Descendant Machine Audiobook By Gareth L. Powell cover art

Descendant Machine

Stars and Bones, Book 2

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Descendant Machine

By: Gareth L. Powell
Narrated by: Rebecca Norfolk
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From the award-winning author comes a gripping, fast-paced and fascinating science fiction adventure. Vividly imagined and sharply written, fans of Ann Leckie and Becky Chambers will be engrossed.

The Grand Mechanism is a machine the size of Saturn's rings that has lain dormant for all recorded history, watched over by the alien Jzat. Now, rogue elements in Jzat and human society conspire to activate it, hoping it will bring them power and opportunity. But the only person who knows the Mechanism's secrets is the Rav'nah Abelisk, a Jzat holy man on sabbatical aboard a vast alien megaship. Believing the Mechanism's activation will bring galactic devastation, Nic Mafalda has to seek out the Abelisk before his sacred knowledge falls into the wrong hands—but only if she can first escape the lethally radioactive remains of her wrecked scout ship.

©2023 Gareth L. Powell (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Adventure First Contact Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction
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Descendant Machine was a totally immersive, fast-paced, and character-driven science fiction space opera ride. Humans and Jzat co-exist in this epic story set in the Continuance universe. It finds the protagonist, Nicola Malfada, on a dangerous mission--which at first seems straightforwards, but in the end, not so much. Life changing decisions must be made, but it all came to a satisfying conclusion.
I chose the audiobook version for convenience, but wishing now I'd gotten the Kindle version. Easily remedied. Narrator Rebecca Norfolk did a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life, if only by changing the pitch of her voice. Overall, it was a thrilling ride!

Fast-Paced & Character Driven

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The story was just as captivating as the first book. It opened my eyes to new possibilities and left me wishing for a space adventure with an extraterrestrial being. I was reminded of the power of love and friendship, and how they can overcome even the most difficult challenges. The book contains many confessions and life-and-death situations, but the determination of the characters is inspiring. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a compelling read.

Spellbinding!!!

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Gareth L Powell’s Descendant Machine is the second book in his Stars and Bones series, although this story is a standalone tale with sufficient background on this universe to obviate the need for reading the first book. In this universe, humanity has been relocated to multiple ark ships to prevent nuclear annihilation. The main character is a human navigator recovering from a previous decapitation. She is tasked with stopping another group attempting to restart an ancient and dormant alien machine.

Powell offers a unique universe where humanity has been saved in spite of themselves and left to wander the galaxy with the possibility of random taskings by their benevolent alien overlords.

The narration is decent with modest character distinction. Pacing is a tad slow.

Ancient alien tech

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This series is amazing and while it is often equated the work is Anne Leckie, I don’t know how you could read the Descendant Machine (or the first book) and not think it is the natural progression of Ian Bank’s the Culture. There are so many parallels between the two while retaining enough details to be it’s own story. Regardless, change a few names and you could imagine these books being a continuation of the Culture storyline. The overall theme of the dependency of humanity on AI in a post scarcity universe is especially comparable. The choice and style of narration are on point too. I’m not mad about the comparison and am thrilled to lose myself in this world and to experience a work so similar to my favorite series ever.

If you loved The Culture series, this is for you!

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Pronunciation is important and this lady is terrible at it. The story is good at least.

Good story bad narrator

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