Lost Voices by Sarah Porter (Audiobook Review)

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Title: Lost Voices
Series: The Lost Voices Trilogy, book 1
Author: Sarah porter
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Copyright: 2011, Blackstone Audio
Duration: 9 hours, 1 minute
Genres: fantasy, trauma, young adult
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside a grim Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation: she becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in. All of them, like her, are lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life—until she discovers the catch: mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen—however, her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder?
The first book in a trilogy, Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.
©2011 Sarah Porter (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Okay, let’s see a show of hands: how many people thought mermaids were friendly creatures whose sole purpose was to aid stranded mariners or shipwreck victims? Yeah, I used to think that too. Sarah Porter, on the other hand, has a very different view of these mysterious and enchanting beings. InLost Voices, the mermaids hate humans and want nothing more than to kill as many of them as possible. Using their beautiful, unearthly singing voices, mermaids lure ships along until they crash into some rocks or something. Then they sing each person that was on the boat a watery and deadly lullabye, making sure there are no survivors to reveal their existence.
Sounds pretty chilling. In all fairness though, the mermaids have their reasons for acting this way. You see, mermaids used to be human. They were girls who were neglected, abused, or in some tragic cases killed, by the people who were supposed to care for them. In life, they were wallflowers and shut-ins; now they are the most beautiful creatures in the world, and they’re hungry for revenge.
Is Sarah Porter defending or condoning the mermaids behavior? No, I don’t think so. Lost Voices is toldfrom the perspective of Lucette. Luce has a tragic story, just like all the other mermaids, but she also has one quality that the others seem to lack: compassion. Luce was mistreated, and she knows that there are plenty of bad people in the world, but she also knows that some people are good, people like her father whose fishing boat was lost in a storm a few years ago. Luce is mightily tempted by the power of her newly found singing voice, but it becomes a moral dilemma for her right away. The real question is, will Luce have the courage to stand up for what is right; to go against long years of tradition and change things for the better?
Sarah Porter did a nice job of creating a new mythology around the mermaid, kind of like Stephenie Meyer did with vampires only without all the sappy romance. Porter’s world is well-crafted, and is as believable as it is fantastic. She also keeps the tension building throughout the story, and as we all know that’s what keeps the reader reading, or the listener listening. Luce’s voice rivals that of Katrina, the mermaid queen, which creates an instant rivalry. There is also the undercurrent of Luce’s father. Once Luce learns about the mermaids and what they do, she begins to suspect that her father’s death may not have been an accident after all, putting her at odds with her new friends.
Julia Whelan was a good choice for the narration of Lost Voices. She did good voices for the shy and unassuming Luce, as well as the other mermaids who range in age from approximately eleven to seventeen. She was also very good as Katarina who spoke with a Russian accent. Whelan, born in 1984, has been acting since the age of eleven, her most notable roles as Grace Manning on the television series Once and Again, and Zoe on the Lifetime movie The Secret Life of Zoe.
Lost Voices is a great beginning and I’m looking forward to seeing where Sarah Porter will take us in the next two audiobooks.

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If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “Lost Voices” by Sarah Porter (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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