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Direct Descent
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
A library planet: The greatest treasure, the deadliest weapon.
Earth has become a library planet over the last several thousand years, a bastion of both useful and useless knowledge - esoterica of all types: History, science, politics - gathered by teams of "pack rats" who scour the galaxy for any scrap of information. Knowledge is power, knowledge is wealth, and knowledge can be a weapon. As powerful dictators come and go over the course of history, the cadre of dedicated librarians is sworn to obey the lawful government - and use their wits to protect the treasure trove of knowledge they have collected over the millennia.
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- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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They're all gone. We remember them like yesterday: pieces of our stolen heritage. Things like NASA. Football. Parades and pies. Good things, comfortable things. We remember a time when we were alone in the universe, safe and oblivious. But it's all gone now. We called them the Telestines, and in the face of their ruthless invasion we were powerless. By 2040, all the world's governments and militaries had fallen, and the remnants of humanity exiled to the solar system. We looked down on our blue planet, so close to our birthplace, so close to our home.
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A shockingly bad book.
- By Ginger on 04-12-17
By: Nick Webb
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Up Against It
- By: M. J. Locke
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Geoff and his friends live in Phocaea, a distant asteroid colony on the Solar System's frontier. They're your basic high-spirited young adults, enjoying such pastimes as hacking matter compilers to produce dancing skeletons that prance through the low-gee communal areas, using their rocket-bikes to salvage methane ice shrapnel that flies away when the colony brings in a big (and vital) rock of the stuff, and figuring out how to avoid the ubiquitous surveillance motes.
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Very old school SF, in ways good and bad
- By A reader on 06-19-12
By: M. J. Locke
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The Real Story: The Gap into Conflict
- The Gap Cycle, Book 1
- By: Stephen R. Donaldson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time, master storyteller Stephen R. Donaldson returns with this exciting and long-awaited new series that takes us into a stunningly imagined future to tell a timeless story of adventure and the implacable conflict of good and evil within each of us.
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Your So Vain, You Probably Think This Book is
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-13-13
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Cobra Alliance
- Cobra War, Book 1
- By: Timothy Zahn
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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When the colony worlds Adirondack and Silvern fell to the Troft forces almost without a struggle. Outnumbered and on the defensive, Earth made a desperate decision. It would attack the aliens not from space, but on the ground with forces the Trofts did not even suspect. Thus were created the Cobras, a guerilla force whose weapons were surgically implanted, invisible to the unsuspecting eye, yet undeniably deadly.
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Military sci-fi with realistic characterization
- By crazybatcow on 02-02-13
By: Timothy Zahn
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Crystal Soldier
- Liaden Universe Books of Before, Book 1
- By: Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Centuries in the past, mankind fought a seemingly unbeatable adversary from sector to sector across the Spiral Arm until the war ground to a standstill and the Enemy withdrew. Believing that they had won, the citizens of the galaxy rebuilt. The Inner Worlds, which had escaped the worst of the war's ravages, became even more insular, while the Rim worlds adopted a free and easy way with law and order. Now, hundreds of years after their withdrawal, the Enemy is back - and this time they'll be satisfied with nothing less than the extinction of the galaxy.
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Finally, Liaden on Audible
- By Charlie on 09-05-12
By: Sharon Lee, and others
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Sten
- Sten Series, Book 1
- By: Chris Bunch, Allan Cole
- Narrated by: Jerry Sciarrio
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The first book in an action–packed new SF adventure series. Vulcan is a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death. Vulcan breeds just two types of native: complacent or tough. Sten is tough. When his family is killed in a mysterious accident, Sten rebels, harassing the Company from the metal world’s endless maze-like warrens. He could end up just another burnt–out Delinquent. But people like Sten never give up.
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THE MASTERPIECE BY JERRY SCIARRIO
- By Professor on 10-31-12
By: Chris Bunch, and others
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War of the Spheres
- By: James Millington, B. V. Larson
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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When humanity reaches for the stars, our probes are destroyed. They crash into an incredibly advanced piece of technology: a massive force-field. Unknown beings have placed a barrier around our star and planets, enclosing us within. We’re locked inside a Great Sphere. Was this invisible obstacle built to imprison us - or to protect us? No one knows the truth, but it soon becomes clear the barrier has leaks. Aliens infiltrate and try to sabotage our efforts to escape our cage.
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misleading summary...
