The Unwanteds Audiobook Review (Unwanteds #1)
The Unwanteds Audiobook is book 1 in The Unwanted Series – a young adult fantasy novel by Lisa McMann.
McMann is an American novelist who has gained recognition for her Wake Trilogy, a fiction series published between 2008 and 2010. Following this trilogy, McMann released The Unwanteds fantasy series, which also includes six books in addition to the first book of the same name.
The last book in the series was published in 2016, entitled Island of Dragons Audiobook. The Kirkus Reviews describes The Unwanteds series as “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter.”
Plot Summary
Published in 2011, the first book in this series follows a 13-year-old protagonist with magical abilities named Alex Stowe who lives in a dystopian society called Quill.
Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their graves.
On the day of the Purge, identical twins Alex and Aaron Stowe await their fate. While Aaron is hopeful of becoming a Wanted, Alex knows his chances are slim. He’s been caught drawing with a stick in the dirt and in the stark gray land of Quill, being creative is a death sentence.
But when Alex and the other Unwanteds face the Eliminators, they discover an eccentric magician named Mr. Today and his hidden world that exists to save the condemned children. Artimé is a colorful place of talking statues, uncommon creatures, and artistic magic, where creativity is considered a gift… and a weapon.
Audiobook Review
Known for its fusion of fantasy and the introduction of the themes of good and evil, government, and freedom that characterize young adult fiction, this audiobook contrasts a dystopian, uncreative, fascist society with a flourishing and nurturing one to suggest that no civilization will survive without the necessary tension between utilitarian and creative motivations. The truce of these two contrasting cities invites ambivalence into the role of creativity and utility in life where before there was only absoluteness, paradoxically creating social stability in the end.
Reading Lisa McMann’s The Unwanteds Audiobook Mp3 was like discovering a brilliant, lost children’s classic – except it’s never going to be lost, because readers will never, ever forget the magic they’ll experience in it’s pages.
It’s true, very similar to Harry Potter and Hunger Gamesish. I was pleased with the characters and the storyline and loved the plot. I found myself wanting to get to the end like this story felt familiar and I knew what to expect and by golly it did end the way I thought it would. I suggest reading it. It’s a great book. Just didn’t keep me interested enough to want to continue to the second book.
Listen and download free!
This great book of Lisa McMann is now available in audible format, mp3 is about 7 hrs and 20 mins long, yet the narration by Simon Jones is so enticing that you get hooked instantly and keep you up the whole way listening!
Narrated by: Simon Jones
Series: The Unwanteds Series, Book 1
Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
You may like all audiobooks in The Unwanteds Collection Series by Lisa McMann on audiobooks4soul.com: