continues as the narrator for the rest of the series! The story over-all was lovely and the cliff-hanger was very catching! I will be keeping my eyes out for more of the Eilean in the Otherworld Book series and checking out the rest of McMahon's books. The writing was lovely, and the world-building and magic system was really interesting and I hope to learn more about it all in the next installation(s)!
I loved the edition of sound effects and music for each chapter transition as well- it really brought on a whole new reader experience for me!

What didn't work for me (and kept this book from being a full 5 star for me):
As I said, the world-building and magic system was really interesting and I want to learn more about it in the next book(s), but I feel like McMahon just barely gave us enough so that we were not left in complete dark, but not fully enough to make certain parts make total sense for me. I also feel like readers may benefit from having an understanding of Celtic mythology and lore to fully understand all that is going on here and I think that if McMahon spent some more time explaining things a bit more with the consideration that not all of her readers know what she means or is describing. Also I think this book would have benefited from having some labeled time-skips or spent a bit more time detailing out the world Eilean and co was venturing through to sort of fill more space- there were some points where time lapsed and they traveled, but not much was spoken about the environment save for a few moments given some page time (or at the very least, was not very memorial).

All in all I believe this is a really great first book for a new series and has a lot of potential to be fantastic !

An engaging fantasy story I think suits middle grade and YA readers well! I appreciated the unlikely friendships here and themes around mental health. It touched on heavy topics like grief and illness in families while balancing the magical and folklore inspired elements with the plot well. I would definitely recommend this to younger readers.

This was such a fun audiobook experience with the sound and vocal effects. I appreciated the character development of Eilean, who I found was a very realistic representation of a mental health struggle. The development isn't linear, and it takes a while for lessons to sink in for Eilean. She's a teenager with big feelings and it's as messy as expected as she's challenged on the journey. Can't wait to dive into the rest of the series!

The cover of this drew me in and the plot kept my firmly rooted in the story through to the end.
I love the Celtic folklore, blacksmith FMC, the cranky horse spirit, magical quests, LGBTQ and Alzheimer's representation and the dramatic and whimsical prose.

RaDane (sp) was sarcastic and sassy and all the interactions between RaDane and Ilene had me rolling and kicking my feet.

The audiobook was so well done. The narrator gave clear and unique voices to each character and the little moments with sound effects added so much to the story.

This was a fast fun read with lots of heart and humor amongst the seriousness our MC goes through. Made for such an easy read and a heartwarming conclusion.

A splendid amount of wit, charm, and folklore!

The Spiral of Life expertly builds a world without being too overwhelming (shout-out to Fran for the pronunciation guide!). My favorite thing about this novel is how we grow with the character. Eilean is hesitant of her strength and powers and she learns about the Otherworld and her quest to help the Gods.

"How do you explain that you’re afraid of hurting people so much that the idea of even making weapons terrifies you?" (p. 17). Kindle Edition.

She teams up with two character that are so well fleshed out that as the trio travel we learn about why their personalities are the way they are and there are bits of humor thrown in. It adds balance to the more dramatic scenes.

Some quotes that made me laugh out loud:

"They had only been traveling for, Eilean guessed, around two hours and she already wanted to turn the kelpie into a minced kel-pie."

"“You need to stop apologizing. I’m just saying, if this friendship is going to work, there’s gotta be a little tit for tattas.” Freya frowned. “Wait, that’s not the way you say it."

This was a fun read, especially for a gal like me who doesn't read fantasy often. I can't wait to read the next one!

Thank you to the author and Bandele Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The production of this audiobook was so good! The narrator is also very talented. I loved the Celtic myth elements and Eilean is also a great main character. I felt for her. I also loved Freya. I loved Eilean's bond with her grandmother as well. Cannot wait for part 2!

3 stars.

The premise was intriguing and characters interesting but I felt the book needed to have been longer to properly flesh out the plot, characters and world building. The book also felt a bit rough and a lot of the emotional scenes didn’t feel all that impactful. I’m not super familiar with Celtic mythology and this book wasn’t that great at introducing its readers to it. As for the audiobook itself, narrator did well for the most part. The filters over some of character voices made some hard to understand what is being said. The sound clips at the start of each chapter was first interesting but quickly became annoying and jarring, especially as some were extremely loud compared to the rest of the audiobook volume.

Eilean goes through a lot in this story, working through her past traumas and coping with her grandma’s quickly spiraling dementia, she really needs a break. After a few years removed from her home town and close connection to her Mamó (grandma) due to a violent outburst she made while enraged and defending a classmate, Eilean has been working to cope with her anger through black smithing and dancing with her punching bag. Despite this work, Eilean’s parents are nervous around her, afraid of her strength, leaving her feeling quite alone.

Returning to her village to check on Mamó is hard too, she runs into the gang of the schoolmate she hit years ago, and her Mamó is distant and speaking to no one. And then she gets drowned by a KELPIE! And taken into another world and is bestowed a quest that she doesn’t really want, but is basically forced to go on to save the world. When did being 17 get so complicated? At least she’s struck a tentative friendship with the most gorgeous girl and Druid she’s ever met and has her, and the grumpy Kelpie, to help her along the way.

