SMOKE

Narrator Allan Corduner squeezes every ounce of emotion from every one of the many characters he embodies in this Dickensian dystopian fantasy. In the author’s imaginative take on nineteenth-century England, Charlie and Thomas attend a posh prep school. When the children in this world think bad thoughts or tell lies, black smoke seeps from their bodies. While the words "We thank the Smoke" are commonly heard at the school, the school’s purpose is to cleanse the children of the smoke—a “moral cancer.” The smoke is the way the aristocratic class identifies and controls the lower classes. Corduner makes the fantastic believable, managing a dizzying array of voices and sounding like everyone all at once. Vyleta’s exciting, inventive tale is made mesmerizing by Corduner’s remarkable performance. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2016]