CHAMELEON: THE CHOOSING
The Forest People, Book 2
BY MAGGIE LYNCH
Narrated by Rachel Jacobs
Length: 5 hours 23 minutes
Series: The Forest People, Book 2
Publisher: Windtree Press
Release date: May 18, 2018
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
A human chameleon. An endangered mythical forest. Can she bond with a dragon in time to save her new family?
Camryn Painter has enough identity issues without discovering a deadly new magic coursing through her veins. Though her chameleon-like abilities herald her as the forest people’s savior, she’s terrified by the growing dark power within her. And it only gets worse when she realizes that to control this new magic she’ll have to bond with a deadly Thunder Dragon…
As Camryn embarks on her dangerous quest, she discovers that the same human tyrants who experimented on her are behind multiple grisly murders as well. To fulfill her destiny, she may just have to infiltrate her former prison.
Can Camryn master her new abilities to stave off more death, or will power-hungry humans destroy her magical home for good?
Chameleon: The Choosing is the second book in The Forest People YA paranormal fantasy series. If you like heroic challenges, original creatures, and frightening battles between dark and light, then you'll love Maggie Lynch's rousing adventure.
✪✪✪✪
HALL
WAYS REVIEW: AUDIO BOOK REVIEW. Chameleon:
The Choosing is the second book in the Forest People
series and is a good follow-up to book one, Chameleon:
The Awakening, which I advise reading first. Author Maggie Faire again
grabs readers’ attention from page one with immediate drama and tension, but in
The Choosing, there are two early
and unexpected twists that I find make this book unique in the typical teen
love triangle sub-plots. Kudos to Faire!
In The Choosing, main character Camryn is discovering more of herself
and her magical gifts, and readers are being further immersed into the world of
the forest people. Part of the story takes us back into the world of the Agnoses, and more information is uncovered about the lichen mutations and experiments. As
a side note, I find it interesting that Camryn doesn’t think about her Agnoses
life or miss anything there (Soft toilet paper? A cheeseburger?) After all, the
Agnoses world is the contemporary, non-magical, parallel world where Camryn was
raised through the age of fifteen. Granted, it was a hard life for her, but she’s
100% moved on. On the other hand, who would dwell on the lack of Taco Bell when
there is magic and dragons afoot?
Faire really ramps-up the
descriptions in this book and leans very heavily on figurative language, especially
similes and metaphors, to get her points and imagery across to the readers. The world building within the forest is well-done,
and many of the characters are well-drawn so that they are easily imagined. The
writing makes readers feel very fly-on-the-wall, observing things as they
unfold.
I like that so many of the
power players in the book are female and in leadership and highly respected roles
within their tribes or communities. Camryn is still struggling with where she
fits and is inconsistent with her emotions about it. At times, she’s whiny,
weak, and helpless, but other times she’s practically roaring, “I AM the Chameleon,”
and she’s confident and powerful. Her inconsistency reminds readers that Camryn
is still a teenager and lacks full control of anything. While she’s
moving towards some independence by the end of the book, I rolled my eyes some
that she continued to be rescued, by males, at the beginning. I am ready for Camryn to start figuring things
out on her own and rescuing herself. The ending of The Choosing is perfect with a change in point-of-view that
leaves readers hopeful and curious about what’s coming next. I am counting on
book three, Chameleon: The Summoning, to
deliver answers and another satisfying, highly imaginative story.
ABOUT THE NARRATION: Listening
to the audio book continues to be a bit challenging because of the numerous and
complex tribe names and new characters being introduced. Narrator Rachel Jacobs again delivers an
excellent listening experience with well-voiced characters and good pacing. (I
listened at 1.3x on the Authors Direct platform.) There are still some scattered
mispronunciations that may catch the listener’s ear, but her performance evokes
the right emotions and responses readers should have to the action and the
drama unfolding in the story.
Thank you to the author and
to Audiobookworm Productions for providing me an audio download in exchange for
my honest opinion – the only kind I give.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Maggie Lynch. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Maggie Lynch is the author of 20+ published books, as well as numerous short stories and non-fiction articles. Her fiction tells stories of men and women making heroic choices one messy moment at a time. Maggie is also the founder of Windtree Press, an independent publishing cooperative with over 200 titles among 20 authors.
Her love of lifelong-learning has garnered degrees in psychology, counseling, computer science, and education; and led to opportunities to consult in Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. Since 2013, Maggie and her musician husband have settled in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where she now enjoys the luxury of writing full-time. Her fiction spans romance, suspense, science fiction and fantasy titles. Her current non-fiction titles are focused on helping career authors succeed in the business side of writing and publishing.
Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Goodreads⎮Pinterest
Rachel is an actor, singer and voice artist based in Los Angeles. She received a BA from Oberlin College’s Theatre Program and did intensive study with the American Conservatory Theatre, the National Theater Institute & Shakespeare and Company. She began voiceover work while on tour in Hong Kong, dubbing live action shows and voicing many characters for cartoons. After returning to the states she toured the west coast as a resident performer with California Theatre Center and has been narrating audiobooks since then. When not recording books Rachel makes hair bows and headbands for her shop on Etsy and can be seen running around as a who-fairy princess in Universal’s Grinchmas.
Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook
Giveaway: $50 Digital Gift Card!
Winner’s Choice of:
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(Ends April 25, 2019)
BOOK TWO
Apr. 11th:
Lone Tree Reviews (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Apr. 12th:
Apr. 13th:
Apr. 14th:
Apr. 15th:
Apr. 16th:
Apr. 17th:
Jazzy Book Reviews (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the book.This sounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by the blog!
DeleteMy family and I all appreciate you bringing to our attention the book description of another great book to read. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that honest review. I'm so glad you have been pulled into the story even more. Believe me, book 3 will see Camryn come into her own.
ReplyDeleteI do need to say something about the perceived mispronunciations. Rachel pronounced things in exactly they way I told her. I sent her the names of all the characters and places with recorded pronunciations based on the origin of the name/word and the culture of the myth. So, please lay any of those perceived mispronunciations at my feet not hers.
Thanks again for your honest review.
You're welcome. I am enjoying the series, Maggie. The mispronunciations were not proper nouns but regular words -- symbiotic and permeated are two that come to mind. Not show stoppers by any means but something I noticed.
DeleteThank you for that feedback, Kristine. I didn't notice those when listening back. I really appreciate it.
Delete