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Stray

Touchstone, Part 1

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Stray

By: Andrea K. Höst
Narrated by: Stephanie Macfie
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About this listen

On her last day of high school, Cassandra Devlin walks out of exams and into a forest. Surrounded by the wrong sort of trees and animals never featured in any nature documentary, Cass is only sure of one thing: Alone, she will be lucky to survive.

The sprawl of abandoned, blockish buildings Cass discovers offers her only more puzzles. Where are the people? What is the intoxicating mist that drifts off the buildings in the moonlight? And why does she feel like she's being watched?

Increasingly unnerved, Cass is overjoyed at the arrival of the formidable Setari. Whisked into a world as technologically advanced as the first is primitive, where nanotech computers are grown inside people's skulls, and few have any interest in venturing outside the enormous white stone cities, Cass finds herself processed as a "stray", a refugee displaced by the gates torn between worlds. Struggling with an unfamiliar language and culture, she must adapt to virtual classrooms, friends who can teleport, and the ingrained attitude that strays are backward and slow.

Can Cass ever find her way back home? And after the people of her new world discover her unexpected value, will they be willing to let her leave?

©2011 Andrea K. Höst (P)2019 Andrea K. Höst Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fiction Fantasy
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Most relevant
I keep rereading this book because I believe in the main character, Cass and all the characters, because they're unique, consistent, 3D, and wonderful in their own ways. I love how self aware Cass is, how well considered she is, and wise, really.

The world(s) and their predicament are creative context for the story, especially the link back to earth (not the obvious gate Cass walks thru, but her theory expressed to just Ruuel and Isten Notra in the third book). I've thought about that a lot; it's almost like Cass is saying that we create their universe.

I'm sure the narrator worked very hard on this book and the next two in the series, but she has very poor tone modulation. It's like she is reading the news or maybe the racing form guide, not a dramatic story. The story is so good that I was able to get past that, but it is just so disappointing that it might turn people away from this brilliant story.

quietly wonderful character

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this is a comfort read I come back to again and again. great to now be able to have an audio version (and learn I've been saying so many Taren/Muinan names abd words incorrectly all this time!).

so fun to have an audiobook version of this series

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this series is one of my go to reads, have read 8 times, great to hear as well. great new world to explore, well written, great imagination, thanks 🙏

love this series

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Read Synopsis^^^

Stray starts off a bit slow, the first couple of chapters are building the world and how Cassandra (turn into Bear Grylls and) survives in the wild on Muina. Then the Setari (aka good looking mutants that belong in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters) arrive and this is where the story pick up, while Cass is with the Setari they begin treating her like a lab rat (Cass’ words) and install a Nanotech computer (Now the Nanotech computer they install into Cass sign me up I want one) Eventually find out she can enhance their abilities. After the discovery of Cass plans to help find earth are put in motion
Stray main focus is about Cassandra accidental discovery of the new world and the new worlds discovery of her, Cass’ new abilities (new to her and them) and finding her way home. Compared to other YA fantasy I have been reading Stray doesn't focus on romance though there is a possibility for it in the next couple of books (slow build romance maybe).
Book cover - I really like the 2017 cover just wanted to put that in haha

Audiobook:
-First thought listening to the Audiobook - My own accent sounds funny but that might just be because I mainly listen to American Narrators
- I'm unsure if its just the edit of the audio or if there are sections that were re recorded but some parts sound different (its the character voices that I'm talking about)
(The glossary and Character list is placed before the last two audiobook chapters so just got to skip about 5min unless that been fixed then ignore this)

I Stray away from reviews

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The last chapter is positioned after the back matter in the audio book, i.e. chapter12 should be before chapter 10.

Last chapter and back matter out of order

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I found this story interesting in concept and development. Firmly set in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre, it features an 18 year-old girl who suddenly finds herself transported to an alien world through an unexpected "wormhole" in the fabric of space apparently through no-one's intervention. She is eventually rescued by another species of humans and over time starts to identify with them and adopt their self-chosen role of protecting the various worlds from various malevolent non-human species. Her gradual transition and growing awareness of her unique qualities as a person are well presented and interesting to follow. Cassandra is developing into a very worthwhile person to know. It is the narration that lets the story down. It is quite obvious that the narrator is just reading the story, with little sense of the drama and various characters involved. The story is continuously rushed (you are struggling to identify paragraphs, and sometimes even sentences), and chapter/section headings are barely recognizable until they are well past. The narrator's accent is decent Australian, which fits the story nicely, but I question whether Australians really say "zee" for "zed", "levver" instead of "lee-ver", and various other mis-pronunciations. Her pronunciation of "Gamgee" from The Lord of the Rings trilogy is quite unique - she obviously hasn't watched the films for some time, or listened to any of the audiobooks. Despite the narrator's poor efforts, I will be following the story over the next two books - I want to follow Cassandra's story to hopefully a fulfilling end.

A promising story, spoilt by the narration

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