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    To Best the Boys
    To Best the Boys
    To Best the Boys
    Audiobook9 hours

    To Best the Boys

    Written by Mary Weber

    Narrated by Liz Pearce

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    About this audiobook

    The task is simple: Don a disguise. Survive the labyrinth. Best the boys. In a thrilling new fantasy from the bestselling author of the Storm Siren Trilogy, one girl makes a stand against society and enters a world made exclusively for boys. Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. The poorer residents look to see if their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father's microscope. In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands-through the annual all-male scholarship competition. With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm's labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn't know her place. And not everyone survives the deadly maze. Welcome to the labyrinth.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 19, 2019
    ISBN9781980042617
    Author

    Mary Weber

    Mary Weber is the award-winning HarperCollins author of the bestselling young adult Storm Siren Trilogy, and The Sofi Snow duology. An avid school and conference speaker, Mary’s passion is helping others find their voice amid a world that often feels too loud. When she’s not plotting adventures involving tough girls who frequently take over the world, Mary sings 80s hairband songs to her three muggle children and ogles her husband who looks strikingly like Wolverine. They live in California which is perfect for stalking LA bands and the ocean. She gets nerdy at maryweber.com; Facebook: marychristineweber; Instagram: maryweberauthor; Twitter: @mchristineweber; and Goodreads.  

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    Reviews for To Best the Boys

    4/5

    131 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This one kind of started slow. No real action until about halfway through the book. But that message ? loved it #girlpower
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. Listen and make up your own mind.
    • 2/5
      The narrator does a dreadful job, all the female characters are given extremely high and squeaky voices making them sound like 5yrs old
    • 4/5
      Although it's unheard of in Caldon for women to go to college, Rhen Tellur wants to do just that and become a scientist. Her chief point of motivation is the fact that her mother is dying from a disease that Rhen hopes to develop a cure for. The upcoming, annual, hazardous competition in a labyrinth will earn one college hopeful a full scholarship to Stemwick University, and Rhen schemes to become the competition's first ever female contestant in To Best the Boys by author Mary Weber.As I read this fantasy novel, the class division and simmering of social unrest in Caldon is what tugged at me the most. It reinforced to me how problems that some can downplay by labeling as "just politics" (likely because the issues don't directly or personally affect them) are critical matters for other human beings' lives. I cringed at politicians' attitudes in the story. I cringed at the depictions of citizens' rising anger stemming from desperation. I felt every bit of Rhen's dire desire for change.And I love how the feminist message in the tale doesn't suggest that all women have to be like Rhen in order to be legit and worthy as women.Now, the overall story didn't quite "wow" me or throw me for any loops. Some of the turns of phrase struck me with their beauty while at other times the writing would spell out the obvious or overuse italics for emphasis. I found a number of parts to be creepy and/or fairly gross, with much ado about ghouls and dead bodies and excess references to characters either retching or coming close to doing so. The way the young men so easily fall for Rhen's scheme is unbelievable, and the big labyrinth sequence didn't really amaze or surprise me much. My interest waned during parts of it.Nevertheless, as a YA novel featuring an ambitious heroine determined to flesh out her purpose against the odds, this is a worthwhile read.__________BookLook Bloggers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      Settle in friends, because I'm about to ramble. It always strikes me as funny that it's so much harder for me to write a review of a book that I really loved, rather than one I didn't click with. I don't know how to accurately convey to you my deep love for everything about To Best The Boys, but I promise to do my best! If I go off on a few tangets, or gush a lot more than I plan to, please pardon me. This is a book that will definitely do that to you, and you'll soon see why.Where to start? First off, Rhen is my new favorite character. She's so smart, so passionate, and so full of the kind of fire that makes me smile hard enough to hurt my face. Watching her and all the of townspeople like her, who fought to make a happy and comfortable space in a world that wanted to ignore them, made me happy. The message here about the division between the upper and lower classes (in this story, quite literal separation) is extremely well done. Just like our real world, the decisions made by the few, disconnected Upper patrons directly affect the many. Rhen is that special person, the one able to flit between these two worlds, and therefore the best voice for the people that she so adores. I couldn't think of a better person for the job.Lest I gush about Rhen endlessly though, and forget the other characters, I should say that every person Mary Weber creates in this book is utterly perfect. From Lute, who has a huge heart, to Seleni, who is brave and sweet, to Vincent, who is a product of the Upper crust he was raised in. Each character that is touched upon is full of life and has their own personality. Whether I loved or hated them, it felt good to be lost in this new space surrounded by people who I actually enjoyed being with. Weber creates a sense of community here that I haven't felt while reading a story in a long time. It was so pleasant, and one of the biggest reasons that I adored this book.Oh, and I haven't even touched on the plot yet. It's fairly obvious from the beginning that Rhen will be the one to upset the whole system in her town. What I didn't expect, was how perfect her journey to that point would be. This story is paced excellently, always revealing new things at just the right time to keep it moving. There is intrigue, there are heists, and there is just the right amount of romance to really make a reader like me feel like the balance was spot on. Her time spent in the Labyrinth was my favorite part, but you won't get any spoilers from me. You need to experience this yourself. I never felt bored, and I never felt rushed. In other words, I had a blast reading this!So, as I'm sure you've already surmised, this book gets a massive five, sparkly stars from me. It's been quite a while since I've read a Fantasy book that made me want to push it at people and scream at them to read it. This book gets that honor. Read this. Buy it, borrow it, love it, and then push it at other people so they can too. It is so good! Come meet Rhen, and join me in gushing over To Best The Boys. You won't regret it.