Thank you so much to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for my copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Narrated by Aria Mia Loberti in exchange for an honest review. This version published November 7, 2023.
First off, Aria Mia Loberti did an excellent job narrating this book, I highly enjoyed her talented reading skills, and felt that she really brought this book to life for me.
Secondly, I really loved this book! I have never read it before, nor watched any movies based upon it, or really knew anything about it, so I was totally fresh to this story. I have recommended it to several people, specifically this version, because it is just so good. I loved the way that this was a serial at first, so it makes the end of every chapter exciting and keeps you wanting more. I also found that for a classic, this book doesn't feel like a classic. It is not dry or boring, it doesn't have exceedingly long descriptions, (I'm looking at you, Moby Dick), or feel too out of touch. I highly, highly recommend this book!

I didn't find the story super compelling unfortunately but the narrator makes up for it. A bright, captivating voice with an English accent, I would listen to her narration again.

A classic to check off the list, but not one I would read again.
The story flips between intriguing and mind numbingly boring so well. There are lists of every plant and fish and bird that the characters see. There's also a giant octopus battle (though I'm not sure why this is often on the cover since it's a very minor part).
The narrator did a great job of slogging through all of this.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for my copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

This is one of the classics that I always wanted to read, but somehow never was able to get around to reading it. When I saw this on NetGalley as an audiobook, I knew that I wanted to give it a try.

I thought the narrator was great and did a really good job putting some enthusiasm into a story that could be dry at times, but I love Jules Verne's sense of adventure.

Over all I enjoyed this one!

This new audio book reading by Jennifer Moorman was a great way to experience this Jules Verne classic, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
It is many years since I originally read it and so was fascinated all over again by the creativity and imagination that Jules Verne brought to this novel. It is a good choice for families to experience together. The reading was expressive without being over done and it kept my interest throughout. I would recommend this new audio book edition to both new and returning readers of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

This was a tough one. I know it was written quite a long time ago, and the narrator did a good job. It was just not as exciting and interesting as I hoped it would be.

Classics aren't my strongest interest, but I've always wanted to get into this one. I found the story itself quite boring (as I do with most classics) but the modern reading of it by the narrator definitely adds a bit of fun. She has a child-like voice that adds to the whimsy of the reading and it defintely kicks the story up a notch. This one is worth a read for those who enjoy classics and want a great glimpse of early sci-fi/fantasy by one of the best known authors of the time.

I was sceptical about the works of Jules Verne, so I thought it best to start with an audiobook as this book is quite different from my usual reads. The audiobook version is certainly good but I am not sure if I would read this story in particular.
Here's what I liked:
* The narrator's voice modulation style
* The melodies and filler sounds
* You could feel the emotions, excitement in the audio version too.

Now here is also something that did not work for me:
* The slow pacing of the story
* The overall structure and writing style

Hence, I feel the audiobook is still better for the title if its for someone exploring this under sea adventure story as a beginner.

Such a great audiobook! I liked this one so much. highly recommend. :) :) :) :) :)

Just what I needed to read.

While Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is, at times, a very dry and boring novel, I felt that the audiobook made the story itself more enjoyable. I really liked Aria Mia Liberty’s narration; she had wonderful inflection and pace changes that made the story a pleasure to listen to. I also found the voices she used for the various characters to be spot-on compared to their personalities. Overall it is a great audio version of a classic novel.

5 stars!
This book is such a classic in my eyes for so many reason but the main one being the sense of adventure in Jules Verne stories! As a person who LOVES books with alot of detail especially if it is based on real facts etc, this book was bound to be a new favourite for me. I loved Journey To The Centre of The Earth so it's no surprise that I would enjoy this! The narrator also did a really good job delivering this piece of literature to us.

I have always wondered what this book is about and now I kind of know. I did love the narrator’s voice because it kept me entertained the entire time. I didn’t exactly understand everything that was going on, but it says a lot for me to finish it. It’s definitely a longer book that could have been condensed, but I enjoyed it for the most part.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea written by Jules Verne and narrated by Aria Mia Loberti is a fresh and vibrant telling of this classic tale that I have read over and over for decades (and yes, I absolutely loved this narrator). The story is an absolut classic so I shall not go into the synopsis and shall instead celebrate the audiobook performance

Jules Verne was and always will be the father of science fiction and 20000 Leagues Under the Sea has seen many incarnation in print, film, animation and with some huge boots to fill, making this audiobook was no mean task and Loberti is absolutely fantastic. This new version is wonderful, simply enchanting. Read with a sparkling wonder and fantastic grasp of the nuances of the narrative, this audiobook is a must-listen to continue Vernes legacy

Absolutely Brilliant!