- By Neil Kresl on 04-04-19
By: James Millington, and others
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Prominence
- By: A. C. Hadfield
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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They tried to destroy our planets. Our way of life. They tried to send us into extinction. But we, the Coalition, fought them and won. That was a decade ago. They’re known as the Host: a cabal of aliens seeking to dominate our sector of space. And they’re back - with help from a powerful new enemy. We’re outnumbered and unprepared. But there is hope. An ancient race of long-dead but technologically advanced aliens called the Navigators have a ship called the Blackstar that could potentially turn the tide. That is if I, Kai Locke, a humble ship racer, can find it and learn how to harness its power in time.
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Newly found love.
- By L. Rampey on 03-22-19
By: A. C. Hadfield
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Queen of Angels
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Emanuel Goldsmith, a famous poet, murdered eight people, then disappeared. Three people want to find him: an aspiring writer, an embittered scientist who wants to use him, and a policewoman who needs to put him in custody before the Selectors, a vigilante organization, get to him first.
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fantastic, a whole new experience on audio
- By Tungsten on 04-02-16
By: Greg Bear
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Katsuk, a militant Native American student, has kidnapped 13-year-old David Marshall - the son of the US undersecretary of state. He and his young hostage flee into the deepest wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where they must work together to survive as teams of hunters try to track them. Even as he struggles to escape, David begins to feel a certain amount of respect for his captor. What the boy does not know, however, is that he has been chosen as an innocent from the white world for an ancient sacrifice of vengeance. And Katsuk may be divinely inspired - or simply insane.
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Generations of a tormented human-alien people, caged on a toxic planet, conditioned by constant hunger and war - this is the Dosadi Experiment, and it has succeeded too well. For the Dosadi have bred for vengeance as well as cunning, and they have learned how to pass through the shimmering God Wall to exact their dreadful revenge on the Universe that created them....
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The wrong narrator...again....
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America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the world: insects. When the Agency discovered that Dr. Hellstrom's Project 40 was a cover for a secret laboratory, a special team of agents was immediately dispatched to discover its true purpose and its weaknesses - it could not be allowed to continue.
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The starship Earthling, filled with thousands of hibernating colonists en route to a new world at Tau Ceti, is stranded beyond the solar system when the ship's three organic mental cores - disembodied human brains that control the vessel's functions - go insane. The emergency skeleton crew sees only one chance for survival: build an artificial consciousness in the Earthling's primary computer that can guide them to their destination - and hope it doesn't destroy the human race.
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What listeners say about Direct Descent
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Calistro
- 01-20-22
discombobulated
The transition between the first part and the second part for me was a little rough. kind of just joined the flow trying to figure out where it's going to go and where it's coming from.
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- E. Taylor
- 08-29-22
Fun old time Science Fiction
I read this as a young boy, it brought back fond memories. This doesn’t have a deep story line or impossible new science, just good writing and your own imagination to bring the story alive.
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-21-24
Weird first story; 2nd better
I couldn’t get to care about the first story at all. The second one was easier to follow and care about. Scott Brick: 49 minutes from the end, you pronounced “unguent” as “un-gent”! You’re always better than that—I can’t believe no one caught that.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-07-22
Wonderful
Every time I read Frank Herbert I am consumed by his amazing world building. This short story showcases Herbert’s unique ability to create a vision of society evolving in fascinating directions all the while maintaining realistic and very human cultures. I wish it was 20 hours long instead of three.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-29-23
boring and bland
I haven't read Dune. Should've started there. I just finished this and won't remember it tomorrow.
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- Hade
- 02-23-22
big ole libbies
This is really two short stories in the same setting, the first story is the best writing I've read from Herbert and the second one is okay. Scott Brick is always good but he is especially well suited for these.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Timothy Smith
- 11-01-21
An interesting twist of mind!
Herbert always had a most interesting twist of mind.
If you loved that in other stories you will appreciate it this short story as well.
A true hidden treasure of the author of Dune.
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- Poet Morningstar Stewart
- 09-26-22
Big Book Content
What an Amazing two hours ! This is exciting, you feel you’ve been hurled into a possible parallel universe, full of all we have been and will be witness too …
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- Klendark
- 08-10-21
The masters speak
A perfect combination. The Master of Narration--Scott Brick--narrates a work by the Master of Science Fiction. Truly a match made in heaven. The story, though short, is rich and captivating, made more so by the skills of the narrator. A definite must-listen!
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- Benjamen Hansen
- 02-13-21
Frank Herbert, one of his
it's a Frank Herbert novel, short, intricate and well adorned. Worth your time so just sit back and let it roll.
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