I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this collection of Ask Baba Yaga articles. I had hoped for some insight into personal matters as well as perhaps some more information about Baba Yaga herself. Although I enjoyed the style of the answers given by Kitaiskaia, I didn't quite click with it, which meant that the advice very much passed me by and I couldn't connect with it. I also found some of the narrator's vocal choices a bit off-putting, but this is a very personal matter. It could be that this is the perfect narrator for someone else.

This audiobook narrator(s) did a great job of making what couldve been a dear abby column into a creepy spine tingling experience.
I really enjoyed the folktale itself surrounding baba yaga and this was the first time I had ever heard of it. This books narration definitely added to the experience as I said, most of the questions that were asked of baba yaga were answered in the most logical of sense, but of the type that one cant see from their own point of view lol!!!
As I said, I enjoyed the experience of this audiobook but the content made me either feel creeped out and then became a little repetitive in format.
Still I would recommend it to those interested in folk tales, the occult, or those who just want a creepy audiobook to creep themselves out with !!!

I was defenseless against this audiobook

Dang. I should not have waited so long. But, at least I have an excuse: I didn't know Ask Baba Yaga: The Audio Collection existed.
I don't know how I got through life without the sage wisdom of Baba Yaga (pronounced ba-ba, yu-gaaaa.)
This Slavic folklore witch, who hides deep in the forest somewhere I cannot pronounce seems to have every one of life's most confounding questions answered. At least she does when online columnist Taisia Kitaiskala is channeling her.
Oh, wait a minute. Now I know how I made it through life without Baba Yaga. God.
Now, I can continue.
Ask Baba Yaga: The Audio Collection released by Andrews McMeel Publishing Company in October is without a doubt one of the most hilarious audio advice columns I've ever heard, even if it is the only one. This collection of Dear Abby real-life questions are being answered by Baba Yagaaaaaa herself.
Kitaiskala is a flat master of answering reader's ridiculous, but probably privately popular, questions in the language of the Slavic forest - whatever that is.
Only this woman could tell a reader they need to pleasure themselves upside a tree. And the audio, delivered by Zura Johnson is to die for! This narrator has PEGGED Baba Yagaaaaaa,  giving her a voice that is incomparably better than reading these words online or in a book.
Just to give you some explanatory expository writing, Britannica says, Baba Yaga is actually a Slavic folklore ogress who steals, cooks, and eats her victims, usually children. Perfect. Hmm. Sounds a little Hansel and Gretelish.
Baba Yaga lives in a continually spinning hut standing on bird legs with two other sisters, also named Baba Yaga …
Efficient.
… Baba Yaga (or Yagas, I guess) has a fence that is topped with human skulls. Baba Yaga can ride through the air—in an iron kettle or in a mortar that she drives with a pestle—creating tempests as she goes. She often accompanies Death on his travels, devouring newly released souls.
Boy am I glad I'm taking advice from this woman.
But this precious audio collection is the one investment of your time that I strongly recommend. I laughed so hard when I listened to this audio - particularly the first third - that I missed my off-ramp and was howling down the freeway without abandon before I realized I blew it and was subsequently late for my appointment. When I got there, my stomach hurt.
It was worth it.
Listen to a few of these 'real' questions:
"Am I shallow?"
"How do I meet fewer F--ks?"
"Am I the smartest person?"
These real questions are backed up by rather lengthy expository explanations of why these “real people” are asking.
Hmm. Kitaiskala is a real person ...
Baba Yagaaaaaaa called one reader "a wench."
(Don't make Baba Yaga mad.)
She literally told another reader to pleasure himself against a tree.
She described one person as someone with a "Unicorn's Ass."
My GOOD LORD, it was funny.
This audiobook is an absolute treasure. I give it a MUST-DO rating on the scale of distracted driving. If it were in book form, I'd buy copies for all my 20 and 30-year old kids.
I will say, though, that this collection would be less hilarious without its narrator.
But it would be fabulous to put in someone's bathroom for people who plant themselves to … well … you know. Or perusing this book after consuming some kind of alcoholic … well, … you know. The outcome would be priceless.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. I'm glad I got to listen to the audio book version because the narrator does a fantastic job. It's beautiful and poetic. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

What a fun one and have I been sharing some advice with others from?? Yes I have. Truly though I love some of the answers we get in this one they made me think, made me chuckle and made me introspective at times. Thankful to Netgalley for the audio copy and thankful That Baba Yaga answered the important questions

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Audio for the advance listening copy of this audiobook.

