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The Absolute Book

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Taryn Cornick believes her sister Bea was deliberately run down and killed. She believes it so hard she allows a man called the Muleskinner to exact the justice Bea was denied. An eye for an eye.

Which is when Taryn's problems really begin.

Because the police suspect Taryn's involvement in the death.

Worse, others have their eyes on Taryn - those in a faraway place who know what Taryn's family have been carefully hiding in their vast library. The Absolute Book.

They want it - and they want Taryn to help find it.

For the lives of those in more than one world depend upon it . . .

PRAISE FOR THE ABSOLUTE BOOK:

'MIND-BLOWING' LAINI TAYLOR

'ASTOUNDING' FRANCIS SPUFFORD

'Intricately plotted and gorgeously written, THE ABSOLUTE BOOK has something for everyone: the search for a mysterious book, talking ravens, police detectives and academics, gods and demons, a giant saltwater crocodile, the bucolic English countryside and magical gates to hidden worlds. Here is a cinematic tale that is by turns dark and dreamlike, yet ultimately hopeful' DEBORAH HARKNESS, author of A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES

'Gorgeous. The payoffs and reveals are mind-blowing' LAINI TAYLOR, author of DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE

'An angelic book, an apocalyptic book, an astounding book' FRANCIS SPUFFORD

© Elizabeth Knox 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mythology Paranormal

Critic reviews

An INSTANT CLASSIC, a work to rank alongside other modern masterpieces of fantasy such as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series or Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Everything fantasy should be: original, magical, well read, compelling
Intricately plotted and gorgeously written, THE ABSOLUTE BOOK has something for everyone: the search for a mysterious book, talking ravens, police detectives and academics, gods and demons, a giant saltwater crocodile, the bucolic English countryside and magical gates to hidden worlds. Here is a cinematic tale that is by turns dark and dreamlike, yet ultimately hopeful (Deborah Harkness)
An angelic book, an apocalyptic book, an astounding book (Francis Spufford)
Gripping and hugely ambitious, the broad narrative flood sweeps us on to an extraordinary conclusion
Gorgeous. The payoffs and reveals are mind-blowing (Laini Taylor)
A marvellous argument for stories. There are Norse gods, references to Merlin, a tour through purgatory and a strange parallel world where magic is real and humans are bit players in the clash of supernatural realms. Bewitching
A magical book; doors between worlds; talking birds, vicious fairies and a trip to Purgatory. Stuffed with literary allusion and mythic echoes from the Norse legends to Alan Garner, straddling dimensions and hopping genres with ease, this is a one-of-a-kind fantasy novel that's worth getting lost in
Epic, imaginative and exquisitely written, this is a feat of fantastical world-building
Reminded me of how I felt reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell or His Dark Materials - this is a masterpiece (Dan Kois)
A triumph. Book where the best hearts meet the best minds meet the best imaginations are few and far between (Pip Adam)
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed listening to the narrators voice and she is exceptional actress with believable accents. The story is easy to fall into and took me away which is a great thing during the pandemics restrictions here in the UK.

Highly reccomended !! A fantastic story.

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a long and tangled tale moving from one world to another effortlessly
well written and well read
very enjoyable

absolutely great

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Anne-Marie Duff's narration is excellent, however the book is long, and the plot seems to move along to quite different scenarios every couple of hours, which makes it confusing and made me disengage a bit with the characters and their stories. There are some interesting scenarios and concepts which do stand out, though and it definitely was good to have on in the background.

I also needed to go back and re-listen to bits, but the book was so long that I didn't have the motivation to do this in the way that I would go back and skim read with an actual book.

Might be better as a real book

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A glowing review in The Guardian Weekly first put me onto this. A brilliantly crafted new world. Superbly narrated. Grippingly mysterious, and with a severe punch to the values we live by in “our” world. It’s excellent. (Michael).

A brilliantly crafted new world.

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Loved this book, It completely captured me the story and the reader were spellbinding. Many long journeys made short! Thank you

Wowza

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