I will be honest, I didn't even read the discription. I saw the cover and KNEW I had to read it. And I am so so so insanely happy I did. A female blacksmith?! Be still my beating heart! The book is definitely younger than I thought but I had an absolutely excellent time with it. It was easy and comfortable and cosy and I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook while crafting. The perfect listen for a rainy sunday afternoon!

Unfortunately could not get round to finishing this in time. I had a blast with what I read I listened to it. Very cute and fantastical.

Thank you NetGalley for allow me to have this audiobook. I love how it narrator in this audio, the song, the echo, eerie talk and etc. I would love to have the physical book. I give this audiobook 4 stars. ;)

2.5 rounded up.

Not a bad book, but just ok. It took me a bit to get settled into the story and even then there were some things that didn't make much sense, even though the story was straight-forward and simple. The narrator was fantasic in the audiobook and without it, it would have been difficult for me to get through it.

What a fun read! At first read of the synopsis, I assumed this book was set more historically, but it's in modern-day with a hidden magical land. Eilean has to learn to accept herself and her newfound magical powers in this coming of age story set in a Scottish fantasyland.

10/10 listen to the audiobook - it has great sound effects for the magical characters and transitions!

Tropes/Tags: Teens & Y/A, Sci fi/fantasy, magical creatures, coming of age, LGBTQIAP+, found family

Thank you NetGalley, Bandele and IBPA for the advanced audiobook copy!

Beautiful cover with an even more beautiful story hidden beneath. "The Spiral of Life" tells the story of Eilean, a young blacksmith who has returned to her homeland of Scotland and has to find her way the so-called Otherworld. Not only do we for once have a female blacksmith as a protagonist - something I've rarely seen at all and even then only with side-characters - we are also invited into a world inspired by Celtic folklore.

Since getting introduced to Celtic mythology I've been wanting for more fantasy books actually handling this topic in a respectful and accurate manner, instead of loosely taking parts of this culture and warbling it into something unrecognisable. McMahon certainly manages to do so. Seeing as the author has a Scottish background, that is however less surprising. And then it is a queer story as well!

It was an absolutely fun read and the narrator was amazing as well.

I struggled with this one and ultimately DNFed. The lore was amazing, and I wanted to love it but Eilean just.. rubbed me the wrong way. I wish I'd loved it, but it was middling for me.

DNF at 6%

I really did not enjoy this book at all. Sadly I couldn't take to the narrator at all. which meant I didnt even make it to the real plot.

Maybe I would feel different about reading the book

Fun story that has a Percy Jackson, but Celtic, feel. I am a sucker for Celtic retellings and this one was well done. It is not an accurate depiction of pagan life, but the author begins the book by stating this which was really nice. I love the choice of gods and goddesses. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

4 stars

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was an interesting read, good pacing and some decent characters. I enjoyed the Celtic mythology. Wasn't a huge fan of voices of the gods, rather jarring when you are listening to it sped up. Otherwise though a good read and I would consider reading more in this series.

This book was an exciting journey fro start to end. The characters were engaging and while they sometimes made perplexing choices (like real people) they were endearing. I enjoyed learning a bit about Celtic Mythology without being an info-dump, it was very ingrained and accessible to all knowledge levels. The narrators accent was chefs kiss perfect for drawing you into the setting.

Can't wait to read more in this series.

Having read The Sunlit Ruins about a year ago, I was intrigued in exploring more tales in the Old Gods verse that Bandele Books is developing. While The Spiral of Life isn’t directly connected to The Sunlit Ruins, I felt a similar, yet, unique energy to Francesca McMahon’s tale of Celtic mythology in this portal fantasy that had a questing vibe along with serious character exploration.

Eilean is back in Scotland five years after being forced to leave due to her losing her temper against a fellow student. Ever since, she’s tried to tame her anger through blacksmithing, but she’s back in town to see her Mamo (grandmother). However, she soon finds herself in another world and a task she didn’t ask for. But she might have to take that chance to bring balance into her family and world.

I enjoyed Eilean as a character. She’s tough and strong, yes, but she has a lot of self doubt, partly related to her family fracturing at the seams due to her, and feeling she’s too strong and will just hurt others. And yes, she goes through the ringer a lot in order to get through the story and I felt it when she got to the end of her journey.

I did enjoy the other characters as well, who were fleshed out and got a good basic feel for them. The two we spend the most time with are Freya and Bhradain, as they go on the quest with her. Bhradain, the mythical aquatic undead horse with grumpy and snarky energy throughout. Probably my favorite outside of Eilean herself.

The world was built well, and I didn’t get lost, as things were explained rather well and were easy to follow along. I did enjoy the aspects of Celtic mythology, some that I knew already, and others I didn’t, and it felt rather fresh to me at least. The pacing was good, though I did feel like it took a while to get started. I did think it did fall into a few cliches, especially in the early parts of the story of the character learning about themselves. However, I did think enough was done to make the story itself an entertaining listen, especially near the end of the story, with a few choices that surprised me.

The narrator, Rebecca Daltry, was a great choice, as the accents made me feel further immersed in the story. I did like the extra bits of sound effects for scene transitions and a few other spots that made the book feel a bit more alive.

I’m looking forward to the story continuing as there was a sequel hook, and if you like Celtic mythology in a portal fantasy, check this out.

I had mix reviews about The Spiral of Life. The characters were very well thought out, vivid, and showed growth throughout the book. The narrator was PHENOMENAL. Listening to her voice put me in a very happy place.