Thank you to Netgalley, Blackstone Publishing, the late Jules Verne and the awesome Aria Mia Loberti for this wonderful ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

This one just isnt for me! I was looking forward to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It's a classic! But after an hour+ of listening I just had to stop.

The descriptions just go on forever and ever and it's not anything you care about. Theres not much of a plot and it's just a tough one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to listen in order for my honest review. The narrator was doing a great job. But it's just not enjoyable!

A classic! It's cool to see how science fiction was in its early stages. It's a bit slow at times, but overall a good read and very interesting. The narration was really well done, Aria Mia Loberti did a great job bringing this to life. I liked her voice and her accent, it suited this very well.

Editor's note: Review published in CNHI's Ga, Ala, Miss papers. Offered to national editors.

Booked for the month: Noir, fantasy and historical retellings fill the air with new fiction from Gordon Greisman and Christy Healy, and audio retakes of Jules Verne and Donald Miller

By Tom Mayer
CNHI News Service

From 20,000 feet above to 20,000 leagues below — and a couple more with feet firmly on planet Earth — a quartet of new books and audio renderings recently published will both enliven drive-times and offer one more reason to put another log on the fire. All four this month are from Blackstone, a publishing house that continues to offer an interesting and intriguing mix of media.

The audio files

In the category of what’s old is what’s new: “Masters of the Air” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” aren’t exactly new books, but they both get a new treatment as audio books with fresh narrators.

Donald Miller’s “Masters of the Air” isn’t just for the World War II buff. It offers the history of the American Eighth Air Force, but with the addition of Joe Barrett’s narration — Barrett is a veteran raconteur with more than 200 audio titles and a host of Audie Award finals in his arsenal — the story of the young (and they were all young) men who flew the bombers responsible for crippling Nazi Germany takes you into the cockpit beside them.

And the 20,000 feet reference is no exaggeration: the air at that height is thin and freezing and before the Eighth, no body of bombers had successfully straddled that particular stratosphere.

Miller, a WWII expert and professor at Lafayette College, weaves interviews, oral histories and international archives into a compelling narrative about an elite group of warriors who essentially fought a war within a war, and spices it with stories of life in wartime England and German prison camps.

World War II is known as the world’s first and only bomber war, and “Masters of the Air” also gets a fitting visual complement. A series based on the book, under the same name, launched on Apple TV+ Jan. 26.
Not that Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” has suffered from any lack of multi-media attention, but Blackstone’s audio version captures the 19th century period piece in ways that infuse real magic into the exotic undersea tale of Captain Nemo and the Nautilus.

You might know the story, and you might know the voice — narrator Aria Mia Loberti starred in Netflix’s limited series adaptation of “All the Light We Cannot See” — but the combination is unique and fitting, especially enmeshed with the Mia Loberti's advanced degree in ancient rhetoric from Royal Holloway, University of London. You’ve not heard this story told in such a perfect lilt, and if the publisher is wise, they will elicit Mia Loberti for Verne’s other two works featuring Nemo: “The Mysterious Island” and a lesser-known collaborative play, “Journey Through the Impossible,” written a dozen years after the 1870 launch of “20,000 Leagues.”

The bibliophiles

In the category of what’s new is what’s new, 2024 has already been a good year for literature, and in continuing the fantastical theme is “Unbound” by Christy Healy.

A tale of betrayal and unrequited romance, Healy brings Celtic myths into this gender-bent reimagining of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Rozlyn O Conchuir is destined for love, waiting in the imprisonment of her tower for the defeat of the beast of Connacht through the arrival of the man who will not only win her heart, but vanquish the curse that plagues both her and her kingly father’s people.

After the suitor arrives, though, her hopes and dreams are savagely unmasked and trust is irreparably broken. Or is it? There may be more here than Rozlyn imagined — if she can learn that some misfortunes are better left shackled than unbound.

