A Borrowed Man Audiobook By Gene Wolfe cover art

A Borrowed Man

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

A Borrowed Man

By: Gene Wolfe
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

A Borrowed Man: a new science fiction novel from Gene Wolfe, the celebrated author of the Book of the New Sun series.

It is perhaps a hundred years in the future, our civilization is gone, and another is in place in North America, but it retains many familiar things and structures. Although the population is now small, there is advanced technology, there are robots, and there are clones.

E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person. He is a clone who lives on a third-tier shelf in a public library, and his personality is an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human. A wealthy patron, Colette Coldbrook, takes him from the library because he is the surviving personality of the author of Murder on Mars. A physical copy of that book was in the possession of her murdered father, and it contains an important secret, the key to immense family wealth. It is lost, and Colette is afraid of the police. She borrows Smithe to help her find the book and to find out what the secret is. And then the plot gets complicated.

©2015 Gene Wolfe (P)2015 Audible, Inc. Crime Fiction Fiction Genetic Engineering Noir Science Fiction Technology Crime Mystery
All stars
Most relevant  
Generally I love Gene Wolfe, but maybe I've grown out of him. Normally I feel her had an uncanny sense of how technology reveals the monsters hiding in our humanity - or visa versa, but this felt more like a short story packed or to fill a novel. The motives of the characters flail wildly between obvious and completely disjointed from the story.

When all was said and done I was left thinking that there were some nifty ideas presented, but they were never played with to any degree to that made the predictable storyline seem worth it.

Meh

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Borrowed Man is perhaps my least favorite Gene Wolfe novel I've read to date, but even then I still found it quite enjoyable. While my first reading has left me with the impression that it's much less nuanced than the Solar Cycle, Wolfe's is known for narratives that require close scrutiny to be fully understood. A lot of the more negative reviews criticize the audiobook's stilted narration as if it's a matter of poor workmanship, but a number of lines in the book suggest it mimics the narrating character's actual cadence of speech (a fact he finds infuriating). I'd recommend sampling this book before you buy because some people find it grating, but at its worst it is an overzealous artistic choice. The story itself is a very character-forward spin on a hardboiled narrative with Wolfe's trademark of veiled worldbuilding, leading to a dystopian setting with just enough details to spark the reader's imagination. If you haven't read anything by Wolfe before you may not find this novel particularly appealing, but fans of his style should be satisfied.

Not Wolfe's best work, but solidly entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The idea of a borrowed man, and with it the speculative premise that drives this story, are certainly worthy of Wolfe's genius. The protagonist and first-person narrator admits from the outset that, in fact as in law, he is not fully human. The story bears this judgment out in various interesting and poignant ways, but despite the limitations built into him, he's a very appealing character. His story has a good arc, too, though it suffers from a number of the sorts of continuity errors that drive me to distraction.

The narrator's intensity level ranges from breathless fascination to near panic, and listening to him for any length of time is exhausting. All of the character voices are equally over the top, either stentorian or histrionic. Chill out, dude.

Great Gene Wolfe Concept, Distracting Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
just wow! I'm liking this blend of wolfe's style with the detective story.Voice acting was a little wooden and lacking emotion but it didnt bother me after a while. still, i may have enjoyed reading it more. This is my favorite of his books so far.

a rock solid detective story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Couldn't really keep interest with the narrator's cadence, story seems great as most Gene Wolfe's stories are.

Monotone narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I can't really give a fair review of the story because I found the narrator so irritating that I didn't make it past the 4th chapter. He over enunciates everything and inserts awkward pauses after every 3 or 4 words. It was somewhat like listening to someone read something in a language they were just learning. It was so distracting that I couldn't even follow the story. I might try this one again in print, but there's no way I can finish the audible version.

Annoying Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Part murder mystery, part classic gene wolf, part critique of modern society, class and identity in society.

A great listen and one of the author's best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this story, but the narration was difficult for me. I didn't enjoy the voice acting for this one. In my opinion, it's better read on paper.

Another Great Story by Gene Wolfe

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don't know how to rate this book. Not really.

My first Gene Wolfe book since I was a teenager, wasLitany of the Long Sun, and I didn't remember it at all.

For me, E. A. Smithe, of, A Borrowed Man, and, Patera Silk from, Litany of the Long Sun, are such similar characters.

At first, my reaction to Patera Silk was standoffish, I wanted him to be a fighter, to be strong, and, when knocked down, to get back up and give them what for!

But, he wasn't. He wasn't strong like that, but, he was iron in a far different way. He was clever, but so truthful, and, so persistent. Failure did not seem to represent any true setback, merely, something which occurred and, had to be worked around, and, though he could lie, and, dissemble, he was a creature who was true, and, utterly honest with,
himself.

So,
I was prepared for the character of E. A. Smithe, a character who had little to no control over the most intimate and fundamental aspects of his own life, including, when and how it would end (Something central to the story, and, at times, very jarring).

E. A. Smithe and Patera Silk are such similar characters.

And, one key element of both characters, and, both settings, is precisely that lack of control, that, personal freedom we all take so much for granted in what we call, the "Civilized" world.

Both characters shine, and display such strength, resilience, and self - reliance, self - determination, in what others would see as utterly oppressive.

Gene Wolfe acted to shift my vision of strength, and, indeed,
Freedom.

There is no freedom, without sacrifice.

Manu fique!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Clones that aren't considered human, not allowed to marry or have personal lives. Was very surprised at the ending. It was a tad tedious with the stilted talking of the borrowed man although I understand the premise behind it. I Would love a sequel. I intend to listen again in the future.

Is this our future?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews