A Tangled Magic

I’ll be honest: I approached *A Tangled Magic* skeptical of yet another ‘dark fairy tale,’ but Eames’ writing hooked me within chapters. The magic system—where hair absorbs and amplifies emotions—is one of the most inventive I’ve encountered, and the heroine’s voice is a masterclass in unreliable narration. She’s bitter, brilliant, and *funny*, which makes her occasional self-sabotage all the more frustrating (in the best way). The pacing stumbles slightly in the middle during a protracted political subplot, but the payoff—a third-act reveal that recontextualizes *everything*—is worth it. Narration will make or break this audiobook. The ideal performer needs to nail the protagonist’s sarcasm without undercutting her vulnerability, and the secondary characters (especially the morally ambiguous love interest) demand distinct, nuanced voices. My one critique? The world’s lore is so rich that some listeners might crave a primer on the kingdom’s factions—it’s a lot to parse aurally. Still, if the production matches the text’s intensity, this could be a sleeper hit for fantasy fans who want their magic *dangerous* and their heroines even more so. **Standout moment:** A duel where the heroine *weaves her own hair into a noose*—equal parts horrifying and triumphant. That’s the tone in a nutshell.