Iron Hearted Violet
By: Kelly Barnhill / Narrated By: Simon Vance
Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
Purely, simply, just an all-around wonder of a story. And do I even neeeed to add: SIMON VANCE?!
In this story about stories, our heroine Violet is a princess unlike any other princesses. Told from the point of view of the master storyteller, Cassian, a somewhat vain man who also does the unthinkable in the book, Violet is the only child of King Randall and Queen Rose. Born with a pair of mismatched eyes, blotchy and freckled skin, and sporting a mass of DESperately unruly red hair, Violet is intrepid and reckless, and as she grows up, can she spin a yarn, or what?
UnFORtunately, whilst engaging the Andalusan subjects, she starts a yarn off of a princess, one who is not so pretty, kinda sorta odd-looking as a matter of fact. But her audience is startled and Cassian steps in to say that this is not so: Everybody wants tales of beautiful princesses, there’s no such thing as a homely princess. This mollifies the crowd, but it devastates Violet who comes to believe that she’s a trifle unloved and has let the populace down by being rather homely.
FORtunately, her spirit isn’t completely harmed, and soon she befriends the stable master’s son, Demetrius. Demetrius doesn’t care about her looks, and the two become fast friends, running amok (whenst Violet is supposed to be studying) and exploring every nook and cranny of the castle. During one of their unauthorized escapades, they find themselves in a forbidden library looking at a forbidden book. It gives them the creeps big time.
When tragedy strikes, and Violet is undone by grief and loneliness, and in a fit of pique, she goes back to the forbidden book which tells of the 13th god, trapped by the other 12 gods in this current world in the multiverse that all Andalusans inhabit. Feeling unutterably bereft, Violet does the unthinkable and brings a creature, the evil Nybbas, out of his long imprisonment. It’s kinda sorta an accident, but not really. Violet is absoLUTEly positive things would be better were she a proper princess, beautiful like Cassian said.
There are wars, and mirrors, and two suns, and multiverses, and there’s even (And most esPECially) a currently imprisoned dragon, the last dragon in the world. Gods and mayhem, fiery lizards who mean the end of all times. And WONderful captains who happen to be women (Yay, Ms. Barnhill! Girl Power!).
Mostly there’s an ode to true and faithful companions, lessons on self-acceptance, doing the right thing tho’ it might be that the odds are stacked against ya, and love and courage.
AND there’s Simon Vance! Okay okay okay—I’ll just come out and admit that soooometimes the voices he does for girls/women, parTICularly brave Captains of War, are just a tad off, a bit of a strangle coming from his voice. But oh GOSH, that is soooo easily cast aside when one listens to the wonder that is a performance by him. Truly, he does NOT narrate, he PERFORMS the work, turning a simple audiobook into an Experience. Here, with author Kelly Barnhill giving him so very many characters, such fraught situations, Vance just knocked m’ socks off yet again. Seriously moving me to tears when Barnhill made things so beautiful, so lovely!
Nope, this ain’t The Girl Who Drank the Moon. But it’s so gosh-danged gorgeous I didn’t care. Do NOT go in ready to weigh this with that particular audiobook as the Be All, End All of Barnhill’s capabilities. Rather, give her a chance, give yourself the opportunity, to find something different, something unique, a tale of cowardice and vanity, of compassion and true friendship. Of giving an old dragon his pride and courage back.
Maybe not stunning, but certainly splendid all the same.
Gosh… Need a danged thesaurus for the danged word: LOVELY!
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