Audiobook Review: Tree Singer by Jacci Turner

Fifteen-year-old Mayten loves training as a tree singer, an esteemed position among her clan. But when she feels pain coming from the trees, she finds herself on an unexpected quest, one so dangerous she might never return home.

Now Mayten must use her unfinished training to face betrayal, fear, and a deadly foe. Is she a match for the ancient evil attacking her trees or will the entire kingdom fall to ruin?

GENRE: Young Adult Fantasy

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jacci lives with her husband in Nevada’s high desert. They spend their mornings hiking through the sagebrush with their dog, Rosie. She loves chocolate, babies, and coffee with friends. She’s worn many hats in her lifetime: therapist, school counselor, campus minister, spiritual director, and mother. Her favorite hats are her writer and grandmother hats, which come in wild colors and don’t fit too tightly.

Jacci's first fantasy for young adults is Tree Singer. It has three things she loves: trees, a good quest story, and a young girl who has to find her voice to bring her gifts to the world! Tree Singer was a Wishing Shelf Book Award finalist and has a fantastic Kirkus review. It is available on Audible with the incomparable Barbara Bond narrating.

Jacci's first book geared towards adults, The Retreat: A tale of spiritual awakening, came out on Harper One.

Jacci's middle grade fiction, Bending Willow, is about Riley and Mia searching for a father who doesn't know they exist. It is the first book in The Finding Home Series. Bending Willow represented Nevada at the National Book Festival in Washington D.C and was a finalist for the Wishing Shelf Contest. All of Jacci’s books have spent time on the best-selling Amazon lists.

Her YA book, Snapped, is about Snapchat gone wrong and how to stand up to cyberbullying, and her YA book, Cracker, is an alternative history and helps us understand what it is like to be a marginalized person. Both of these books were finalists in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards

AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.jacciturner.com

Review

The cover of this book is gorgeous and it's my only regret from not having gotten a print copy. Anyway, I listened to the audiobook for this one, and I was treated to a wonderful story — and Barbara Bond is a fantastic narrator! Her narration voice is great and she does voices for the characters too. It was such a delight to go on a quest with Mayten and her friends while I cooked and did the dishes as I felt like I was right there with them. And did I mention this book has singing? Which really pops in the audiobook, and something I particularly appreciate as a singer myself.

This book has a good quest story, a fun cast, and a fascinating world that isn't overly complicated and even echoes our own in some striking ways. I loved Mayten as a heroine and I really liked how she didn't really want to go on a quest when they started, but grew so much from there. The story also touches on many relatable topics such as friendship, family, our relationship with nature, and finding one's place and voice in the world. It's a book that I think will entertain young and older readers alike, especially if you like audiobooks!

PS. You can get a signed copy of Tree Singer here, and a signed copy plus necklace here. The beads on the necklaces come in a lot of colors: yellow, amethyst, blue, jade, coral, white, and mixed.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️