Carousel Tides

Archer's Beach, Book 1

By: Sharon Lee

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

Kate Archer returns home in search of her missing grandmother, Bonny, and to serve as guardian of the town's amusement park until her return… only the carousel animals are really exiles from the faerie world. And not the nice kind of exiles either - no, these are hardened criminals.

While trying to sort out her new role, Kate gets on the wrong side of the neighboring drug smuggler, who decides she's in the way. And, finally, the startling news comes that Grandmother Bonny's disappearance may have had something to do with Kate's long-missing mother....

©2010 Sharon Lee (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

"A tourist town in Maine hosts a war of faerie magic in this engaging urban fantasy.... Lee brings [the] disparate subplots together in a pyrotechnic finale that plays out magically behind the ordinary facade of smalltown Maine life." (Publishers Weekly)

What? What!? ... Oooooo Yeah.

I enjoy being thrown into the deep story with the sense of treading water until you can get a few gasps of defining thoughts. Then there were the occasional rip tides and breezes that either snatched you along through the tale or teased your awareness of a plot complexity. Added to that there is the delight of "not quite ordinary" characters of the magical persuasion and what is there not to like on this carousel thrill ride?

Good Narrator, Good Book

This book is narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers who is a new-to-me reader; however, I did enjoy the voice she gave to this fantasy novel with a hint of an accent that lent verisimilitude to the narration. I'll be watching for her name in the future.

As for the book itself, I enjoyed it-- a lot. Lee deals delicately with the issue of abuse while not minimizing its impact on the survivor. Her heroine, Kate Archer, shows growth through the narrative as she learns to pick up responsibilities and discard past baggage. I particularly liked the fact that although there is a thread of romance, emotions are not used as a solve-everything panacea. Lee's use of faery and magic combines both traditional fairy tale tropes and contemporary issues.

I checked Lee's website and noted that there may be at least one future book set at Archer's Beach-- I certainly hope so.

Conclusion? Way better than average borderlands (the border of the mundane world and the world of magic) story with a strong, fresh narrator when it comes to the audio version.

Wonderful fantasy

Loved the premise of the story and the characters of this book, very unique and interesting. I really loved that Maine was chosen to be the land where the story happens. Since I lived there I could imagine the coast lines and the people... Even though it has a great ending, it still feels undone in the sense I would like to read more about this world.

The reader's accent was new to me, but I soon enjoyed it.

I liked the main character's inner battle with herself. Her magical link to the land was well done.

More Archer's Beach, Please!

Sharon Lee, co-author of more than a dozen Liaden Universe books, this time brings us something completely different -- a pure fantasy centered around the carousel and arcade at "Archer's Beach" on the Maine coast. Kate Archer, who was brought up by her dryad grandmother, has returned to Archer's Beach because her grandmother has disappeared and the Carousel needs to be run for the summer season, and much fun and danger ensues. The book is fun and well-written, with good characterization and good plotting. The story is made even better by the excellent reading of Elisabeth Rodgers whose Maine accent may not be "real", but feels right to this non-Mainer.

More stories in the Archer's Beach series are under contract with the publisher, so I sincerely hope they'll also get Audible editions, preferrably with the same narrator.