I am loving this series of classics read by Gildart Jackson. Each one has a unique feel, even with the common thread of the crackling fire, as he brings the stories to life. He does a great job embracing the spirit of the books and their characters. I highly recommend!

Fireside Reading of The Nutcracker and The Mouse King is the second audiobook I listened to by this narrator. The first was Winnie-the Pooh. As with the first, the narration is excellent. The narrator has a comforting and relaxing voice and I love to listen his stories as a pre-bedtime winddown. I recommend it for both adults and children.

I am a library associate and received an advance copy from #NetGalley.

This was a great way to listen to the whole story that the Nutcracker Ballet was based on, and I as an adult found it interesting. However, my children weren't interested in sitting through the story as there were no special effects, changes in voice, or other ways to keep children entertained.

This would be a good holiday audiobook for adults, though it is somewhat dry.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my copy of Fireside Reading of The Nutcracker and The Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann Narrated by Gildart Jackson in exchange for an honest review. It published November 10, 2022.
If you are looking for a sweet tradition for the holidays, consider listening to this audiobook! Wonderfully narrated, it is broken up into manageable chapters, that would make for a nice evening family listen. Gidart Jackson does a fabulous job, and I love all the little tidbits he adds!

Interesting twist on the story of the nutcracker read by the fire, I recommend for audience 10 years and up.

In this newest installment of Fireside Reading, Gildart Jackson reads <i>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King</i> by E.T.A. Hoffman. Jackson did a phenomenal job reading the book, as always. I have never read the book before this, nor have I even seen the musical. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of the story; I might have appreciated it more if I had heard the story as a kid. That is a personal opinion, though. If you like the Nutcracker story, I recommend checking out this version.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I cannot recall a time in my life when I wasn't in love with the story of The Nutcracker. It is so exceedingly charming and gives me cozy Christmas feelings. The narrator was fantastic! This is a wonderful story for children and adults. The only thing I would say, is with this particular story I still would enjoy physically reading it myself. That is just my preference but has nothing to do with any criticism of the narrator or the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audiobook. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to and review this Fireside Reading of The Nutcracker and The Mouse King.

Gildart Jackson did a beautiful job of this. I have never before read The Nutcracker so this was an interesting treat for me.

#FiresideReading #TheNutcrackerandTheMouseKing
#GildartJackson #ETAHoffmann
#NetGalley #DreamscapeMedia #ChildrensStory

I struggled to get into this book. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a trippy, zany, and at times creepy Beauty and the Beast tale that spawned a massively successful ballet done in its image. It's a fantastical story that is aimed at children of a different era--kids who are able to enjoy the written version of The Hobbit or Mary Poppins will probably like it, but those who find those stories too foreign to their generation won't likely get much enjoyment out of this. Nevertheless, Gildart Jackson is an excellent narrator, and he provides a more accessible and cheerful entryway for anyone who wants to experience E.T.A Hoffman's classic for themselves.

This was a book I’d never read in it’s classic form. Sure, I knew the story from the different adaptations over the years but I don’t think I ever took the time to really listen to the actual story (granted translated to English so not the original German in its absolute true form). I’m glad I ended the year with this story.
This story is a classic fairy tale story that takes a young girl on and incredible and magical journey. The story is about a seven year old girl named Marie. She receives a nutcracker as a gift for Christmas and finds herself somehow magically transported to the Land of Toys where she meets the Nutcracker and his enemy the Mouse King. Marie finds that she has some allies though as she gets a little help as she and her allies must battle against the mice to save not only the Nutcracker but the Land of Toys as well.
This book has such great characters in it and none as intriguing as the very mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer who helps her along the way. This is such a fun story and one that I definitely think should be visited a time or two in a lifetime.
The audio is also spectacular if you get the chance to listen to it. The narrator is brilliant and it’s a great way to hear the story and absorb it all.

I have never read Nutcracker before, just watched the ballet. I really enjoyed this format. I wasn't aware it was a German story so I liked the little intro at the beginning. Not too much information I got bored, but interesting. I also really enjoyed the narrator.

4 stars

Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC audio.

I have to agree with other reviewers that the narrator did a great job with inflection a timing, but I do not care for the original story of the The Nutcracker. After experiencing the ballet for years, I looked forward to listening to this for Christmas, but it just fell flat for me. Props to Tchaikovsky for his brilliant adaptation, of course.