And an aside: Blackstone completes the magical story with a fine print production. The textured cover artwork and book design are by Larissa Ezell, and that design includes interior illustrations, maps and something I don’t mention often in reviews: a unique typeface that draws the reader wonderfully into the world of make-believe.
Even as we’re drawn into a world with more grit and grime. Gordon Greisman’s “The Devil’s Daughter” is not only taut and fine noir, it’s a story that showcases something you don’t much witness — a novelist having pure fun with the craft.

Greisman’s PI story is solid and gets a screenwriter’s touch —the author earned an Emmy Award nomination for his NBC mini-series “The Drug Wars; In the Belly of the Beast” — but tempering period characters with private investigator Jack Coffey’s search for the daughter of an uptown financier is a delicious recipe for a story.
Infusing well-known mobsters, jazzmen and actors (Thelonious Monk is a bud, as is Bud, aka a young Marlon Brando), athletes and authors (How many detective stories have you read that feature Albert Camus?) attach some verbal paradox that ironically makes the story more real.

Add Greisman’s prose (“My favorite time in the city is just before dawn. The town isn’t really asleep, it’s just resting its eyes.”) and unexpected throwaways (“Richie Costello can’t stop staring at V, which is not only embarrassing but pretty inappropriate, considering he’s a priest.”) and you get a writer not only enjoying the work, but mastering it.
Some books you read in a day and this is that kind of book. It’ll no doubt be the best book you’ve read so far this year, and although we have some big hitters showing up in the next few months, it’s already a contender — with 11 months to go — for the best book you’ll read all year.

A caveat: Greisman’s story is raw and real, and some readers might get tripped by triggers. The material is handled well, but if stories about abuse and violence are on your “avoid” list, take a pass. The case of the missing Lucy Garrett — “who just might be the devil incarnate” — is as hardboiled as it gets, but Greisman takes no issue with breaking open a few rotten eggs to let their sulfuric fumes permeate the pages.

By the end, you’ll get why the story is shaped like this, and maybe it’s Coffey himself who describes it best: “I’m not all right. In my line of work sometimes I see the absolute worst in people. It’s supposed to make me hard and cynical, but that’s just a Hollywood fantasy. I’d have to be dead inside not to let something like this get to me.”

No question: “The Devil’s Daughter” will get to you.

I went into this book with very few expectations. Despite this being such an iconic book, I rarely see it reviewed and recommended compared to other classics. Clearly, I need to change that because I thought this book was fantastic and would love to see it recommended to new generations of science fiction readers. 

In terms of hard science fiction, there was a lot of technical jargon and scientific facts included in this novel. There were so many interesting topics explored, particularly surrounding marine biology and nautical technology. The detailed descriptions might be overwhelming or exhausting to some readers, but I personally loved the information overload. 

As for the story itself, I loved the mystery and the adventure as it unfolded. I knew very little about the plot beforehand, which helped to create a sense of suspense while reading. The novel was relatively long but I found myself flying through the pages because I always wanted to know what would happen next.

I would definitely recommend this classic science fiction adventure story to modern readers. It was very accessible and, even more important, a lot of fun to read!

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic, an early example of science fiction. When reports of a monster jeopardizing global traffic by terrorizing the sea begin to appear, three men take to the water to try to find it. What they actually find, however, isn't a monster at all. It's a submarine under the direction of Captain Nemo, which takes them all over the world.

The story itself needs no review so I'll focus on the production itself. I was unaware prior to reading this that it was narrated by the actress from the mini-series version of All the Light We Cannot See. She was exceptional in that and she is exceptional as the narrator in this audiobook. She really made the characters come alive and some of the drier aspects of the writing itself felt enlivened through her reading. The pacing was great as well. I look forward to recommending this version to customers who are looking to get more into classics. Like our literature professors used to say about Shakespeare, I find hearing classics as opposed to reading them on the page, to be a great way to get into the groove of the older style of writing and this would be an excellent choice for someone unfamiliar with Verne's work.

Jules Verne books are classics and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is one that I have always wanted to read, but never thought I could get through the whole book. Finding this audiobook version was just what I needed. Aria Mia Loberti does a wonderful job narrating and I was pulled in immediately.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an ARC of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion.

You cannot go wrong with a classic. It amazes me how creative and inventive authors can be from such a long time ago. Book could be boring to others, but it's worth it.