The Garden

Into Shadow collection

By: Tomi Champion-Adeyemi

Narrated by: Keylor Leigh

In this dreamlike short story told in alternating prose and verse, number one New York Times bestselling author Tomi Champion-Adeyemi weaves a tale of a young woman’s journey to find her mother and uncover her secrets.

Fifteen years ago, Lęina’s mother, Yuliana, went searching for a mythical place called the Garden and never returned. Determined to learn the truth about what happened, Lęina travels to Brazil to search for the hidden realm, with Yuliana’s journal and a local tour guide leading the way. But Lęina soon begins to wonder if she’s looking for answers—or if what she truly wants to find is herself.

Tomi Champion-Adeyemi’s The Garden is part of Into Shadow, an enthralling collection of dark fantasy stories about the lure of forbidden knowledge. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.

©2022 Tomi Champion-Adeyemi (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Could’ve Wasted 25 Minutes Scrolling the Internet

I didn’t go into this thinking it would be 5 stars or even 4, but whew boy I did not expect it to be a 2 star and I’m being generous at that. At the end I was left with a what the heck did I just read. I wasn’t a particular fan of the narrator. The pausing during the poetry readings was a bit excessive and took me even further out of the story. And, if I’m being honest I didn’t care what happened to Leina after she got to the garden; especially when she asked the guide which parent does he hate. It’s seems to me that Leina has some unresolved mommy issues and mommy trauma. Maybe this story had good bones, but it was definitely too short to make any sense out of why Leina went to the garden.

Not much of a story there

Left me wondering what I had just heard and the reader would pause in strange places of inflection without inflection. Just mono the whole time.

Confused

Now sure what I just listened to, if I’m being honest. The staccato prose and way of speaking threw me off too.

Meh

I cannot figure out what the story is about and I’ve been listening for more than 30 minutes. Sorry.

Mediocre

It was hard to stay focused on the story. I found the long pause every time "the garden" was said irritating