Carry On

Simon Snow is the eighth year chosen one at Watford School of Magicks, and by almost any measure he is spectacularly bad at being chosen. His spells misfire catastrophically, his nemesis and roommate Baz has gone missing at the start of their final year, and a creature made of magic itself has been hunting Watford for years. Rainbow Rowell's novel builds its own mythology from the bones of familiar boarding school fantasy while telling a love story between two boys who have spent six years refusing to admit what they feel.

Euan Morton's narration is one of the most celebrated in young adult audio, his Scottish lilt giving Simon's narration a guileless charm that perfectly offsets the character's genuine heroic struggles. Morton distinguishes an impressively large cast of students and faculty with ease, and his delivery of Baz's dry patrician hauteur makes the eventual emotional payoff feel thoroughly earned. At over thirteen hours, the production rewards patient listeners with a romance that earns every moment of its climax.