Oath of Fealty Audiobook By Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven cover art

Oath of Fealty

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Oath of Fealty

By: Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven
Narrated by: Suzanne Toren, Jeremy Johnson
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In the near future, Los Angeles is an all but uninhabitable war zone, wracked by crime, violence, pollution and poverty. But above the blighted city, a Utopia has arisen: Todos Santos, a thousand-foot high single-structured city, designed to used state-of-the-art technology to create a completely human-friendly environment, offering its dwellers everything they could want in exchange for their oath of allegiance and their constant surveillance. But there are those who want to see the utopia destroyed, whose answer to tomorrow's best and brightest hope is mindless violence. And they have just entered Todos Santos.

©2007 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Adventure Science Fiction Space Opera
All stars
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Even better listening than reading.
Makes you really think about the future. Well told story

Great book

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Excellent tale, but didn't make the translation into audiobook as well as I had hoped, still very enjoyable. Once again, the voices I had put to characters as I read were not quite what the narrators give us.

Awesome Story

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Title says what I think of the story. The book is from 1981, and the central premise of it is very out if date. The context is of crime not well controlled in LA. But I'm not sorry I listened.

good not great

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As a lifelong Niven fan I was hoping for something new. It was just a political novel. Barely science fiction.

I give it a firm meh.

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If you could sum up Oath of Fealty in three words, what would they be?

anachronistic, interesting, futuristic

What does Jeremy Johnson and Suzanne Toren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They are quite good performers and really bring the characters to life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Any additional comments?

It's a worthwhile read/listen but it's definitely a product of the time it was written.

It's an entertaining enough listen

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Unlike most SF stories that discuss technology this is a book about people living with and within technology.

Having read years ago upon release I cay say it still holds up in the face of the technological change.

Very much worth the read or listen.

A unique SF story about communities

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This thriller from the early 80's plops you down in a near future LA development with incredibly low crime, responsive government, and community togetherness. It's a paradise for engineering geeks and a good place to raise a family. Unfortunately, not everybody likes how they've gone about it.

This is one of the few utopian books I've ever enjoyed wholeheartedly. Rereading it all these years later, I'm not quite as thrilled by its libertarian vision, but it's amazing to see how many trends of modern life Niven and Pournelle predicted correctly. (For better or worse.) The fast-moving story still works, too, and most of the science fiction we haven't caught up with. Contains some sex and violence, as thrillers often do.

I think you'll enjoy your trip to Todos Santos. I know I did.

Fun political science fiction

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Oath of Fealty by the writing duo of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is an early 80's tale that is eerily prescient and relevant for condition today. The story takes place in Los Angeles and describes a self-contained enclave where suitably well off individuals can reside in relative safety and convenience. Employment is either provided within the enclave or through the application of 'waldos' that allow people to work from home. Tension between the 'haves' in the enclave and 'have-nots' outside in LA run high as well as the presence of 'terrorist' group that seeks to 'take-down' the enclave. A politician's son is killed attempting a prank on the enclave precipitating conflict.

Pournelle and Niven seem to have grasped an emerging consequence of advanced technology separating society into two distinct groups and then play that out with possible scenarios. The focus on providing safety and security that relies on constant surveillance has a panopticon feel that resonates well with today's conditions. In addition, the social fragmentation is demonstrable as a result of increasing reliance on technology. While the actual plot is rather mundane, the vision of a future world is brilliant.

The narration is well done with an excellent choice of dual narrators to reflect distinct perspectives. Pacing is smooth.

Surprisingly aged well story

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Narroator(s) did a great job. The story is great. Niven and Pournelle write well together. I've read other works by both of them and each of them. It's an interesting subject handled intelligently. Some "near future" tech is handled pretty well. The human aspects of the story hold up fine and the character development gets the job done. Fun to read. Fun to listen to while choring. 5 stars.

I've read this several times.

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Narrators voice performances very bland and boring. Technology so out of date. Dated attitudes and lifestyles.

Too out of date to enjoy!

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