worth a read

good characters and storyline worth a read well written and narrated if recommend this book

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2 people found this helpful

Enjoyable

Good but horrid if you know what I mean. The story was good, but sad too, you know what’s going on but that didn’t spoil it for me. It was tense at times and took a little while to feel for some of the characters but all in all I enjoyed it.

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well written.

This Author loves words and uses them beautifully. The story is a break from the norm and narrated well. It kept me guessing right to the end.

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Audio Page Turner!!

Where does The Burning Air rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top. My wife read it in her book club and suggested it which immediately put me off ;-) but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really good.

What other book might you compare The Burning Air to, and why?

Gone Girl

Have you listened to any of Candida Gubbins’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Not yet but I'm off to have a look now.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

As the author allows you to start putting the pieces of the story together, you get a Wow moment.

Any additional comments?

A great book that really builds the visual imagery throughout in your head. I highly recommend it.

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1 person found this helpful

Amazing read

Would you consider the audio edition of The Burning Air to be better than the print version?

The audio edition is by far better than the printed version. For a start, without going into details of my disability, I can listen to this book anywhere on my iPad. I can lie in bed and listen without having to hold up a printed book. I expect for able bodied people it would allow them to get their jobs done around the house while listening to an excellent book. Audio books such as this one is essential to my quality of life. I like listening to good, well-written murder mystery and thriller books.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Burning Air?

As I mentioned, The Burning Air is an excellent book in every way. The whole book was memorable for me but if I have to choose a particular part of the book then it had to be the twist at the end. Throughout the book there are twists and turns. It is a very clever story. Well thought out and very gripping. I found my sympathies alternating between the the MacBride family and Darcy and his mum, which I found unusual. The plot was convoluted but fairly easy to follow once your mind assimilated all the players in the story. I found myself going back over previous parts of the book to understand who was who and the part they played in the plot. The girl Kerry was weak and impressionable and it is such people who draw to them like a magnet the twisted people in society. Having said that, she was not as dim as one first thought, and, again, I could find sympathy for her. The twist at the end was not expected and turned everything the reader had thought throughout the book on its head. The title 'The Burning Air' is a good title for this book and the title and write-up were deciders in me wanting to download and listen to it. Having read this then I am going to read Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree. I can recommend this book to everyone who likes a good thriller.

What about Candida Gubbins’s performance did you like?

Candida, I think, balanced the reading very well. She sounded sympathetic, while upping the tension, in all the right places in the book. She gave each character his/her own voice so it was easy to distinguish who was speaking in the book. Candida also built up the tension as the book progressed through the first half of the book telling the MacBride Family story. And she did the same as she narrated Darcy's story. When the two parts of the story came together is was a tremendous twist and Candida did very well to give it the gravitas it deserved/required. A good narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I would have liked to listen to it all in one sitting but I wasn't able to. It is a long book, but I like long books. And stretching it out over a few days added to the excitement and anticipation of the next time I was able to listen.

Any additional comments?

Erin Kelly is a new author to me. I think she has only published three books to date, but if she continues to write more books like The Burning Air, I predict she will be a popular author and her books will have a huge following. She is a very clever author and describes her characters so well but didn't dwell overly on their descriptions like some authors do. She pitched it just right for me. I was able to listen and imagine in my mind every scene and every character as it happened. Without sounding clichéd, I felt that I was there looking on as the story unfolded, especially at Far Barn. I would love to listen to more stories by this author. I hope she writes more.

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5 people found this helpful

Not for me

Finished, but struggled with both narration and then the story line from about half way through.

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4 people found this helpful

Fabulous!

Brilliant story. Great narration. And a twist so clever that I had to keep going back but the clues were there! Read/listen and enjoy.

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1 person found this helpful

Enthralling

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely, It is the best audible book I have listened to so far.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Burning Air?

A few times during the book when things fell into place, twists I had not anticipated.

Which character – as performed by Candida Gubbins – was your favourite?

Probably Darcy, although she performed them all well.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The senseless, life changing attack on Felix.

Any additional comments?

From reviews I had read before listening I knew that Darcy was a boy and not a girl. If I had not known this, I would have probably started off believing him to be a girl too.

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A great listen.

An audiobook I couldn’t put down. Perhaps not quite so perfectly brilliant as He Said She Said, but still first class and compelling.

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Mysteries, twists and turns!

I generally choose to listen to crime novels which tell the tale of police investigation so this was a departure from my usual genre. I selected the book because I found the synopsis intriguing and thought that the narrator read well in the sample available.

In the event I listened to this book over 3 days; I found myself drawn into the story with its suspense and intelligent telling, finding it difficult to keep away. The book is well written with some wonderfully descriptive phrases. I liked the way that the tale is told from different characters' perspectives; this could have been difficult if the book weren't as well crafted as it is and the narrator, Candida Gubbins, so skilled in her reading. I find with some audiobooks that the narrator struggles to create different characterisation or is poor at using their voice to represent a character of opposite gender - but not Candida; her narration is perfect.

The book covers some 20 years of history between a family of academic privilege and a boy who is academically gifted but who's family background is deprived. The two families' paths cross at various times causing terrible trauma and grief which, in time, builds to the planning of a final act of revenge.

I enjoyed all the twists and turns of the tale including a surprising revelation about one of the main characters in the last few lines of this great listen. I will be downloading more of Erin Kelly....

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