Poet and author Taisia Kitaiskaia takes on the Slavic traditional figure, Baba Yaga, to dole out honest advice to readers who seek it. From the publisher summary, “Ask Baba Yaga and the all-new Poetic Remedies for Troubled Times. Enjoy the witchy, clever, candid advice of Baba Yaga in all of her otherworldly wisdom.”

I mostly enjoyed this collection. It was definitely a deviation from my nonfiction picks throughout November. I didn’t agree with all of the advice, and though I thought some of it was common sense dolled up in accents and flowery words, overall, I was amused.

I grew up on Teen Beat, BOP, and later Cosmo, so I’m no stranger to advice columns, but my historical exposure to the Baba Yaga figure was sort of lacking before this collection, and I feel like my lack of awareness may have been why I didn’t love all of it. Still, if you’re looking for something light that’s filled with advice, but maybe won’t fix your entire life, it’s a short, fun little ride into the depths of questions on relationship, dating, in-laws, and life. It’s also a good crash course in Baba Yaga if you, like me, had no real previous exposure.

It’s out now, so keep an eye out for it through your favorite audiobook platform or through your local library.

PS, that cover is everything!

Do you know Baba Yaga, the Slavic “old woman” from folk tales who is known to eat people? Well, here is a collection of questions and answers, served up as an advice column to a variety of questions she has been asked, especially personal ones. She relishes these here. Here’s a sample question: “I’m falling deep for a close friend who is about to go through a divorce. She has feelings for me as well but she is no where near a place where she could start a new relationship. I want to wait for her but the longer I wait the surer I am that I am lost. Should I wait or should I walk away? Baba Yaga’s answer (partial): “She is walking out of one world and into another and in between she is where the wolves of earth do not hold. You are lost because you hold the tether to the lost and the tether is light and fragile. A thread that could break from weather or wind or time because she chooses to cut it.” You get the picture. Since this is the audio version of the book, it’s quite hilarious as well as insightful at times. Start listening and you won’t be able to quit.

Unfortunately, this was DNF for me. The description was really interesting and promised some amusement but it became very annoying very quickly.

I went for the audiobook option and found that the voices were very overacted, to the point that I struggled to work out what was being said at points. It also became very repetitive very quickly and therefore boring. I was hoping for more detailed inspections of situations and why the author thought that Baba Yaga would answer in a particular way but instead was greeted by short, confusing, scenarios and responses.

As a mini burst, these scenarios are funny but as a conpendium in one go, it's just far too much.

I grew up listening to stories about Baba Yaga, so when I saw this book available, I had to pick it up. Sadly, it was not necessarily as good as I hoped it would be. I thought the premise was fun and enjoyable, but the problem was that I think it was entirely much too long for what it’s meant to be. Written as sort of an advice column, some of the questions and responses were repetitive and seemed like added filling to what could have been a much shorter read. Other than that, it was very fun!

Love me some Baba Yaga advice! Many of the questions and advice sections were relatable but some content wasn’t of much interest to me - it is a three hour audiobook, after all, and covers a wide variety of topics. I feel that if I had read the book, I would have been able to glance through those parts but with the audiobook I just listened and it made the book drag in certain places. Overall, the advice was fun and touching when it needed to be. I even found myself shedding a tear from time to time at Baba Yaga’s sage words of wisdom.

The narrator was a perfect voice for Baba Yaga. I felt cozy listening to her speak as if I were sitting with Baba at her table and feeling her words pour over me and heal my wounded parts.

Thank you to Taisia Kitaiskaia, Zura Johnson, Andrews McMeel Audio, and #NetGallery for an audioARC of #AskBabaYagaTheAudiobookCollection in exchange for an honest review. Review will be posted on Netgallery, Goodreads, and Facebook.

