The Black Star Passes Audiobook By John W. Campbell cover art

The Black Star Passes

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The Black Star Passes

By: John W. Campbell
Narrated by: Gary Dikeos
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Three against the stars! A sky pirate armed with superior weapons of his own invention....

First contact with an alien race dangerous enough to threaten the safety of two planets.... The arrival of an unseen dark sun whose attendant marauders aimed at the very end of civilization in this Solar System.... These were the three challenges that tested the skill and minds of the brilliant team of scientist-astronauts Arcot, Wade, and Morey. Their initial adventures are a classic of science fiction that first brought the name of their author, John W. Campbell, Jr., into prominence as a master of the inventive imagination -- long before he became the editor of Astounding/Analog and changed the field of science fiction forever!

Public Domain (P)2011 Audible, Inc. Adventure Fiction Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Space Opera Solar System Scary

Editorial reviews

Author Campbell was a science fiction pioneer. He wrote and published the stuff. Modern sci-fi provides future examples of current issues, the presentation and resolution of which makes apt social commentary. The science seems viable and the environments are copiously drawn; verisimilitude is key. The sci-fi of yesteryear will seem flimsy and naïve to modern readers. But these early works, with their famous recurring theme of good versus evil, set the template for the sophisticated fiction of the future. Narrator Gary Dikeos gives a very casual performance in his deep and drawling voice. His tone channels the masculinity of this trio of smart and rugged space cowboys. The sincerity of his performance does help to substantiate this vintage extraterrestrial realm.
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The production value was very poor. The narrator had a very flat and slow delivery. I don’t normally speed up the reading rate on my fiction selections, but this was insufferable without it. I like most of Jack Campbell’s works, but the science was too intricate in the plot with the details provided across multiple disciplines. Very hard to follow and started ignoring some of the science.

Poor production, hard to get through

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I like the beginning story, but at some point, it merges into a completely different one. Sort of a Stephen King type plot switch, which I'm not a fan of. Maybe this story is where King got the idea?

Anyways, the narrator sounds sedated. It's a snoozer after a few chapters.

Split story, sleepy narrator

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Everything happens very quickly and pretty easily.
But the most implausible thing in this story is the thought that the UN would be able to do anything useful and without massive corruption.

Classic old style sci fi

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Even considering its SciFi Classic era heritage, the story was too slow for me. I did appreciate all the scientific details surrounding space flight and astrophysics but the story plot was a bit too plodding and, regrettably, the narrator's monotone delivery made listening even less exciting.

Hard to get through

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Having listened to over a dozen of Capmbell's books, His early work is rough around the edges but the core of what makes his books great is there. My only complaint is that there were portions where it was so dry.

Humble beginings

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Fun, but old fashioned, space opera; probably more appealing to older listeners, rather than youngsters without any experience in the roots of the SF genre.

Shades of E. E. "Doc" Smith

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The performance of the reader put this into the category of programming to help you fall asleep. The story wasn’t bad.

Performance not good

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found these books out of sequence and started with book 2. Easy to follow travel story for drivers.

Loved It

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Droning on and on in a never ending monotone. I often use audio books to fall asleep but this guy will do the job while your jogging.

Performer is awful

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I definitely enjoyed the story but the content dates itself. The story relies on some widely conjectural science of the time it was written and since none of that turned out to be right, it makes suspensive disbelief very hard. Other than that, I definitely enjoyed the story . The performance was a bit too monotone for me and at times I had trouble staying awake in the evenings listening to it.

Unfortunately dated.

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