A Little Princess
It tells a story. Hardcover files this book as fiction. A fact, not a factor: it plays no part in our call.
Either. Don't overthink it
Thin evidence · 102 ratings of this reading, short of the 250 we trust. So the call is made without the recording’s half of the case. Why we hold that line
It genuinely does not matter much: with the reading left out the case is the format alone, and the format is not fighting you either way (between the bottom 34% and the top 23% of our shelf of books for extra work in audio). Pick whichever you will actually finish. Only 102 people have rated the reading, so it is not part of this call either way, and 250 is where we start letting a judgement about a reading move a verdict.
Length does not decide this
7h 01m to listen, at 1×5h 37m to listen, at 1.25×4h 41m to listen, at 1.5×4h 01m to listen, at 1.75×3h 31m to listen, at 2×about 8 hours to readabout 6 hours to readabout 5 hours to readabout 3½ hours to readabout 3 hours to read
The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 242 pages at 30 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 242 pages at 40 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 242 pages at 50 pages an hour, which is about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 242 pages at 65 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 242 pages at 80 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute.
Slot → commute-safe
About as demanding in audio as Slaughterhouse-Five.
About as much work in audio as most of the books we hold.
About as much work in audio as most of the fiction we hold.
About as much work in audio as most of the short books we hold.
Reading load against listening load
Where that puts this one among the books we hold: in the middle 40% of our shelf of books on both counts (effort on the page and effort in your ears). The middle of the scale is not the middle of the shelf (most books sit below the average on both), so a book at 0.00 is already in the top 43% for effort on the page. Each of the three is measured against the whole shelf separately, so the bottom figure is not the top two subtracted. It is this book’s own distance from the middle.
What the audio disadvantage is made of. Two things and no others: how fast readers say this one moves, and how demanding the reviews we read found it. There is no third: the structural one has no data source, so it contributes nothing rather than being guessed at. Both directions are declared priors we have never fitted against a real verdict, which is the weakest-evidenced part of the whole model.
How the call was made
Where a bar carries ticks, the grey one is the middle of our shelf and a coloured one is a line we publish, cool where we start backing the page, warm where we start backing the recording. The evidence squares at the foot are a different thing: how far each of our four sources went, hatched where there was nothing to measure at all.
- The audio case
- 0.26With the reading left out, this figure is the format alone: the gap between the formats is small but falls on the audio side (between the bottom 34% and the top 23% of our shelf of books for extra work in audio). Inside the band where neither side has made its case on this number alone, so the call is settled by what else is on the page.
- Narration payoff
- 0.00The reading took no part in this call. It scored 0.14 below the middle of our shelf of books (the second mark on the bar), but only 102 people have rated it, short of the 250 at which we let a judgement about a reading move a verdict, so it is recorded at 0.00 and the call rests on the book and the format. No line is drawn on this row, because none was applied.
- What is at stake
- 0.26It sits between the bottom 27% and the top 33% of our shelf of books for how well the print crowds think of a book: middling regard, so this barely moves the call either way. Blended across 335,487 Goodreads ratings and 331 on Hardcover, each scored inside its own population first, and never added together.
For the page
- The crowds’ regard did not reach the line where we protect a first read, this reason did not apply
For the recording
- Too few listeners have rated this reading, so we left the voice out of the call, this reason did not apply
- Audio is neither helping nor fighting this one
- Only 102 listeners have rated this reading, under the 250 we ask for, this reason did not apply
Neither column won it: the two came out level, which is the answer above.
A bigger dot counted for more: the voice and the ear are sized by their share of the sum above, the other two by how much stands behind them. A hatched square is a reason that did not apply here, which is not the same as one that counted for little.
- Evidence
- 0.91How much of the picture we actually have, out of 1.00: four questions, each answered as far as the source could answer it, less anything taken off for reading fewer reviews than we aim to.The reading102 people have rated this reading: enough to lean onThe second sourceHardcover knows this book, with 331 readers there: as good as it getsThe matchHow sure we are that the recording we scored is this book: as good as it getsThe reviewsWe read 300 reviews to judge how demanding it is: as good as it gets
What each crowd complains about
In the reviews we read, how often readers brought it up and how often listeners did, each against what is usual for that same crowd across our whole shelf, which is the grey tick. The track stops at 4×. Listeners are only ever compared with listeners.
