FOX AND PHOENIX

With gentle accents and a matter-of-fact tone, Michael Lee drops listeners smack into rival kingdoms in China. Through magic, ghost dragons and former street rats work in concert to aid the Princess Lian, who is studying in a distant kingdom. There she’s held prisoner in the emperor’s palace and kept unaware that her father is dying. Kai Zou, a teenager whose mother runs a tutoring shop in conjuration and mathematics, is sent on a perilous journey to locate Lian and bring her home. Lee handles Kai’s battles with villains and her developing romance with terrific pacing and humor. When he speaks the dialogue of the story’s dragons and spirit companions, he is chilling and entertaining. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2012]