This was a fun and emotional journey for all of our characters! I will definitely be looking forward to book two! And the narrator brought so much life to the characters and her accent has had me trying (and failing) a Scottish accent for days! At least I can think in it!

This book was super fun and made me excited for the next one. I really enjoy books with mythological elements and this delivered. Unfortunately this lost points for me because of some repetition problems, some odd word choices, and some elements of the audiobook. I enjoyed the sound effects that began each chapter and some elements of graphic audios that were included, however some characters' voices were done using filters which were slightly off putting and difficult to understand for me. There was also a character voice near the end that was very difficult for me to listen to. The main two girls' voices however, were very nice and the overall performance was great.

-thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced listener copy

This sapphic fantasy book was funny, emotional and gave lots of insights into celtic mythology, which I really liked. I enjoyed the audio-effects at the beginning of each chapter and was greatful that they were limited to the beginning of the chapter only. The narrator was generally very good and I was impressed by their range of accents. However, a big minus for me was the audio-effects put over the voices of the kelpie and some other mythological creatures. It was jarring to listen to greatly impeded my enjoyment of the audiobook.

This book is trying to be so woke and so progressive and do unproblematic! Thanks, I hate it! It felt like it was forcing diversity (aka making up random diverse characters just for the sake of being diverse, not because they were part of the plot to being with). I hated the narrators 'raspier' voices, they were hard to understand.

An excellent story based on Celtic mythology with Kelpies, Druids and old gods that of course need a mortal's help to get things done. Eilean is rough around the edges but deeply cares for her family and the friends she makes along this journey. She made a mistake and hurt a lot of people years before this story begins and the backlash pushed her family out of their ancestral home. Now she is back to visit her grandmother but is pulled into a world of magic she never thought existed.

Great story and cast of characters. Listening to this audiobook is an absolute treat with sound effects, singing old Scottish hymns and voices that sound like they are from another world. I can't wait to see what's next for Eilean and her new found friends.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the audio ARC!

This was fun! I don't really know much about Scottish mythology, so I liked learning more about it. Otherwise it's kind of a typical YA fantasy, with a Chosen One MC and two sidekicks, even if one of them happens to be a monster horse (otherwise known as a kelpie). I would have liked a little more depth to the story, but it was still definitely an enjoyable read. Oh and it's sapphic!!

Unlike most other audiobooks, this one had some sound effects, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. At the start of every chapter there would be some kind of sound (which differed from chapter to chapter), like birds chirping, and while it made me jump every time it did also add to the atmosphere. The mythological beings also had special effects on their voices, and while I can appreciate how not-human it made them sound, it did sometimes make it hard to make out what they were actually saying.

I will be looking forward to continuing to follow Elaine's journey, but in the meantime there is a prequel out! It's called The Green Man Falls, and it's (at least currently) free, so I recommend checking it out. It gives the backstory to what happened for the gods to need Elaine's help, from the POV of one of the gods. However, I'd recommend reading The Spiral of Life first, as there are a lot of spoilers in the prequel.

rep: lesbian MC with depression and anxiety, Scottish-Nigerian bisexual SC

This was a really well produced audio book. The sound effects and the narrator were really good and helped bring the book to life when listening to it. McMahon has a really strong voice in their writing and I really loved their characters and way of telling stories. This was a fun listen and I highly reccomend it.

This was unexpectedly good! I didn’t really go into this book with any expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up liking it quite a lot. The story is well structured and I really enjoyed following along with Eilean and Freya on their journey. The audiobook narration was stellar! The writing already made the characters feel distinct, but the narration helped as well, because their voices were acted differently. Some of the acting choices were a bit off-putting, especially the God that appears towards the end, I understand why he was acted this way, but I found it somewhat annoying.

I enjoyed this tale of Eilean, a hot-tempered teen with a troubling past tasked to save an ancient god in the Celtic Otherworld. Skeptical that she's up for the job, Eilean is joined on her quest by Freya, a local girl from Eilean's hometown who shows Eilean compassion and empathy, as well as a snarky mythical horse of death. Together they are confronted with challenging tasks as they navigate the Otherworld to complete their pursuit.

McMahon does a beautiful job of world-building while infusing characters with humor and heart. This story is geared toward a YA and/or middle-grade audience but was just as fun to read as an adult.

Thanks to NetGalley, I was granted access to the audiobook version and the narration by Rebecca Daltry was exceptional. The beginning of each chapter contains a brief sound clip relating to the story section, and Daltry navigates different voices like a pro.

I loved the narrator for this audiobook! I found this book enjoyable because of the world building and unique characters. The world was immersive, and the environment was a major factor in the plot of the story. The characters were also well written, and the mythical creatures were unique and fun. Gods and giants and kelpies!
The dialogue was well written, but rather predictable. There were many parts of the book where I wish the characters would just stop talking and get to the point or get to the action. And while I loved seeing the growth of the main character, there were moments where we were in their heads for far too long going over their insecurities and quirks again. It felt like the author didn't quite trust us to remember certain things about them.
I was not a fan of the ending. I still had many questions at the end, and the epilogue didn't really offer anything to the story. The main conflict that shows in the beginning of the book and persists through the entire story is never addressed or resolved. This book is part of a series so I'm not sure if the epilogue will be meaningful to the next book, or if more questions will be answered in the next book.