A Peculiar Peril

Jeff VanderMeer

Jul 2020 · Macmillan Young Listeners · Narrated by Raphael Corkhill

About this audiobook

A Peculiar Peril is a head-spinning epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying, from the Nebula Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer.

Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather’s overstuffed mansion—a veritable cabinet of curiosities—once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon discover that the house is filled with far more than just oddities: It holds clues linking to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley has stormed back to life on a magic-fueled rampage across a surreal, through-the-looking-glass version of Europe replete with talking animals (and vegetables).

Swept into encounters with allies more unpredictable than enemies, Jonathan pieces together his destiny as a member of a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora. But as the ground shifts and allegiances change with every step, he and his friends sink ever deeper into a deadly pursuit of the profound evil that is also chasing after them.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Ratings and reviews

an excellent book by one of my favorite authors. Get ready for a surreal journey into one of the most uniquely imagined fantasy worlds out there. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably need to look up an historical figure or two. I'd give it six stars if they'd let me. Enjoy, and watch out for those Marmots.

About the author

Jeff Vandermeer grew up in the Fiji Islands and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida. His acclaimed Southern Reach trilogy has been translated into more than thirty-five languages. He also wrote the writing guide Wonderbook and helps run the teen science-fiction/fantasy writing camp Shared Worlds. A Peculiar Peril, the opening volume of the Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead duology is his first novel for young adults.