The narration was woderful, the stories quirky.
I liked some more than others.
This is not a book toread or listen to in one session.

This is a book I'm incredibly glad that I got to read, however I am also sure that it worked better as a series of articles on a similar theme, as it was first published, than a collection like this. The main reason for that is that the questions and answers from Baba Yaga were so short that one barely had time to digest one message before the next was running in on the heels of it.

That said, there is some amazing advise within these pages, and I absolutely loved the validation of the human experience, the way that so many of the questions asked were ones that I too have wondered about at various points of my life.

The second half of this book was much darker in context, as the foreword of it states, due to the changing situations politically and globally. Subjects like climate change were a large focus, as well as various hate crimes and political divisions within families.

Your witchy grandmother has an advice column about love and life in a classic Q&A format. Her wisdom is remarkably poignant and compassionate, and she’s not afraid to be frank when you need a dose of reality.

I absolutely love the narrator, who gives Baba Yaga herself a beautifully distinct voice that feels like I’m sitting next to the woman herself. I genuinely related to some of the questions “people” asked and took heart from her answers.

The advice does start to feel a bit repetitive within the “love advice” section, but Baba Yaga moves on to “self-worth” and “career” topics soon enough.

Baba Yaga is an inspiring and wise resource for the ones that seek help, a Witch Spirit, this was inspired by questions from real people the answers can be humorous but are very raw and direct in a way that cam e pleasing.
Its a very cute and funny audiobook very quick but with a lot of subjects that make us think.
This audiobook is very well done, the distinct voices and the interpretations are amazing. I enjoied the Narator, and the Author poetic way of writing was 5 starts.

This book was so boring I almost fell asleep at the wheel. I have Russian family that would tell us kids Baba Yaga stories so I was over the moon to see a book about her but this was a very different feel from authentic Baba Yaga story telling. There are of course different versions and tales depending on region and family but the emotion you experience is typically dread or anticipation, kinda like a ghost story told around a camp fire. I guess my expectation going in was it would feel more a Stephen King book. I really hated the narrator. No emotion whatsoever in the tone between scenes or from characters. I gave up before finishing and just moved on to the next book in my pile. This was a reminder to never judge a book by its cover.

Ask Baba Yaga: The Audiobook Collection by Taisia Kitaiskaia

Audiobook
Narrator: Zura Johnson
Listening Length: 4 hours and 26 minutes
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: October 6, 2020

Fiction, Humor, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Literature Anthologies, Contemporary Fantasy

This is a great collection. The book consists of questions asked to the author while she was communicating with Baba Yaga. The answers sometimes are abstract while others are very straight forward. The questions range from love to family and work relationships. The narrator’s voice changes so you can tell when Baba Yaga is answering the questions. I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook and highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys inspirational stories or who knows anything about Baba Yaga.

I came in not having any ideas what the book was about. But I had such a great time listening to Baba Yaga's advice column as she delivers advice in the most peculiar ways. It was hilarious yet insightful all at once. It sometimes touches on things in a light-hearted manner but it never shies away from difficult topics. Wonderful book that would serve well as a gift!

Baba Yaga as Dear Abby. Each "chapter" is about two minutes in length because it reads as an advice column. Want to know if you are worthy of love, how to deal with a disagreeable relative, or just need to know what to do then Ask Baba Yaga. Her advice might seem metaphorical in nature but it will be what you need.

This was a fun book to read and it is always interesting to imaging how a mythical character might respond to our modern issues.

Sorry this was awful. Maybe the book is better??

Cliched advice delivered with a pantomime narration.

*audio provided by publisher and Netgalley

I was not sure what to expect as I was not
familiar with this advice column beforehand but took an interest because I like stories about Baba Yaga. Using the baba yaga as a life coach it's a fun concept and I think the device works overall, although I expected baba yaga's advice to be more sinister and misanthropic. Letters seeking relationship and personal growth help received very good common sense advice and the only way you could tell it was coming from the character of baba yaga was through the narrator's witchy tone of voice. Otherwise, the advice was sound and practical and reflected contemporary points of view. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a little bit more sinister and witchy, but I would recommend this to anyone... probably most particularly a woman... seeking relationship or personal advice.