LOTUS AND THORN

Carly Robins masterfully narrates this adventure, which mixes Korean, Mexican, and American cultural influences on an Earth colony estranged from the mother planet. A plague has killed off most of the people of Pleiades, leaving a fractured society. Robins gives Leica, the teen heroine, changing personas—tough girl, scared kid, and heroic young woman—as she moves through various challenging situations. Robins’s skill is impressive as she deftly imparts the linguistic twists of the non-English vocabulary while also managing the voices of characters ranging from slaves to aristocratic overseers. She employs minimal voicing throughout but achieves first-rate character definition using exquisite pacing and the passions of the individual players. M.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2016]