Night Train to Rigel Audiobook By Timothy Zahn cover art

Night Train to Rigel

Quadrail, Book 1

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Night Train to Rigel

By: Timothy Zahn
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
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A secret agent aboard a galactic railroad must derail a sinister conspiracy in this "rip-roaring" thriller by the author of Star Wars: Thrawn (Publishers Weekly).

The universe is a dangerous place, a fact violently brought home to Frank Compton for perhaps the thousandth time when a stranger delivering a message dies right in front of him. An operative for Western Alliance Intelligence until his whistle-blowing activities got him fired, Compton is now being sought out by the Spiders, the robotic alien beings responsible for the upkeep and operation of the Quadrail transportation system, which connects the galaxy's twelve inhabited empires. The discovery of a sinister plot to use the Quadrail for ill has brought the Spiders to Compton—for only someone possessing the former agent's unique skills can stop the scheme for good.

But when Compton leaves Earth behind—joining forces with Bayta, the Spiders' beautiful, half-human representative aboard the Quadrail—the terrifying scope of a vast, galaxy-wide conspiracy begins to reveal itself. Targeted on all sides by alien assassins of every shape and species, Compton and his enigmatic new partner are suddenly in a race against a clock ticking down to an irreversible doomsday, one in which the galactic night train will derail, carrying all members of humanity screaming to their deaths.

©2005 Timothy Zahn (P)2025 Tantor Media Adventure First Contact Science Fiction Space Opera
Immersive Storytelling • Memorable Narrative • Crisp Pronunciation • Engaging Mystery • Visual Descriptions
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Like: Zahn’s noir style is great.
Dislike:The reader is too formal. A story like this needs a more casual style.

Nighi Train Review

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The synopsis of the book posted on Audible seemed a little cheesy. I might have passed it by if it hadn't been that this author is one of my favorites. As it happened, I was glad I'd taken the chance. The story was better than expected, although the reader is kind of annoying, almost robotic in his tone and cadence.

Sci-Fi meets Agatha Christie

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I have loved this series for a long time. I was thrilled to see the audio books. I found reader is fine as long as I sped up the reading. I personally preferred it at about 1.1. He is a bit slow in the narration and speeding it up helped a great deal.

Great series

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I first read these books years ago. They are the kind of book that I love to recommend to friends, but that’s hard to do because the genre is hard to nail down. Sci-fi, obviously, but also a little of Fleming’s James Bond and Christie’s Poirot (or maybe Tommy and Tuppence(?)). Regardless, all 5 books are great fun, and each one has stuck in my memory the way some more revered sci-fi hasn’t. (For sheer memorableness these books rank up there with Starship Troopers and The Forever War.)

Unfortunately, I found the narrator very wooden, laughably so, at times. He pronounces Bayta’s name the way I imagine Billy Bob Thorton’s Slingblade would (“Baaay-tuuh”), and it really took me out of the story every time.

Regardless, the books are great and the audiobooks are still very much worthwhile. I’m pleased Audible released the rest of the series, as well. (Now, Audible, finish releasing the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron books!)

Great book, wooden narration.

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Read the series a couple of years ago. Was very excited, but became disappointed. I will listen to all the books as I enjoy the series. The author was reading the book as if reading to a child. Pronounced weird as well.

Great book amateur narrator.

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It took me a while to get use to the voice of Kevin T. Collins, I have listened to so many of Mr Zahn's books narrated by Mark Thompson (who I feel is the best of all the narrator that I've listened to). But after a while I got used to his cadence.

I liked the story. I'm actually starting the 4th book in the series.

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Creative world building and good exposition. I recommend speeding thebplay speed to 1.15 as the narrator was a tad slow in my opinion.

A Well concieved Mystery with appreciable Twists!

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What I liked about the story: everything. Zahn has a writing style that transports me into the world. It's easy for me to picture what's happening as the story unfolds.
What I like about the narrator: Collins spoke very crisply, so it was easy to understand the words. He changed his voice for different characters.
What I didn't like about the narrator: he's so intent on pronunciation that he reads a bit too slowly where I kept feeling like I needed to pull the story out of his mouth. I changed the speed to 1.2 (default is 1.0). It was a bit too fast, but better than too slow. In the default speed, the word 'sphere' sounded like spherrrre.

I've purchased Book #2 in this series.

Love Zahn storytelling, Narrator is ok

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I loved the book but it sounded like it was read by an AI reader.

Great book, bad reader

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I mostly find what doesn’t work in stories because, I get kicked out of the narrative if there are issues, but this book had none. It was easy to just hit play and enjoy the story as if it was a movie playing before my eyes, meaning the author shows the reader the story rater than tells.

One of my favorite things is meeting an intelligent character that notices what others miss and makes unexpected choices. The author does a great job creating uncertainty between each character’s motives and uses that to ramp up tension. The only thing I was surprised about is how few human-like species there are. There goes the theory that aliens seeded our planet.

The narrator did a fine job with distinct voices, though the MMC’s voice and thoughts came across a little too monotoned for me.

I’ve picked up the whole series, so now I’m going to binge watch (listen).

I’ve now made it through the first three books. The writing is consistent and as enjoyable. The only thing I miss is the nod and metaphoric blending of the old classic Cary Grant character in North by Northwest, with James Bond, and Murder on the Orient Express.

For books 2&3, I wish more was written about what time-period we’re in, as I can’t quite remember, 2084?

As the series progresses, there are a couple things challenging to my enjoyment. It seems like the MMC could be given some kind of license of authority for the rail system that would help with issues he faces in not being able to prove he really has authority. So he always gets arrested for something and the good guys are always after him. This gets tiring after a while. He also keeps getting setup for crimes he didn’t commit by the villain, and that gets old too. So the story ends up being like an omniscient being fighting a MMC whose hands are always tied and keeps falling for the same dumb trap. I worry that this pattern will continue, so I’m taking a break.

An intelligent space romp. Well written, well executed.

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