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Hellstrom's Hive
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
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. What they discovered was a nightmare more horrific and hideous than even their paranoid government minds could devise.
First published in Galaxy magazine in 1973 as "Project 40", Frank Herbert's vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology have never been more evident than in this classic of science fiction.
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The Hercules Text
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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From a remote corner of the galaxy, a message is being sent. The continuous beats of a pulsar have become odd, irregular, and artificial. It can only be a code. Frantically, a research team struggles to decipher the alien communication. And what the scientists discover is destined to shake the foundations of empires around this world - from Wall Street to the Vatican.
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Lots to recommend here!
- By Matthew on 10-19-18
By: Jack McDevitt
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Liege Killer
- The Paratwa Saga, Book 1
- By: Christopher Hinz
- Narrated by: Eric Meyers
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Two hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse forced humanity to flee earth, humans still remember the most feared warriors of that planet - the Paratwa. These are genetically modified killers who occupy two bodies controlled by one vicious mind. The legendary Paratwa named Reemul, known as the Liege-Killer, was the strongest of them all. Now someone has revived Reemul from stasis and sent him to terrorize the peaceful orbital colonies of Earth. Is this an isolated incident, or has the one who unleashed this terrible power announced a gambit for control over the entire human race?
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I remember this being better the 1st time I read i
- By Brien Corey on 06-03-22
By: Christopher Hinz
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The Fifth Profession
- By: David Morrell
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Savage, a former Navy SEAL and American state-of-the-art security specialist. Akira, Japan's most brilliant executive protector and a master of the samurai arts. Their mission: the retrieval of Rachel Stone, a beautiful American woman whose ruthless billionaire husband is out to destroy her.
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The Fifth Profession
- By Carolyn on 09-02-08
By: David Morrell
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Stealing Faces
- By: Michael Prescott
- Narrated by: Katina Kalin
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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John Cray has a secret. For 12 years he has stalked and kidnapped women, setting them loose in the mountains of eastern Arizona, hunting them like animals, and taking their lives. He has left no clues. He is suspected by no one. Or so he thinks. But now he has a problem. Somebody - a woman whose name he doesn't know - is stalking him. She follows him when he makes his nightly rounds in Tucson. She watches him on busy street corners and in shadowy restaurants. She seems to know his secret. But if so, why hasn't she gone to the police?
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very intense
- By penny from california on 07-24-16
By: Michael Prescott
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Children of the Deterrent
- Halfhero, Book 1
- By: Ian W. Sainsbury
- Narrated by: Sam Phillips, Jaimi Barbakoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The new novel by the author of the best-selling The World Walker series. 'My name is Daniel Harbin, and I'm a child of The Deterrent.' What if a superhuman turned out not to be so super...or even human? Britain's superhero, The Deterrent, was unveiled to the world in 1979 and disappeared two years later. The truth about his origins has never been revealed. The rumours about his children - those that survived - and their mysterious abilities have never been confirmed. Until now....
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Everything Backstory Until Last Few Chapters
- By Sailfish on 06-30-20
By: Ian W. Sainsbury
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The Last Good Man
- By: Linda Nagata
- Narrated by: Liisa Ivary
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Scarred by war, in pursuit of truth. Army veteran True Brighton left the service when the development of robotic helicopters made her training as a pilot obsolete. Now she works at Requisite Operations, a private military company established by friend and former Special Ops soldier Lincoln Han. Robotics, big data, and artificial intelligence are all tools used to augment the skills of veteran warfighters-for-hire. But the tragedy of war is still measured in human casualties.
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Leaves you with something to think about
- By AQC Kelly on 10-19-17
By: Linda Nagata
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The Plantation
- Payne & Jones, Book 1
- By: Chris Kuzneski
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The first to disappear is a ski instructor in the secluded mountains of Colorado. Hours later, a pregnant woman is abducted from a crowded hospital. Two places, two incidents, a single motive. And so it begins....
