The Forbidden Library: The Forbidden Library, Book 1

By: Django Wexler

Narrated by: Cassandra Morris

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The Forbidden Library kicks off a brand new classic fantasy series perfect for fans of Coraline, Ink heart, and The Books of Elsewhere.

Alice always thought fairy tales had happy endings. That - along with everything else - changed the day she met her first fairy.

When Alice's father goes down in a shipwreck, she is sent to live with her uncle Geryon - an uncle she's never heard of and knows nothing about. He lives in an enormous manor with a massive library that is off-limits to Alice. But then she meets a talking cat. And even for a rule-follower, when a talking cat sneaks you into a forbidden library and introduces you to an arrogant boy who dares you to open a book, it's hard to resist. Especially if you're a reader to begin with. Soon Alice finds herself INSIDE the book, and the only way out is to defeat the creature imprisoned within.

It seems her uncle is more than he says he is. But then so is Alice.

©2014 Django Wexler (P)2015 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Vaguely reminiscent of Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, and Inkheart all rolled into one, it’s good fun.... Working in the grand tradition of children’s fantasy, Wexler’s off to a promising start." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Wexler ingeniously creates an inventive world with interesting creatures and frightening situations." (School Library Journal)

"Fans of Harry Potter and Cornelia Funke's Inkheart (2003) will relish that the library houses magical books.... It's a joy to watch the dutiful Alice develop her innate curiosity and become a proactive, resourceful heroine, matching wits with snarky cats, dangerous beasts, and a certain smug boy. This is a charming, adventuresome fantasy from a promising new author." (Booklist)

Unusual characters

Liked that there is some resolution even with it being the start of a series. And talking cats are the best.

Fun and creative

Easy readability level. I enjoyed this book, and I'm happy to see that a sequel has been written. The author's well-done imagery sparked imagination and visualization, and the unique characteristics of the library and its books held my interest. The young heroine has tenacity and problem-solving skills. She continues to work through issues as they arise and does not give up hope.

Cassandra Morris's youthful voice was a perfect choice for this genre, and she brought the various characters to life with personalities and shifts in tone/timbre. Well done.

In addition to looking for the sequel from Wexler (and hoping Morris is again the reader), I will be looking up additional books read by Morris. Thank you both for a fun and creative read.

Forbidden Library #1

good story. It took me awhile to get thru it listening at night.
The narrator fid a nice job. I will get the next book.

Fun fantasy for late grade school or middle school

Fun fantasy for late grade school or early middle school readers. Good, clean fun. The story tends drag a little, you can tell right away that this is a series :-) The reader is young, and does a really good job. A young voice can grate on me after awhile but she is expressive and keeps and nice pace. The mispronunciation of possessives (adding an extra “es” sound at the end of names) is something the editor should have caught for her.

Too good to stop listening!

Excellent book! but I had to buy an extra 3 credits because my daughter is dying to hear the next book!

Exciting thriller

loved the book and illustrations. can't wait for next one. definitely worth reading. great book

Good Story but, can be better

This books seemed ramble and go through lots of dead ends. I would have enjoyed it more if it seemed to accomplish something. It's obvious it was written with a sequel in mind. I won't be bothering reading more of these books since, the story is not really well written in my opinion.

Fun read for Mom and Daughter

My 9 year old and I listened to this book and both enjoyed it. The story has suspense but is somewhat predictable. I think my daughter liked feeling a step ahead of the characters, so this didn’t bother her.
As an audiobook, I noticed the expansive use of adjectives and descriptions. The vocabulary was great for painting a mental picture without exceeding the target audience’s reading level.
Overall, this was a fun adventure, and we were happy to find out it is part of a series! Off to download the next book now!

Slightly Biased

I’ve always lovers the book and it’s held the title of favorite book for about 4 years which is ALONG time especially because of how many books I devour each year. I am slightly biased because as most people, I have thought up a lot of things such as how the characters sound so when I started listening to this I was let down. Other than that, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book, tho keep in mind it’s more of a teenager book, adults can like it but usually find many plot holes in it, children find it scary, but it’s PERFECT FOR TEENS. Overall, the best book ever

Great start to series

The book was very tripping and enjoyable. I will continue to read the series.