Indexing

Indexing, Book 1

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

"Never underestimate the power of a good story."

Good advice…especially when a story can kill you.

For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected - perhaps infected is a better word - by memetic incursion: where fairy tale narratives become reality, often with disastrous results.

That's where the ATI Management Bureau steps in, an organization tasked with protecting the world from fairy tales, even while most of their agents are struggling to keep their own fantastic archetypes from taking over their lives. When you're dealing with storybook narratives in the real world, it doesn't matter if you're Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or the Wicked Queen: no one gets a happily ever after.

Indexing is New York Times best-selling author Seanan McGuire’s new urban fantasy where everything you thought you knew about fairy tales gets turned on its head.

©2013 Seanan McGuire (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Once upon a time

Seanan has always had a love of and interest in fairy tales. It shows through in glimpses in her other stories, and more clearly on her website, but in Indexing, she has finally found a way to really showcase it.

There are some similarities between this book and her other series, but it is very much unique, and it may actually supplant the October Day series as my favourite if it continues to be as good.

There are a number of plot twists, some of which I saw coming, some of which I did not. The narration is, as always, excellent, but I had to give it a 4 out of 5 for the "Nova Scotia accent" sounding like someone Irish. I'm not sure how one could describe our accent, but it's certainly not that.

If you've enjoyed Seanan's other books, try this. If you've never read anything by her before, and are a fan of fairy tales... buy this book. Heck, no matter what you like, buy this book. It's a fun ride, and you won't be disappointed.

a diffferent tilt

It took me a bit to get a handle on the story but once I did it really was pretty good. It's an odd way to look at the narrative but then you always get an odd tilt from Mcguire which is why I read her stuff.

Narrator did a great job.

I love these books!!!

They are everything I love about Criminal Minds mixed with the idea of Once Upon a Time. Highly recommended if you've ever wanted Once Upon a Time to be less about drama and more about the stories.

Who keeps rogue fairy tales in check?

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

Yes! The characters are fun and the narration is good, and the pacing is great.

What did you like best about this story?

All the different types of characters and all the new ways of looking at old stories.

Which character – as performed by Mary Robinette Kowal – was your favorite?

Henry Marchen, the main character. She was the perfect representation of grace under pressure and the best example of taking your life by force and making it your own.

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

When Andy thwarted the narrative by smashing a frog repeatedly with a rusty crowbar I had to pause the book to laugh.

Any additional comments?

Get ready to really really crave apples. In fact, before you start this book just go and buy a bag of your favorite apples.

Snow White has had enough of your nonsense.

A book about fairy tales coming to life? The potential for being silly or cliched or taking itself too seriously was a bit too high for me and I only purchased this novel when it went on sale. I thought that, at less than 5 dollars, even if it's crap, at least I didn't waste a credit on it. Now, I would happily go back and spend a credit or even buy this at full price.

Seanan McGuire is a gifted story teller. She has an amazing grasp of how to blend humor, emotion, and tension to give life to her plot. All of the characters are three-dimensional and realistic, despite most of them also being fairy tale characters. She made it easy to imagine a world in which storybook characters are not only real, but numerous and controlled a sentient narrative.

Mary Robinette Kowal did an outstanding job of narration on this piece. She gave each character depth and personality through her use of inflection, pace and accent. Her voice is pleasant to listen to and her timing is splendid.

This was a well written, excellently read story. I would recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys fantasy, mystery or comedy. If you like all of those, this should be at the top of your must listen list.

Love the story!

I loved the unique spin on this supernatural story. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was the voice used by the narrator for Sloan. The valley girl voice for a bad ass just irritated me to no end & took away from Sloan’s strong character who is over 300 years old & sounds like a teenager from the 80’s.

A quirky story with some neat ideas.

The story is complicated enough to be intriguing and pulls for all sorts of stories to keep it interesting.

Fun light read

This was an entertaining read and had many laughs! Thoroughly enjoyed. Off to buy book two!

Fairy-tales with a twist.

Found this book because of the October Day series I have been enjoying. I loved this story and was narrated beautifully. Different angles on traditional stories was captivating.

new, creative, and best of all interesting

I like that this was fast paced. This story had the unique ability to engage my mind because I was actively trying to remember the variation of each fairy tale presented while the action was taking place. Performance was good and I loved the main characters who had an individuality separate from the fairy tale molds they were placed in. Best of all the story wasn't cutsie but had the fairy tale feel to it nonetheless with our main characters winning in the end.