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Incredible Story
- By Char on 07-11-09
By: Chris Kuzneski
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Decent story
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Santaroga seemed to be nothing more than a prosperous farm community. But there was something...different...about Santaroga. Santaroga had no juvenile delinquency, or any crime at all. Outsiders found no house for sale or rent in this valley, and no one ever moved out. No one bought cigarettes in Santaroga. No cheese, wine, beer, or produce from outside the valley could be sold there. The list went on and on and grew stranger and stranger....
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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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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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For Devotees Mostly
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A warm day in Dublin, a crowded street corner. Suddenly, a car-bomb explodes, killing and injuring scores of innocent people.From the second-floor window of a building across the street, a visiting American watches, helpless, as his beloved wife and children are sacrificed in the heat and fire of someone else's cause.
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Great book and not a rip off
- By Randall on 11-09-17
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The Eyes of Heisenberg
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Public Law 10927 was clear and direct. Parents were permitted to watch the genetic alterations of their gametes by skilled surgeons...only no one ever requested it. When Lizbeth and Harvey Durant decided to invoke the Law, when Dr. Potter did not rearrange the most unusual genetic structure of their future son, barely an embryo growing in the State's special vat---the consequences of these decisions threatened to be catastrophic.
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More In So Few Pages Than Most Entire Book Series Contain!
- By Anonymous User on 07-21-23
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The Dragon in the Sea
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In the 21st century, the United States has all but used up its oil supply. A new source must be found. Our atomic subtugs begin stealing oil from underwater deposits in enemy territory. But none of the last 20 tugs sent to bring back the desperately needed mineral have returned. Ensign John Ramsey of the Bureau of Psychology is planted aboard the Fenian Ram S1881 as an electronics officer. His assignment: find the saboteur in the four-man crew and bring back the oil.
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Decent story
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The wrong narrator...again....
- By Stephen Hickman on 01-01-18
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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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For Devotees Mostly
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In the far future, humankind has made contact with numerous other species - and has helped to form the ConSentiency to govern between the species. After suffering under a tyrannous pure democracy that had the power to create laws so fast that no thought could be given to the effects, the sentients of the galaxy found a need for the Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab) to slow the wheels of government, thereby preventing it from legislating recklessly.
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Using deadly foamal bombs and newly developed vibration weapons, men like Joao Martinho and his coworkers fought to clear the green hell of the Mato Grosso. But somehow those areas that had been completely cleared were becoming reinfested, despite the impenetrable vibration barriers. And tales were coming out of the jungles - tales of insects mutated to incredible sizes, of creatures who seemed to be men but whose eyes gleamed with the chitinous sheen of insects....
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Very interesting story
- By Katie Taylor on 07-09-24
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The Godmakers
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On the edge of a war-weary and devastated galaxy, charismatic Lewis Orne has landed on Hamal. His assignment: To detect any signs of latent aggression in this planet's population. To his astonishment, he finds that his own latent extrasensory powers have suddenly blossomed, and he is invited to join the company of "gods" on this planet - and the people here place certain expectations on their gods.
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Lewis Orne = Hari Seldon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-20-16
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Dreamer of Dune
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Everyone knows Frank Herbert’s Dune. One of the most popular science fiction novels ever written, it has become a worldwide phenomenon, winning awards, selling millions of copies around the world. Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert’s eldest son, tells the provocative story of his father’s extraordinary life in this honest and loving chronicle. He has also brought to light all the events in Herbert’s life that would find their way into speculative fiction’s greatest epic.
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Herbert Was a Not a Nice Man
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 07-15-22
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The Heaven Makers
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Immortal aliens have observed Earth forcenturies, making full sensory movies of wars, natural disasters, and horrifichuman activities - all to relieve their endless boredom. When they finally becomejaded by ordinary, run-of-the-mill tragedies, they find ways to create theirown disasters, just to amuse themselves.
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a Dune fix
- By blackstonepoet on 05-13-20
By: Frank Herbert
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Direct Descent
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Asimov Did It Better
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 06-28-21
By: Frank Herbert
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The Beginning Place
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Tembreabrezi is like Eden - a beginning place. There, Hugh and Irena assume they have merely discovered an escape from the dull monotony, even the terrors of their regular lives. But Tembreabrezi has a secret, a dark fear that is threatening the very life-blood of the kingdom. Hugh and Irena were led there for a purpose, selected for an impossibly hopeless mission. If they accept the challenge, they may lose everything - their new-found paradise, and possibly their lives.
