Narrated by Nicole Poole
Sterling is the first book in Dannika Dark’s fast-paced, action-packed Urban Fantasy Mageri series about an ordinary woman who undergoes a transformation, and loses a bit of her humanity in exchange for some very special abilities.
Zoe Merrick isn’t the kind of person exciting things happen to. She has a job that just manages to pay the bills, her looks are average, and she can’t manage to find a man she wants to stick with. So, when she agrees to accompany her friend Sunny to a local club, she has no way of knowing just how irrevocably her life will change.
Later that same night, a mysterious man named Adam sees a naked young woman running down the road covered in blood. It’s obvious she’s been attacked, and, for reasons known only to Adam, he rescues her, taking her to his cabin to recover.
When Zoe wakes up, she realizes she is, quite literally, not herself. Her appearance has changed, and she possesses abilities not given to humankind. Who attacked Zoe, and why did he leave her to die? What happens if he realizes she still lives, and wishes to claim her as his own? Zoe knows she has to find out what happened, but, until she meets a man who calls himself Justice, she has no idea how to go about it.
Nicole Poole is a narrator I’d never listened to before picking up Sterling for review. I’m pleased to report that her narration of the book was well above average. Each character was given a distinct voice, making dialogue tags completely unnecessary.
Ms. Poole has a pleasant, somewhat melodious, mid-range voice. This makes it possible for her to suggest both masculinity and femininity without straining. No character sounded forced. All were quite compatible with the people Ms. Dark created.
I enjoyed Ms. Poole’s use of accents for certain characters, especially Justice. The author says he has a very slight accent, and that’s what Ms. Poole gives him. I’m not sure he was supposed to sound European, but, since the text didn’t directly say he didn’t, I found the portrayal quite good.
Sterling ends on a definite cliffhanger. In fact, as soon as I finished it, I went to Audible, and downloaded Twist, Book 2 in the series. This should tell you something, as I hardly ever read two books in a series back to back.
Shannon
Narration: A-
Book Content: A
Steam Factor: You can play it out loud
Violence: Graphic
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Sterling was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for a review.