The issues I had with this book feel as though it was just too YA for me. The main character was very distraught, constantly fighting against those that want to help her, and was a little too stubborn. Not to say that can't exist in books, or that a main character can't be flawed. But for SOL it felt almost too much. I didn't emphasize with her as much as I did the other characters. Overall a three, because the world building, descriptions and narration was beautiful, but I didn't like Eileen.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio arc.

I'm struggling a bit with how to rate this one. On one hand I loved the worldbuilding, mythology aspects and inclusion of blacksmithing. On the other hand the plot, characters and actual writing were often quite simple. The pacing was a little off at times. The climax in particular felt a little rushed and glossed over and I left it feeling a little confused. I did like Eilean though and enjoyed her emotional journey more than the physical/fantasy one.

I similarly have mixed opinions about the audiobook. The narrator is clearly very talented and did a great job creating distinct voices for the characters. I also enjoyed the inclusion of sounds and music (including singing). I just wish there hasn't been such a major pace difference between them as I found this very jarring. As a reference, I was listening to this at 1.5X speed and when some of the characters (especially the gods and otherwise fantastical ones) spoke it sounded like it had dropped down to 1x speed. While differences in speaking pace can be helpful for characterisation and the like, this took it too far and there were times when I considered speeding it up further (but constantly switching between speeds would have been frustrating, especially since audiobooks have the advantage of being hands free).

This book had a super cool premise. I love the involvement of Celtic mythology and I was also intrigued by the emotional arc of the MC dealing with anger issues. Unfortunately, there was a lot lacking in the execution:
- the setting never felt interesting or particularly well-described, I generally had no clue where they were and what it looked like (the answer was usually trees). This was exacerbated by my being uninterested for most of the book.
- the plot was both confusing and very basic- it was a classic YA fantasy quest, but each step was unclear, not just for the reader, but also for the characters. the amount of times one of the characters was like "I think we have to do this but IDK" or the magic horse was asked a question about the magical world and said 'I don't know" or "I am not aware" I was so frustrated. Its not interesting when the characters have no clue what to do
- Finally, I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator was too committed to the voices for some side characters, it made for some extremely unpleasant listening experiences. Like I get that this one character is injured and has a raspy voice and is coughing but hearing him speak in that voice for like 45 MINUTES is horrible!!
The book does get points for a Ribena mention, I miss Ribena <3

The premise of this book was very intriguing - a female blacksmith in a fantasy world?! Sign me up. Paired with its ties to Celtic mythology and this book was a winner through and through.

I had a great time listening to the audiobook! The narrator did an excellent job, and the sound effects added a fun touch. The story was straightforward and easy to understand, with solid world-building. Really just a good book overall but not my favorite. But I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting something fun and chill.

ALC Review/Audio ARC: DNF at 85%! 🙈

I tried! I really did but it was grating! I rarely DNF this far into the story and had tried to make it more bearable by setting first 1.25x and then 1.5x speed but to no avail. The reason was the narration. While the narrator actually does a really good job with all the human characters, I absolutely hated the voices of the gods. One was (probably digitally) slowed down so much my ADHD made me want to rip my hair out. Then that character was gone and the other creature remaining was okay and didn't talk as much. But at 85% another character appeared who not only spoke as slowly as the one mentioned, but also in a disgusting breathy death rattle sort of voice that was like fingernails on blackboard to me!

To the story: it was quite interesting. A 17 year old girl is drawn into the world of celtic mythology and gets a mission to save some god. She is accompanied by another human girl who knows of her troubled past and a kelpie.
I am not that big on fantasy "hiking" missions where they have to wander somewhere to find/do something and encounter random threats on the way.

I don't even know how to rate this because of the DNF. I would love to hear an audiobook by that narrator with out those creature voices but those gave me chills (not in a good way. The disturbing kind).... and the story was fine.
You might love it if you like YA fantasy quests. The Celtic element made it more interesting since I have not read too many of those. Idk if their is going to be a love story part because of the DNF, but if there is, it would be sapphic and slow-burn.
I would recommend you try reading the book, if you have noise-sensory issues.
I got the book because i loved the cover drawn by LLstarcasterLL. It is pretty! 😅

I really wanted to love this book, and on paper it seems like it has all the things I’d love - badass blacksmithing, queer representation, old gods, magic, Celtic folklore, a quest, but for some reason it just wasn’t my jam. I think it’s a fun story and the characters are likable, but I just couldn’t get too invested. Even though it’s teen/YA, it felt younger at times/not as complex as I was hoping for. And while I enjoyed some of the sound effects from time to time, some of the voices got to be a bit much for me, which I think impacted my investment in the story. Again, I think the narrator is great and it’s a good production, just not for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this YA romp through Celtic mythology. Eilean was a very compelling character to me. I grew quite attached to her throughout this story, and I loved her interactions with the other characters.

The story was a little slow to start, but once the setting shifted to the Celtic other world, I found myself more invested. I am intrigued to see what happens in the other books in the series, since I feel like this one only scratched the surface of Celtic mythology and all the different gods/goddesses involved. The narration of this audiobook was also spectacular. It was fun to have other sound effects and singing on occasion!

My one complaint, and the reason this is a four star review and not a five star one is the cringey chapter titles. They are almost all cheesy cliches or puns, and they honestly took me out of the story a little bit hearing each one. I would quite rather have no chapter titles at all than these ones that made me cringe so much.

Publication date: 22 September 2024