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Turned off...
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Man of Two Worlds
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What if the entire universe were the creation of alien minds? After an unfortunate spaceship accident, the hedonistic human Lutt Hansen, Jr., finds himself sharing his body and mind with a naïve alien dreamer. Together the two must survive dangers, schemes, and assassination attempts - but can they survive each other?
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Could have been so much better
- By Consumer111 on 11-13-16
By: Frank Herbert, and others
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Idoru
- By: William Gibson
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Colin Laney is here looking for work. He is an intuitive fisher for patterns of information. But Laney knows how to sift for the dangerous bits. Which makes him useful - to certain people. Chia McKenzie is here on a rescue mission. Her idol is the singer Rez, of the band Lo,Rez. When the Seattle chapter of the Lo,Rez fan club decided that he might be in trouble in Tokyo, they sent Chia to check it out. Rei Toei is the idoru - the beautiful, entirely virtual media star adored by all Japan. Rez has declared that he will marry her. This is the rumor that has brought Chia to Tokyo.
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The narrator made me turn this off in 10 seconds
- By Rob on 12-02-18
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The Dune Audio Collection
- By: Frank Herbert
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Read by the author, this compilation of key excerpts from the brilliant Dune trilogy is melded with connective text written by Frank Herbert specifically for these recordings. Includes selections from Dune: The Banquet Scene, Sandworms of Dune, The Battles of Dune, and The Truths of Dune: Fear Is the Mind Killer.
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Listen at 3/4 Speed!!
- By The Jay on 07-12-18
By: Frank Herbert
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High-Opp
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
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EMASI! Each Man a Separate Individual! That is the rallying cry of the Seps, the resistance force engaged in a class war against the upper tiers of a society driven entirely by opinion polls. Those who score high, the High-Opps, are given plush apartments, comfortable jobs, every possible convenience. But those who happen to be low-opped live crowded in warrens, facing harsh lives and brutal conditions.
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Deep State? Inevitable.
- By Robean on 12-07-20
By: Frank Herbert
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The Fellowship of the Ring (Dramatized)
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: An Ensemble Cast
- Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins
- Original Recording
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In the ancient lands of Middle-earth, a place of elves and dwarves, Orcs and wizards, the darkest evil and the brightest good, a hobbit named Frodo Baggins embarks on a perilous quest: to carry the One Ring, ruler of all the Rings of Power, into the shadowy land of Mordor and destroy it in the fires where it was forged.
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The worst dramatization ever
- By Jo on 06-11-07
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
What listeners say about Hellstrom's Hive
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- DJM
- 05-08-08
An Old Friend
I first read Helstrom's Hive in college in the early 70s. I re-read it a number of times over the years until I lost track of my copy. I was delighted to find it in the new audio releases.
Herbert tells a fascininating and provocative story about governemnt out of control in conflict with a new societal order. Throughout the fast paced story you are constantly pulled from one end of the story spectrum to the other, not sure who you want to prevail. Both groups are admirable and repellant. Beyond that are the disturbing implications for humanity if Helstrom's society could actually work.
I was a little worried that almost 40 years would make the story jarringly out of date, but I found that it still works well. Just as I re-read the original over the years, I expect to listen to this audio file again and again.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 12-03-23
Intentional divergent human evolution
Frank Herbert’s Hellstrom’s Hive is a sci-fi tale concerning a reclusive group of humans focused on a long-term plan to evolve themselves into a more insect-like species. Hellstrom is the leader of this group that uses the cover of producing insect documentaries. The government has also evolved into a more police state type organization and has uncovered some intel suggesting that Hellstrom is up to something. Several undercover agents have gone missing, but there is much uncertainty as to the intentions of Hellstrom. At the same time, Hellstrom has enlisted some senior level government officials to run interference for him.
Herbert incorporates several insect qualities into the Hellstrom group. Their utilization against the government agents proves an effective offense and defense. At the same time, Hellstrom has trouble controlling his vast numbers of minions. In line with the times (early 70’s), the government is concerned with the development of a superweapon and never seems to comprehend the real threat.