It was great to learn the extended story behind the shortened versions that I've read over the years. I'm glad to have gotten the full history.
I can see why the story is condensed and retold so often, as the original telling is quite drawn-out and droll at many points. I probably won't ever consume this original tale again, but rather will return to the abridged versions.
The narration is good. Not great. I suppose the idea of these fireside readings is for them to be natural, as if a parent were reading to their child, so there are imperfections like pauses and inflections that wouldn't be present in a narration performed in a study with parts rerecorded until they're done perfectly, as I expect is the case with most audiobooks. This also had unnecessarily long musical interludes at the beginning and end of each chapter, which was cute the first time but then just too long for subsequent chapters. This isn't an audiobook that I'd choose to listen to again, if I were to want an audiobook of this story.

ETA Hoffmann’s Nutcracker is one of my all-time favorite books, and I thought a fireside read would be the ideal way to consume it.

As it turns out, I still prefer reading it from the page, but this is a lovely way to experience the story as well.

The narrator gets the tone exactly right, and I think this might work well as a family listening activity. It’s a relatively short listen (about an hour and a half if you listen at 2x), and perfect as a bedtime holiday read.

I should note that this reading doesn’t use my preferred translation of Hoffmann, though the differences as they affect this format are negligible.

I was interested in this book, because of the narrator, Gildart Jackson who has been consistently great in Fireside Reading series. I listened to several other children's classics in Fireside Reading, which are all great. The narration for this book is very good, and if are curious about this classic book, I would highly recommend this audiobook.

The book was originally published in German in 1816 (original title Nussknacker und Mausekönig), which was translated into French by Alexandre Dumas then adapted into a ballet. I have seen the ballet version many times, and it was interesting to discover some similarities as well as differences. (For example, the elder sister of Marie, named Louisa, is hardly mentioned (if at all) in the ballet). The book felt darker and more gothic than ballet version, and more ominous. Maybe because of that, the story wasn't my favorite personally. I also was hoping the story to be more festive and Christmas-y . Even though, it was wonderful to have an opportunity to listen to the story that inspired the ballet, and another winning performance by Mr. Jackson.

This audiobook was provided courtesy of NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. Opinioons stated here are my own.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and to NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook.

I have listened to several of thse fireside books and I love each of them The stories are all classics, and are fantastic and I love the way the narrator reads them. He is awesome. I really want to purchase these books for my personal collection. I listen to them while falling asleep at night. They are great.

AUDIO 3h, 13m

As a narrator, Gildart Jackson is top-notch. I particularly enjoyed his rendition of the first battle. You could envision the noise, confusion, and chaos about them as the magical battle raged. Of course, given Jackson's background, which includes everything from soap operas to the Headmaster in the TV series "Charmed", not to mention Shakespeare, that is to be expected. It's a treat for all of us that he does these classical readings.

Much to my surprise, I wasn't as taken with the original, written version as I'd expected to be, however. That's probably more on my familiarity with the ballet (I found myself trying to match scenes from the story to the ballet) than the story itself. That said, despite the magical, fantastic aspects of the story, even given Jackson's skill, the story just seemed to lag in spots. As a result, although I'd give Gildart Jackson 5+ as narrator, I had to rate this a bit lower, a 4.5rounded to a 5 star. Others may find it more instantly delightful, however, so don't let my somewhat disappointment scare you away. It's worth a listen just to hear Gildart Jackson's narration. 

Thanks #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for allowing me to visit the timeless tale of the Nutcracker. Although it took me awhile to adjust to the rhythm, I did enjoy hearing the full story as originally told.

I have seen the ballet a few times but had never read the story .
I very much enjoyed this and found the narrator did a fantastic job.

First, the narration perfectly set the tone for the story. You can just set back and let the narration take you away. I wish I would have heard this 35/40 years ago before my children were totally invested into the dance world. I always understood the ballet but this has brought a new appreciation for the story behind the dance. Absolutely loved this audiobookand will highly recommend.to listen to this before performing the Nutcracker. All dance teacher should take a listen and make available for their students. Thanks to the following for allowing me to review early. All opinions are my own.

#NetGalley,
Publisher: #DreamscapeMedia
Author: #E.TA.Hoffmann
Narrator: #GildartJackson
PublicationDate: 10 Nov 2022