As a big fan of fantasy and romance, I really enjoyed listening to Stolen Birthright! Bonnie Bogovich does a great job at narrating the story and creating distinct voices for each character. Her voice acting kept me consistently engaged.
The hook for the story was great, communicating that Myranda was once a princess of some kind and making us invested to find out the mystery of what happened to Mimi. The fantasy worldbuilding was also very interesting. I found myself wanting to know more about the moon religion, the cloaked figures and the royal soldiers after them, and the mystery of Myranda’s connection to the nobility. The characters all had distinct, intriguing personalities and it was interesting to see their dynamics with Myranda. I liked how you could glean multiple perspectives from these characters, from the rebel Jude to the Mother Superior.
It was nice to have choices throughout that shaped Myranda’s personality and her loyalty towards the covenant. However, there were a few too many “fake choices” where I would choose to do one action, only for my choice to be essentially ignored. I also felt that the interactive story explanation at the start detracted from my initial immersion. I think it would be better to replace this with a more hands-on tutorial, introducing how this medium works through a simple story choice at the start.
The romance between Myranda and Jude was really nice. The subplot focusing on their budding relationship is fun, and I especially enjoyed the scene where Jenna teases Myranda over her crush on Jude. I also liked that you naturally learn more about Jude as the story progresses.
The good ending was interesting to me as well. We see hints from what we discover about Jude that Myranda is at the start of her path to discover more about her past and what happened to Mimi, but her ultimate fate is left open ended. I would have loved to learn more about the overarching mystery and see Myranda finally free to explore the city. But, I feel like this is neat in its own way, leaving the listener to imagine what might befall Myranda and Jude.