TabathaCass

I totally agree that a narrator can make or break an audiobook, there are plenty of books on my to-read list that I will only read in print because I cannot stand the narrator’s voice. I especially love Neil Gaiman’s narrations of his own books. I would add “Redwall” to the great list of full cast audiobooks. I also like the convenience of audiobooks, since I can be doing chores or work while listening, whereas physically reading I really can’t do anything else.

Um, Schwab’s first book in the Villians series is called “Vicious”, not Viscous, also missing “the” before trilogy in the last line of the third paragraph.
I really enjoyed reading this series, but thought the article could delve a little deeper into the somewhat allegorical aspect of magic as metaphor for power and power structures. Its a great start to the idea, but dances around the point a little for my taste.

Very interesting article. Any counter culture faces being commodified by the dominant culture, and must in a way continue to re-invent the meaning of counter culture in order not to be subsumed completely. I would also point out that although made fun of by mainstream media, Burning Man was started by the same ideology of the Punks seeking to de-commodify and upset the normative.