Michael Whittier

Look at the other reviews. Notice something?

Reviewed: 01-02-24

See how most of the positive reviews mention the audio performance? This is audible.com. We are all here because we listen to audio books. We all have our favorite narrators and performances. I could listen to Red Rising a thousand times because Tim Gerard Reynolds performance is like music to a song that lasts 16 hours.

You are on a site full of the greatest audio books ever made. Most audio books that exist are here, people are listening to them and leaving reviews. We are all audio book nerds here. Notice how many of the reviews for this book are in shock at just how much better this performance is than almost everything else they have heard. That's the situation you have found yourself in. You will need to start comparing it to your most cherished works, your own personal favorites that have that special something that you love so much to find something worthy to compare this performance to. It really is that good.

The only books that I know of that attempted this level of production value and came close to success are Ender's game and Dune. This is the league we find ourselves in, the league with two of the most famous sci fi works in history. Go listen to those performances a little bit before starting this one just to drive home how special this book is. It's in a different league. In my opinion Dune was really good, and Ender's game was way too over the top and cut out too much of the original text. Both of them are hot garbage compared to this one.

All of that being said, the story sucks. It's bad sci fi. L. Ron Hubbard was [insert scientology related, curse filled tirade here], but at least we got this audiobook out of all that human suffering. It may have been worth it in the end.

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Good news and bad news...

Reviewed: 10-19-23

Well the good news is Adam Epstein did not narrate this book. For those Egan fans out there that feel the same way about Mr. Epstein's performances (though I'm sure he is a lovely person once you get to know him) will be ecstatic they do not need to muscle through another reading. Gave Canlas performance a 4 star only because a 3 star seemed low when compared to Epstein.

The bad news though is, in my humble opinion, this is Mr. Egan's least engaging work so far. Oh the irony we get a decent performance (still not an amazing narrator, this new guy) on a less than breathtaking story.

It's like the real meat of the story doesn't start until like 5 hours in. 3/4 of the book feel like a backstory for our main character and his sister leading up to an exciting adventure on the islands of misfit evolutionary anomalies. The "climax" happens with like 20 minutes left and wraps up in basically a couple of scenes. It really feels tacked on. It feels like someone else wrote this book then showed it to Egan, which Egan really liked, but thought the ending needed a bit more spice. So he wrote some science-y stuff to make an ending he came up with make sense.

Gave performance a 4 star only because a 3 star seemed low when compared to Epstein.

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Obscure history given new life.

Reviewed: 04-03-23

This book takes a story whose elements are shrouded in obscurity and fable and drags it into the light. You've probably seen a 10 minute youtube video stating John Wayne stared in a Genghis Khan movie which may have even included the detail that this film was shot near nuclear testing grounds. This book dives deep into the story and fleshes it out fully with vivid details including Howard Hughes' sex life and the unbelievable working conditions of the production crew. Its history, its celebrity intrigue, its a tragic chronicling of one of the worst nuclear disaster to occur in the western hemisphere. In short, it was a s***t show.

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Narrator fits the story

Reviewed: 07-22-22

Most of the negative reviews mention how bad the narrator is. Admittedly, at first I was in agreement. The accent is vaguely eastern European and somewhat heavy. I can see how people compare it to Siri or Alexa, the tone and cadence sound robotic if your trying to hear it. But for me personally it grew on me. I have listened to Greg Egan books read by Adams Epstein, who is the worst narrator on auddible, so I figured I could persevere through Julia Emelin. The story sounded compelling enough to try. After maybe 20 minutes I could easily understand the accent and after a few chapters I was glad she was the narrator. When I stopped judging her and just listened it sounded better to me quickly. She pronounces the incantations so beautifully that it became obvious why she was chosen. A narrator's skill is quite subjective unfortunately, so you'll have to listen for yourself to see if you like her.

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captivating but ultimately pointless

Reviewed: 10-28-16

Captivating for the first few chapters. Just sit of fades out in the end. No real point to the story. Good glimpse of a society but could have done something with it.

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Theistic garbage

Reviewed: 07-31-16

If you are in the 5% of humans who think the idea of supernatural deities existing and influencing the natural world is not only stupid but harmful, then this book will annoy you. I'm all for some religious sophestry when done with any kind of sophistication, such as in the ender series. But this is Sunday school level cliche Christian theism that assumes its particular doctrines of faith without evidence and arbitrary moral standards are universal and objective. It doesn't even try to imagine the cultures that would exist given the circumstances of the universe the story is set in. The author just assumes idealistic Christian values from 1950 will somehow dominate the far future.

The story was dull and unoriginal as well.

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8 people found this helpful

Decent. Worth a credit if nothing better is found.

Reviewed: 12-06-15

Cons: The story is somewhat predictable in the grand scheme of things. Shephard telegraphed the climax plot point of the hacksaws and aloe pretty heavily and the Chatnass being the ultimate enemy was obvious to me in the first few chapters. The dialogue was a bit boring and cliche in spots and the characters are not fleshed out well in detail. The technology involved in this faster than light level society seems a bit uninventive.

Pros: Well written action scenes and tactics used are surprising and entertaining. Overall story is compelling.

Overall worth a credit if you don't have anything better to read. I found myself ignoring large sections of talk during lulls in fighting where the dialogue. obtained nothing but cliche character establishing words you have read in any book, interspersed with descriptions of various settings. Shephard never really gave me any reason to care about what anyone said or did other than Major Thakur and, by default, the main character Eric. The story was compelling enough to read the next book though. The AI seemed interesting and Shephard is good at writing himself into hairy military situations and extracting himself using the tech he has allowed in the universe which makes the battles pretty interesting.

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2 people found this helpful