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The Near Witch

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The Near Witch

By: V. E. Schwab
Narrated by: Heather Wilds
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About this listen

"The Near Witch" is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely and always looking for company.

There are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.

This new edition of The Near Witch also included the in-universe short story "The Ash-Born Boy" and a never-before-seen introduction from V. E. Schwab.

©2019 V. E. Schwab (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Magic Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Witchcraft Magic Users Dream
All stars
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So glad the story wasn’t ruined by the narrator.

I enjoyed everything about this and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes this author

Loved this!

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as much as I loved the story, and have enjoyed this author's stories so far, the narration was far too stiff and formal for the story. I hope that one day they will redo these wonderful stories with a narrator more sensitive to the style of writing, genre, and mood of the book.

great story, let down by the narration

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two great stories great narration and i enjoyed the comments and history of the book by the author at the beginning

loved it

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The narration was really hard to get past. It was like they were reading the news. I had to listen on 2x speed in the end as the story was interesting

Story ok but narrator not

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I’ve been devouring Schwab’s books lately and was keen to listen to her first book (The Near Witch) to see where it all began and what a 19-year old Schwab was capable of. It’s a good book when those factors are considered.

However

The narrator is AWFUL. I mean, TERRIBLE. she reads through the entire book with inflections every 6-8 words as though she’s reciting a poem, not reading prose and it disjoints the flow of what the character is describing. I’ve managed SIX chapters and given up trying to listen. I’m going to have to read the book instead and hope this narrator doesn’t show up in any more books I download to listen to.

Awful narration makes following or enjoying the story a challenge.

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The story is probably great, but I’m going to get a physical copy of the book as the narration was too distracting. She speaks in a very rhythmic way with no variation, and it made it hard to listen to.

Cool story, bad narration

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The story was good, the way it’s read is not smooth a little annoying. Not sure if it’s the way it was written or the way it was read 🤔

The story

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The narrator read in phrases, not sentences and hence put stress on words which changed the meaning of the text. It made for an uncomfortable listen. Luckily I was interested enough in the story to persist.

Narrators poor tempo did not do the story justice.

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I've only managed to listen to half an hour but I think the story is good. I can't handle the narration style though, so I've given up. Strongly recommend listening to the sample in full before purchasing!

Can't get past the narration style

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I struggled with the narrator’s monotone delivery and singular pace. It lacked a varied delivery that I’ve come to expect from others. There was no build up or expression to match the events in the book. The exception was when she used good expression and varied her pace and prosody for the witches voices but it wasn’t near enough.

Problematic Narration

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