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Middlegame

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Middlegame

Written by: Seanan McGuire
Narrated by: Amber Benson
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About this listen

A Locus Award Finalist!

This program is read by Amber Benson.

New York Times best-selling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces listeners to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in the stand-alone fantasy, Middlegame.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realize it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: To raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

©2019 Seanan McGuire (P)2019 Macmillan Audio Action & Adventure Adventure Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Middle Game

What the critics say

2019 NPR Best Book of the Year
2019 Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
2020 Hugo Award Nominee
2020 Locus Awards Nominee
All stars
Most Relevant
Beautiful story on the strength of sibling love. Seanan McGuire never fails to provide superb world building and rich main characters. This is my favourite book so I needed an audio copy. I first read the book and then listened to it. It's been a few years so I forgot the first little bit is dry (only the first chapter or so) but it's smooth sailing after that. I basically inhaled the rest.

I love Amber Benson, Scooby Gang fan for life! I found her performance wonderful except her interpretations of Lee and Reid, particularly when they were speaking to each other. She's exaggerated their way of speaking to the point where it is really distracting. Her inflections and cadence are all over the place in an effort to ring true to Seanan McGuire's description, but I found myself wanting to rush past those bits. Luckily their interactions are only a small portion of book. The rest of the time I mostly forget someone is reading to me, which to me is the sign of a great narrator.

Favourite book!

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A really cool and different science fiction story. The core relationships are beautifully done. My only criticism is that it could be improved with a little research. Sometimes the writer is building make believe science but there are some core elements of real science that could have been improved with a modicum of research on the author’s part.

Excellent

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if you like any of the following, this story is for you:
- evil secret organizations, or villains who are motivated to "control the universe"
- seeing characters change over many years
- literary magical realism
- Harry Potter (minus the wands, but add in some English and math)
- black/white struggles between good and evil (with some gray characters thrown in)
- exposition to move the plot along, but don't mind character melodrama slowing it down
- similies.... many, MANY similies
- lovely, nuanced, let's-hear-teacher-read-a-story type of voice acting.

If even a couple of those tick the box for you, then I recommend giving this a listen. it's great fun, very accessible to young adults. The ending feels very rushed, and there is a lot of worldbuidling that seems pointless, if only to spur on fanfiction or pre/sequels. But it ends on a strong note and the writing is still solid, engaging.

Full Metal Alchemist meets The Wizard of Oz

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This book reawakened feelings of awe and wonder I haven't felt in a long time.

I can't wait for you to listen.

The Improbable Story That's Impossibly Good

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Good story boot too dragging, narrator tries too hard. Highs and lows in her voice was somewhat annoying

Too long

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