Cry of the Firebird

Written by Amy Kuivalainen

Narrated by Em Eldridge

A reluctant heroine, a firebird prince, and an army of monsters hunting them...it's a legend waiting to happen.

In the wake of her shaman grandfather's murder, Anya is thrust into a world of magic and mayhem as she inherits the role of Gate Keeper to Skazki, the mythic Russian land of fairy tales and gods.

Tasked with awakening her latent powers to prevent a war between dark gods and monsters from spilling into the real world, Anya finds an unlikely ally with Yvan, a prince who reluctantly shares his body with the legendary firebird.

Chased by Yvan's malevolent sorcerer brother, Anya, and Yvan seek refuge in Skazki, where they uncover the hidden truths of Anya's lineage. But as Anya grapples with her newfound abilities, she inadvertently draws her enemies into the real world, plunging her into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Nov 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094432250

Amy Kuivalainen

Amy Kuivalainen is the author of the Magicians of Venice (The Immortal City, The Sea of the Dead, The King’s Seal) and the Firebird Faerie Tales. A Finnish-Australian writer who is obsessed with magical wardrobes, doors, auroras, and burial mounds that might offer her a way into another realm, she enjoys mashing up mythology and lore into unique retellings about monsters and magic. Amy enjoys practicing yoga and spending time in the beautiful city of Melbourne, where she is working on her next novel.

Reviews for Cry of the Firebird

[Joanna Salceda · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great story, nasally story teller. Overall worth listening to. Now I need to look for the rest of these books.

[milibley2423 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you tune yourself into the reader's awful voice and accent, you'll enjoy an unusual story. A fantasy woven around Eastern European mythology rather than typical medieval dwarf, elves and human trio or dragons that's all the adult fantasies seem to have these days.

[Millsy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm sorry but i just can't stand the narrators voice, its so...computerised and not like modern ai narrators which are pretty fantastic, this is definitely not. I wanted to give it 1 star but i've not heard the story and don't want to skew the rating too much since others have enjoyed the book.

[Bob Grygo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Slow going, but I really liked it. Looking forward to the sequel.

[zennmaki418 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really did enjoying this book, a couple of tropes I don't love but still a great read. Love me some fantasy with adult characters and no explicit content! The best part for me was the Finnish mythology and other mythologies included in the book, a nice change from what's usually out there.
Didn't love the narrator to be honest.

[O’Brien Family · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an amazing story; well written and very imaginative! I enjoyed the story, however the narrator sounded more like a computer than a voice actor. I tried to speed the book up to 1.2 then 1.5. It helped a little bit, but it would be amazing if it had a really good narrator because the story is a fantastic one.!

[Samantha Stovall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Overall nice character building and story telling. Almost action movie style.

[alicejnrchatiza · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was a good read. Though I guess a second book to continue the story is needed , it seems like the story is incomplete.

[Ka'iulani Kauahi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this entertaining. My favorite part is the different types of folklore used in the story.

[Mila · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting ,l love it very much. I think everyone needs to read this book.It is full of myth.Not borning

[Daniel Randall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enjoy this book hope the next book is on here

[Sarah Sweet · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I am 2 minutes into the first chapter and can’t continue to listen. I think the narration is AI? It sounds like a dateline reporter every sentence. The inflections are super strange. I think I’ll read this book instead of listen.

[Aimee Fedoronko · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Narrator has a voice pretty similar to the TikTok voice.

[Abigael Puritz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was really intrigued by the description, but the narrator is so monotone and artificial sounding, I couldn't even keep listening for more than a minute. It sounds like a bad robocall. I'm normally not negative but seriously this sounds like its being narrated by a depressed siri.

[Julie Rose · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t keep listening due to the wooden narration. There were pauses in unlikely places in sentences like a bad bot.

[dani5709 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's a great book but the reader is kind of annoying. The speach is very broken and flat which makes it hard to listen too.

[R E P · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator was irritating and I almost gave up. But the story blending myths was interesting enough to keep me reading.

[Stacy Estep · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The narrator killed the story for me. I seriously thought it was AI reading. Hope narrator doesn't quit her day job for audio book reading.

[tugcegurkan0 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t listen to it, its like text to speech generator ai is reading it.

[lilla · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Book seemed lovely, but the reader is a robot. I gave up one chapter in and opted to read the book. Who selected this reader?!?!

[Sarah Cudney · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't even make it through the second chapter with the narrator voice.

[David gillespie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book. Crap narrator.whsy is next one in series 0lease

[tabubreezy · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

It sounds like the reader is a chat bot. There is no intonation no character. It makes it so drab I couldn’t even get past the first chapter unfortunately because it sounds like a good story and Neil Gaemon is my favorite author.

[karen8askelson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The narrator was terrible. Mechanical and monotone. I couldn't listen to it. I liked the story , however, the narrator killed it for me.

[ablanton · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This narration has to be AI. It is so hard to listen to. I might like the story more but there is no tone or inflection and it’s hard to stay focused on the story.

[vincent fleming · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The narrator sounded to robotic to make it worth listening to. Sadly.

[Holly Hildebrant · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I think I could have enjoyed this book but the narrator is horrific! I can't get through the first chapter :(

[Devin Rooney · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The audiobook narrator sounds like someone faxed Reese Witherspoon through ChatGPT and recorded the results.

[Audrey Hughes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the storyline, all things mythology are really interesting. However the narrator ruined the role of Anya with the nasally monotone voice. Absolutely terrible!! The other voices she used were pretty good, I wish she had put more effort in to the narration to he honest. However in the Magicians of Venice series (audio is not available on Scribd unfortunately) the narrators are faaaarrr better.

[Dorothy Rooney · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The narration on this book is one of the worst I’ve ever heard. It can’t be an actual human narrating. Good luck trying to listen to this with the monotone robot voice