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The Absolute Book cover art

The Absolute Book

By: Elizabeth Knox
Narrated by: Anne-Marie Duff
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Summary

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....

©2021 Elizabeth Knox (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"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)

What listeners say about The Absolute Book

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absolutely disappointing

a not very interesting story with very fleeting allusions to many greater books of this genre and with out their great stories. the characters have little depth and the story is disjointed. now a third way into this I find I dont care and have given up. can't face another 13 hours waiting for a cohesive story to emerge.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A womans journey of discovery

Super story, great narration I'll be checking out other books read by Anne- Marie Duff! Riveting. Beautiful words in abundance!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A brilliantly crafted new world.

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).

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2 people found this helpful

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absolutely great

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

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1 person found this helpful

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The storyline was convoluted and lacked fluidity.

The narrator was gresg but unfortunately the story was not. The first quarter of the book held the promise of much to come but the rest appeared to be written by another author and the work felt directionless and confusing. Left feeling unsatisfied that it did nit live up to its potential. Sorry

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Bad choice

I regret trying this book. I couldn't finish it which is unusual for me.
The effort put in to the style of writing has backfired, it is often tedious which is not helped by the slow pace and disjointed story.
While suspension of disbelief is to be expected, there is at least one gaping hole of information which is not alluded to or explained. It simply isn't there. it doesn't detract from the story but nevertheless is off putting.
This author clearly has potential but seems to be trying too hard.

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Highly reccomended !! A fantastic story.

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.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Might be better as a real book

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.

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  • Overall
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Be patient- it's a great story

Unusual start but great once it gets going, good exploration of the Shay and fairy mythology

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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oh dear - waste of a credit for me

enjoyed sample. Never give up on a book but think I have on this one.

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