The narration is exceptional with excellent character distinction. Pacing is smooth.
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Overall
- Aaron
- 12-14-08
Great story, lame ending
Like other Herbert books I was a bit confused for the first hour or so. I rated this book a five because toward the last few hours of the book I found myself looking for times to listen more of the story beyond my normal work commute listen. Overall an excellent story with great imagination. The book seems to just stop with about as loose ended ending as one could come up with. Herbert was either looking to write another book or was rushed to publish the book. I really wish it would have ended differently.
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2 people found this helpful
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- The Maxim
- 06-02-23
Good, not Great.
It’s a good story. There are better dystopian stories out there. I’m not disappointed, but it’s not 1984 either.
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- Katie Taylor
- 09-06-24
Riveting
Great story. I got it free from Audible, and it’s worth the time for a listen.
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Overall
- crazybatcow
- 09-02-08
Well... definitely a novel from the 70s
The narration is well done, though it seems the narrator sometimes gets a bit more, err, "excited" than it would seem the scene warranted. There are a lot of jumps between "scenes" (i.e. from the farm to the agency to the history of the queen) that don't seem to have enough of a pause between them - you'll be listening to events at the farmhouse then in the next breath it'll be a snippet from the history.
The first quarter of the novel has a lot of characters to keep track of which takes a bit more concentration than some novels might. In fact, a lot of the characters aren't fleshed out anyway so I'm not sure why they're even in there...
The story itself is almost good... it's definitely worth a 3 but certainly not a 4. Part of the problem with the story is that we aren't led to care about any of the characters - they are all rather plastic. Female characters are all cardboard cutouts and exactly what you'd expect from 1970s science fiction (but, to be fair, the males are also cardboard cutouts). And, even though the narrator is good enough so we know which character is "acting" at any given point, it doesn't really matter which one it is because for the most part they all seem to be interchangeable.
There are better scifi books from the 70s here on Audible (i.e. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang) so unless you can get this for less than the cost of a credit, or are looking specifically to read classic scifi, I wouldn't buy it.
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6 people found this helpful
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- neil b
- 01-16-18
Good story and narration
There was no definitive ending which is disappointing, but the story was good. I enjoyed it. Quite interesting how things operated especially with the Hive. Quality sci-fi. This book is very much of the 70's the time that it was written but still stands well. The narrator was very good.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gary
- 05-29-23
it was OK. Not great, just OK.
it was a good book, just not a great book. The story is kind of dragging along there in the middle, and then the big reveal at the end is the best part. I guess if you can make it through the whole book, you'll be rewarded with the last chapter.
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- philly
- 01-30-15
Better than most SciFi but not Herbert's best
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Struggling between which side I most empathized with, then finally embracing one faction over the other. I won't disclose which side I took as I wouldn't want to jade your own experience. I also think which side one takes is up to the dispositions of the reader and was implicitly intentional.
Any additional comments?
The problem for me is it took about half of the audiobook to get me really interested. It was only faith in Frank Herbert's other great books that kept me going that long, usually I would have given up. At that half way point, it really was interesting and I admit I didn't want it to end. It definitely had some really original ideas and was thought provoking. Yet as mentioned, the fact that half the book was so slow was the reason it didn't get 5 stars. That and every other book I've read by Herbert (almost all, only the Whipping Star left) have been excellent (save some of some of the slower later Dune series books. The performance got dull. This narrator is generally good. However he has done one too many narrations for Frank Herbert's books and doing almost all of them just gets old. The narrator has done much better and shown a much better diversity of voices in other books. I wonder if Mr. Brick also just got rather bored with the book through the first half and lost his passion that is clear in his other narrations. Still if you are a Herbert fan, or a scifi fan in general, there is no reason to miss this book and its ideas so long as you are prepared to trudge through the first half of the book relatively unimpressed. The later half makes does make it worth while.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Bob
- 11-03-08
I Liked it but a Terrible Ending
A lot of books leave you hanging and waiting for the sequel but this one seemed to end right in the middle of the action. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it and can't wait for the sequel.
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