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The Hum and the Shiver cover art

The Hum and the Shiver

By: Alex Bledsoe
Narrated by: Emily Janice Card,Stefan Rudnicki
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Summary

In this valley songs live … and kill.

No one knows where the Tufa came from or how they ended up in the mountains of east Tennessee. When the first Europeans came to the Smoky Mountains, the Tufa were already there. Dark-haired and enigmatic, they live quietly in the hills and valleys of Cloud County, their origins lost to history. But there are clues in their music, hidden in the songs they have passed down for generations.

Private Bronwyn Hyatt, a true daughter of the Tufa, has returned from Iraq, wounded in body and spirit, but her troubles are far from over. Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, while a restless “haint” has followed her home from the war. Worse yet, Bronwyn has lost touch with herself and with the music that was once a part of her life. With death stalking her family, will she ever again join in the song of her people and let it lift her onto the night winds?

©2011 Alex Bledsoe (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Bledsoe turns standard urban fantasy tropes on their head by reimagining modern elves as a tiny, isolated ethnic group unsure of their own origins…The slowly unfolding mystery of the Tufa is a fascinating and absorbing masterpiece of world-building.” ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Hum and the Shiver

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

At last, a fantasy with a bit of depth !

Just finished listening to this, thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't normally write reviews, but I can't let this one go completely unreviewed, it deserves to be listened to.

I'm sure you can all read reviews of the paper version of this book. Do that now. The first three reviews I read all seem to capture the essence.

I liked this book because it starts off as a complete mystery. There is the ongoing story concerning the return of Bronwyn from Iraq, her convalesence and re-integration into Tufa society, her reaction to and handling of an impending crisis. There is also the drip, drip, drip of snippets of information concerning the Tufa, what they are and where they come from.

There are a lot of characters, all richly detailed. No-one is completely explained, everyone has more history you can learn, no character is too simplistic, they all seem so complicated that it really piques your interest as to where they are going and what will become of them.

Parents beware, though ! I was thinking that this would be a perfect recommendation for my 15-year old daughter (to get her away from yet more vampire stories), but the sexual references are frequent and leave little to the imagination - quite a distraction when you're listening in the car on the way home from work !

All in all, a satisfying listen and I finished the book wanting more. I shall certainly keep a watch out for any succeeding books in the series.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Engaging and different

A strange mix of a book - I was setting myself up for a standard mystery-folk-who-might-be-magical-living-with nature sorta thing, but was quite quickly jarred out of that. The Tufa are no cute backwoods folk, strummin' their guitars and spouting homilies; they can be nasty, crude and casually violent. On the other hand, they love their children, respect their parents and get joy from their music. So in short they can come across as normal folk - but there's a strangeness about them and what's with their music???

So what is this story? It's essentially about Bronwyn, who spent her early years fighting what she saw as a pre-ordained path by rebelling with a capital "R" and ultimately running away to the army. The book starts with her coming home from Iraq a decorated and (reluctantly on her part ) much feted hero. She's been badly injured, and as she struggles to sort out her concussed head and traumatised body, things are not quite as she expected back home. There's a "haint" - or ghost - that needs to talk with her, the family are seeing death omens everywhere, there's a new preacher trying with patient decency to engage with his new flock, and there's an underlying sense of threat. There are a host of well drawn supporting characters, a well conceived and developed world, and if things are a tad slow to start with, they gather a pace and I was totally absorbed by the final sections.

There's a fair degree of swearing and while there's no loving descriptions of sex, seemingly essential in certain genres these days, there's sexual talk and imagery, some of it pretty crude. It's in context though, and mostly sits within the storyline, altho it grated occasionally.

As to the narration - there are two narrators, alternating chapters, or clusters of chapters. Both do fine, but he has a very distinct, dark, deep voice that took me a while to take to - that said, by the end he sounded just fine! Well read, characters well inhabited and differentiated - a good listen.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good for the gardening/walking/whatever

Is there anything you would change about this book?

No it is what it is. A lightweight listen.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It does not end . . . .sequel. No great cliff hanger, "chapter 1" ends. Am I bothered about what becomes of these character . . . No not really,nobody that interesting.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Narration fine, handled the provide d material fine.

Was The Hum and the Shiver worth the listening time?

Difficult. As my header suggests, fine to listen to while busy doing other things. Tis lightweight and perhaps ideal for this. Nothing to keep me riveted on its own.

Any additional comments?

I did feel that the author was "new" and trying a little too hard to be modern and cutting edge. Sex was dropped in, nothing wrong with that, but I felt it was a little forced. A young author out to show how liberated they were. I am probably wrong, sorry grandma.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What a fabulous find !

I was getting stressed trying to choose a book and this one was included so I pressed play more out of desperation.
I almost gave up two chapters in as it’s not my usual type of book and wasn’t sure where it was going. I’m so glad I left it on.
A fantastic story that grew slowly, I really connected to the people, I loved the fact that the women were the strong ones and the story wove around them. It wasn’t forced or making a point .
I would have loved to know more ,
The narration was good . I liked the male and female narrators , it still felt like a book but with believable voices.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Hum and the Shiver.

Any additional comments?

I chose this book. It was not my usual read, but something intrigued me. Then it took four attempts before I got into it. I really think that it is worth a try. Now I will look out for book two.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Reasonable Yarn

Story entertaining, but unnecessarily crude at times for my taste. Nothing particularly wrong with the narration, but didn't see the need for two voices. Didn't work for me.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining tale with disturbing undertones

I’m not a fan of audiobooks but ill health forced them into my life so when i find a book that I actively want to listen to, it’s a real treat. I love the surreal, magical fable aspect of the book but I really enjoyed the way contemporary social issues and behaviours were addressed. There are plenty of gritty, resourceful woman and some awful discrimination has been thrown at them. Yet they survive. As does the music which gives them all a voice.
I was quite happy with the two narrators and they fit each other well.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful

this book grips you from the start and takes you on a thought proving journey. the narration is good.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An unexpected surprise

The most enjoyable part of the experience was the story, which was unusual for me enough to keep me hanging. The characters are well fleshed out and have substance. The challenge with the story is that while it is set in our world, it is describing something that is super natural. But the complexities of everyday life and challenges are familiar enough. It reminded me of the 'Wood Wife', another similar story. In terms of audio I liked the realistic American accents of the narrator which brought the story to life. AS a non/native english speaker, I wouldn't be able to read the book on its own as phonetics in english are harder to read for me. Plus I tend to listen on the go when I don't have time to sit and read.

Overall it is a good book with some rivoting themes, I particularly like that fact that the characters are able to evolve in some way and that they can be critical of their own environment. In other words they are quite realistic. This can be rare in fantasy fiction.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

ho hum..no shiver

teenage rebel leaves narrow culture, returns home, rediscovers place in community, lots of trips down memory lane. lots of kicking at constrictions of cultural and familial expectations. lots of other characters introduced and could have been interesting but they just popped in to move the story forward an incremental inch and petered out. few people die at the end and she gets burst of clarity..all sorted decisions made rest of life planned with no consultation with those she's planning it with.
nice soothing voice but let down by long-winded uneventful story

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