Cuckoo Song

By: Frances Hardinge

Narrated by: Katherine Press

A thought-provoking, critically acclaimed novel from Frances Hardinge, winner of the Costa Book of the Year and Costa Children’s Book Awards for The Lie Tree

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry, her sister seems scared of her, and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out. Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest to find the truth, she must travel into the terrifying underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it’s too late.

Set in England after World War I, this is a brilliantly creepy but ultimately loving story of the relationship between two sisters who must band together against a world where nothing is as it seems.

©2015 Frances Hardinge. Cover Illustrations © 2015 Vincent Chong. Published in 2015 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, Inc. All rights reserved (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Well done but not Hardinge's best.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this as an audiobook through Audible Plus.

Audiobook Quality (4/5): The narration of this book was very well done and pleasant to listen to. The narrator did speak pretty slow for me, so I ended up listening to this at 1.2x. No complaints though, this was a great book to listen to on audiobook.

Story (4/5): This started out super slow but I ended up enjoying it once all the strange fae creatures started appearing. There are some interesting concepts behind how the fae survive and thrive. Also the idea of someone being replaced by something that’s not them but not realizing they’ve been replaced; it‘s super creepy. While this wasn’t as good as "A Face Like Glass" or "Deeplight" but still a well done story and beautifully written.

Characters (4/5): Triss was okay as a character but I never engaged with her all that well. She never really knows herself so it’s hard to really like her. She does grow and change as the book continues. I enjoyed some of the side characters more, especially some of the rather intriguing fae characters that flit in and out of the story.

Setting (4/5): This takes place in a suburb of London right after WWI. It’s an interesting setting and has widespread implications for how a lot of the adult characters act towards certain things. I enjoyed the discussions of how the fae are trying to survive in this new more technological world and enjoyed getting a glimpse into their small secret places.

Writing Style (4/5): This is writing beautifully with amazing description and great care and thoughtfulness. Unfortunately, that means this started out really really slow. The whole first part of the story where Triss is trying to figure out why she feels different was flat out boring at points. This is definitely a slow burn mystery for quite awhile. However, I ended up loving the second half of the book a ton. I still feel like Hardinge’s more recent books have been more creative and have more intriguing world-building and I have enjoyed those later books more.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I liked this and am glad I listened to it. This is the fourth Hardinge book I have read and I liked this a lot better than “A Skinful of Shadows” but not nearly as much as "A Face Like Glass" or "Deeplight”. Hardinge’s writing style is beautiful with amazing description and a lot of introspective thoughts. Unfortunately, this was just a bit slow to start for me. I plan on reading Hardinge’s “The Lie Tree” next on my quest to read all of Hardinge’s books.

Such beautiful writing!

Frances Harding never ceases to amaze me! Her writing is so beautiful, and her storytelling so compelling! I didn’t imagine I would love this book as much as I did - it has become a favorite. And the narrator was wonderful - very clear, expressive, and able to give distinct voices to a wide array of characters. Wonderful!

Grips you from the first sentence

The story isn’t what I thought it was going to be. It was way better! I couldn’t stop listening and the narrator is great

great book 👍

I loved this story. I think it should be considered to be made into a movie 💗

Zzzz

Idk I was bored the storyline seem interesting but it was so dragging for me