
7th Sigma
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Narrated by:
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Fred Berman
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By:
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Steven Gould
Welcome to the territory. Leave your metal behind, all of it. The bugs will eat it, and they'll go right through you to get it. Don't carry it, don't wear it, and for God's sake, don't come here if you've got a pacemaker.
The bugs showed up about 50 years ago - self-replicating, solar-powered, metal-eating machines. No one knows where they came from. They don't like water, though, so they've stayed in the desert Southwest. The territory. People still live here, but they do it without metal. Log cabins, ceramics, what plastic they can get that will survive the sun and heat. Technology has adapted, and so have the people.
Kimble Monroe has chosen to live in the territory. He was born here, and he is extraordinarily well adapted to it. He's one in a million. Maybe one in a billion.
In 7th Sigma, Gould builds an extraordinary SF novel of survival and personal triumph against all the odds.
©2011 Steven Gould (P)2011 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
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Like Kipling's Kim, this is told as a serial novel, centering around a young boy named Kimble who is growing up - the major SF divergence is that it takes place in The Territory, where bugs eat everything metal. The people who choose to stay here learn to make due without metal - be it the rivets in their jeans, the lead in their rifles, or chips in their computers. But that's really just the setting, and it sounds more gritty than it is. In general, it's a sweet little coming of age story about Kimble finding his place in the world beside his mentor and sensei Ruth, and Col. Bentham, who he occasionally works for.
There's lots about it that's fun - aikido, heliographs, porcelain ammunition, gyrorifles, espionage, and - of course - metal eating bugs. Fred Berman's narration is fine - his reading is crisp, and he read the few Spanish sections impressively.
Unfortunately, since Kimble is such a capable and intelligent aikido student, whenever there is conflict, there's never really any doubt who will come out on top. And one of the few times when Kimble gets in over his head, happens outside the narrative. As a result, the espionage bits that make up the second half of the book drag a bit. Additionally, there's little shades of grey in this half - the bad guys might as well be wearing black hats. There's an honesty to the narrative when it's focusing on Kimble's relationships and interactions to the people he cares about in The Territory, and that's when the book is most rewarding. But when it veers off to him learning to be a spy, it didn't work as well for me.
A Rudyard Kipling-esque SF Western with Aikido
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Not the best, yet not the worst!
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good book but really, not a Sci-Fi book
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Kimball is a street child in The Territory, a place where metal and EM cannot be used because of 'bugs' - metal and EM loving tiny robots, that mindlessly destroy anything in their way if they sense either substance. The idea of no cell phones or cars! Aaaaah! Kim's adventures are riveting. You will enjoy it! Now, if Steven would just write a sequel....
Worth the Credit!
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Speaking of New Mexico, it's also an encyclopedia of the state's geography and plants. It's as if the author drove around the state and wrote the story as he went, and not very realistically. These places are way too far apart for the donkey trail. Why would the boy travel so much on donkey back? It doesn't make sense. Why would anyone be dumping metals and attracting deadly bugs along the rivers in a desert biome? I think they'd be dumping in the deserts, not the precious water source. Riparian zones would be the first areas cleaned up IF anyone was really going to live in this now deadly region.
It's also a coming of age story.
It was interestimg enough and the narrator does it justice, but it could be better.
Searched forbthe narrator and found this
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What if you couldn't use metal ever again?
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The story never seemed to find a rhythm or coalesce around a cohesive plot direction. Several times it felt like a new and potentially interesting thread was being introduced, only to have the story slide back into the mundane.
The reader was not particularly compelling, either. I found myself grinding my jaw often when some of the characters would speak, wishing Mr. Herman would dial back the characterization or simply read in his own voice. Actually, I'm not entirely sure he ever did read in his own voice. The entire narration sounded as if it were being "Acted".
The sci-fi element of the story was disappointing, though the world created by the author was fully formed and intriguing. The ending of the book left many plot threads hanging. The author seemed more interested in keeping an opening for a sequel than in tying up the many loose ends.
Hoped for more
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Where does 7th Sigma rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
one of my favoritesWhat did you like best about this story?
imagine living without metalWhich character – as performed by Fred Berman – was your favorite?
of course KimWas there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
the ending, as Kim's future beginsAny additional comments?
only problem was the missprounced words in Spamishlearning to live without metal!!!
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Outstanding, 5/5, highly recommend.
A favorite book since 2011
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7th Sigma
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