Rags & Bones

I’ll admit, I approached *Rags & Bones* with skepticism—another anthology promising dark, rewritten fairy tales? But from the first story, I was hooked. Bernard Clark’s narration in Neil Gaiman’s twist on "The Erl-King" set the tone: a slow, creeping dread that slithered through my headphones like fog over a graveyard. The production is top-tier, too; the sound levels are balanced enough that you won’t be fumbling with your volume between a whisper and a scream. My favorite story was "The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Kami Garcia, a sleepy-dystopian mashup that’s equal parts *Snow White* and *The Walking Dead*. Reay Kaplan’s narration here was pitch-perfect, her voice dripping with the kind of exhausted resilience that makes you root for the protagonist despite the horrors unfolding. That said, a few stories dragged—Garth Nix’s "The Witch in the Cupboard" felt underdeveloped, like a promising premise chewed up by a rushed ending. And while Kaplan and Cabus nailed most performances, one narrator’s voice occasionally strained in higher registers, making a couple of pieces feel tonally uneven. But these quibbles don’t ruin the experience; they’re just reminders that even the best anthologies have their off moments. If you love your fairy tales with a side of existential dread and a dash of fresh perspective, this audiobook is a must-listen.