Neither crowd brings any of the three up more often than its own crowd usually does. Whatever this book asks of you, its listeners are not saying the format is what makes it hard.
What the two crowds said
Showing the stars as each shop prints them. The two crowds are not measured from the same place: on our shelf Audible’s listeners average 0.35 of a star above Goodreads’ readers, so a recording that is ordinary for Audible can still out-star a book that is genuinely well liked for Goodreads. Switch the toggle to take that difference off.Showing each figure as its distance from its own crowd’s middle on our shelf, in standard deviations, so 0 is a typical book for that crowd. Listeners start 0.35 of a star up, partly because anyone who finishes a twenty-five-hour recording chose it deliberately, and this takes that off. It is not a claim that audio is better, the story figure is still Audible’s own (people rating a story they heard), and none of it moves the verdict above.
102 ratings of this readingstar chartstoo few to draw beside the book’s, and 250 is where we start trusting the shape
overallAudible
overall, pooled by the shop, so we hold no ruler for it
117 ratings · performance and story, as the shop pools them
the performanceAudible
the performance, against Audible’s own crowd
103 ratings
the story, as heardAudible
the story, as heard, against Audible’s own crowd
102 ratings
the book itselfGoodreads
the book itself, against Goodreads’ own crowd
335,487 ratings
Every reading we hold
8 complete readings of it, and one call above for the book: the verdict is a claim about format, not about a voice. Which voice to press play on is the next question, and this is our answer to it. Below 250 ratings of the reading we name a recording and decline to rank it.
- Shiromi Arseriothe one we measured7h 01m5h 37m4h 41m4h 01m3h 31m · One voice · Audible UK and US
Only 102 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Colleen Prendergasttoo few ratings to judge6h 58m5h 34m4h 39m3h 59m3h 29m · One voice · Audible UK
Only 2 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Vanessa Maroneytoo few ratings to judge7h 42m6h 10m5h 08m4h 24m3h 51m · One voice · Audible UK
One person has rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Elizabeth Ruelastoo few ratings to judge7h 09m5h 43m4h 46m4h 05m3h 35m · One voice · Audible UK
Only 49 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Johanna Wardtoo few ratings to judge6h 41m5h 21m4h 27m3h 49m3h 21m · One voice · Audible UK
Only 221 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Justine Eyretoo few ratings to judge6h 54m5h 31m4h 36m3h 57m3h 27m · One voice · Audible UK
Only 36 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Jennifer M Dixontoo few ratings to judge7h 14m5h 47m4h 49m4h 08m3h 37m · One voice · Audible UK
Only 2 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
- Flo Gibsontoo few ratings to judge6h 15m5h 00m4h 10m3h 34m3h 08m · One voice · Audible UK
Only 2 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.
Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load
2 other listings we set aside, listed with the reason for eacheach one is sold as this book and is not a complete reading of it
- Eleanor Bron2h 51m2h 17m1h 54m1h 38m1h 26m · 16 ratingsAbridged: it runs 41% of the full reading
- Julia McKenzie, Robert Glenister, Ellie Beaven, Ravin J Gunatra, Nicky Henson, full cast1h 28m1h 10m59 min50 min44 min · 4 ratingsNot a straight reading of the book
The recording these numbers came from
- Runtime
- 7h 01m at 1×
- Read by
- Shiromi Arserio
- Kind
- One voice
- ASIN
- B07DHW2HY9 · Audible UK
- Rated in
- Audible UK and US · 72 + 31 ratings of the performance
- Judged on
- 102 ratings of the narration
- Published
- Spoken Realms · 2018
Too few people have rated this reading for us to call it our pick (our published bar is 250), so these are its details rather than a recommendation, and Audible sorts a search by newest, so check before you buy. The runtime is the check: if the one in front of you says 7h 01m, that is the reading these numbers describe. “Judged on” is the crowd behind every judgement we make about this reading: the smaller of the performance and story counts, which is why it is a little under the two shop counts added. We do not link out to a shop, and we take nothing if you buy there.