Children's ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey
Chris Colfer · 2016
🎙 Narrated by Chris Colfer (self-narrated)
76/100
👍 Worth It
Penny here: this fifth outing is Chris Colfer at his most inventive, sending Alex and Conner into Conner's own childhood imagination to build a rescue army -- clever stuff, though it really rewards kids who've read the first four. Colfer narrates himself, and his actor's ear for distinct character voices makes it a genuine treat to listen to.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: Common Sense Media flags heightened cartoonish/gory violence versus earlier volumes; brief mention of a 'passionate kiss' between adult characters. We still scored it 76; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
▶ Listen to a sample
🎙 Narration: excellent Self-narrated by Chris Colfer, who leans into distinct character voices -- a strong, well-regarded performance consistent with the whole series.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety62
Substance / usefulness76
Craft & writing80
Originality78
Evidence & accuracy75
Hype vs delivers68
Age-fit65
Human-eye read78
Penny’s verdict76
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