The Boy Who Would Live Forever
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Narrated by:
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Oliver Wyman
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By:
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Frederik Pohl
About this listen
In 1977 Frederik Pohl stunned the science-fiction world with the publication of Gateway, one of the most brilliantly entertaining SF novels of all time. Gateway was a best seller and won science fiction's triple crown: the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial awards for best novel. Now, more than 25 years later, Pohl has completed a new novel set in the Gateway universe.
The Boy Who Would Live Forever has a sense of wonder and excitement that will satisfy those who loved Gateway and will delight new listeners as well. In Gateway, long after the alien Heechee abandoned their space-station, Gateway (as humans dubbed it) allowed humans to explore new worlds. The Heechee, alarmed by the alien Kugel whose goal was to destroy all organic lifeforms, had already retreated to the galactic core, where they now lived in peace. Now, in The Boy Who Would Live Forever, humans with dreams of life among the stars are joining the Heechee at the core, to live there along with those humans and Heechee whose physical bodies have died but have had their minds stored in electronic memory so that their wisdom passes down through the ages .
Their peace is threatened by the Kugel, who may yet attack the core. But a much greater threat is the human Wan Enrique Santos-Smith, whose blind loathing of the Heechee fuels an insane desire to destroy them and, incidentally, every living being in the galaxy. Stan and Estrella, two young people from Earth, went to Gateway looking for adventure, and found each other. They settle among the Heechee on Forested Planet of Warm Old Star Twenty-Four, never suspecting that they may be the last best hope to save the galaxy. But with allies like Gelle-Klara Moynlin (one of the galaxy's richest women, who isn't content to just have money, but wants to use her wealth for good) and machine mind Marc Antony (a wonderful chef to thousands of living and stored clients), they are destined to contend with Wan's terrible plan. Frederik Pohl has woven together the lives of these and other memorable characters to create a masterful new novel.
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- Unabridged
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Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him. Society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers and mass-marketed psychedelic drugs.
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perfect audio experience
- By Darryl on 03-24-14
By: John Brunner, and others
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Man Plus
- By: Frederik Pohl
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Roger Torraway watched in horror as the monster lurched, toppled over and died. Project Man Plus had gone suddenly and drastically wrong. The race to colonize Mars was too important, too costly, and America was already too committed, for plans to be scrapped. They would have to make a new Martian. And Roger Torraway was it, candidate for the endless surgery, operation after painful operation, that would enable him to survive on that faraway planet.
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More timely now than ever
- By Sandy R on 06-28-10
By: Frederik Pohl
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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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Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
- The Four Lords of the Diamond, Book 1
- By: Jack L. Chalker
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Aliens are spying on Earth from one of the four worlds that make up the Warden Diamond. But it is impossible to send agents to any of the four worlds because of unique microscopic symbionts that make it impossible for visitors to leave the Diamond. Seeking a unique solution, each of the four worlds making up the Diamond is sent a person whose mind has been stripped of everything and who is now controlled by an agent of the Confederacy. Lilith is the first planet to be visited.
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A great series if read in its entirety
- By Onix Harbinger on 08-21-18
By: Jack L. Chalker
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Archangel
- Samaria, Book 1
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A tale of the distant future by the author of The Shape-Changer's Wife brings listeners to a world in which the fate of all life rests on the voice of an angel.
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An All-TIme Favorite
- By Carol on 02-27-11
By: Sharon Shinn
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The Tar-Aiym Krang
- A Pip & Flinx Adventure
- By: Alan Dean Foster
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings - two great golden clouds suspended in space around it. Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers - a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip.
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The First of the Flinx and Pip Novels AT LAST!
- By Chris on 01-20-09
By: Alan Dean Foster
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Lockstep
- By: Karl Schroeder
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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When 17-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he' s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he' s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still - that he' s been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks.
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A Great Idea, Poorly Served
- By D. M. ROBISON on 04-01-14
By: Karl Schroeder
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Marsbound
- By: Joe Haldeman
- Narrated by: Liza Kaplan
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime - they're going to Mars. Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebel against.
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Meh.
- By Wes Parker on 03-19-09
By: Joe Haldeman
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The Genome
- By: Sergei Lukyanenko
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Five months after the horrific accident that left him near death and worried that he'd never fly again, master-pilot Alex Romanov lands a new job: captaining the sleek passenger vessel Mirror. Alex is a spesh - a human who has been genetically modified to perform particular tasks. As a captain and pilot, Alex has a genetic imperative to care for passengers and crew - no matter what the cost.
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Not as captivating as the nightwatch series
- By David Dembkoski on 04-01-16
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I, Robot
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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They mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities, and unforeseen risks.
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Thank you
- By Fredrik on 06-11-04
By: Isaac Asimov
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The Goliath Stone
- By: Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Doctor Toby Glyer has effected miracle cures with the use of nanotechnology. But Glyer’s controversial nanites are more than just the latest technological advance, they are a new form of life - and they have more uses than just medical. Glyer’s nanites also have the potential to make everyone on Earth rich from the wealth of asteroids.
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Boring, unbelievable nano junk!
- By GH on 06-27-13
By: Larry Niven, and others
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What listeners say about The Boy Who Would Live Forever
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jeff Shultz
- 08-04-16
It's long
Fred Pohl sets up a story the long way, with a lot of character development. It can drag, but it is worth it when all the disparate pieces of the story come together.
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4 people found this helpful
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Disperate narrative
Would you try another book from Frederik Pohl and/or Oliver Wyman?
Of course. This is the only Pohl novel I read or listened to in audiobook form that I did not find extremely interesting. This novel is interesing, but it's not quite up to par with the others Heechee Saga novels.
If you’ve listened to books by Frederik Pohl before, how does this one compare?
This novel continues Pohl's narrative style of interspersing first person and sometimes third person narratives within the same structure. I have been on two minds on this style since I first read one of his novels. When he does it, it simply "works". I give him much credit for making a difficult narrative structure work, repeatedly. However, each time I wonder if this novel would only be that much better had he stuck with third person limited.
The other novels all featured a single main plot line, with a few interesting story arcs gravitating around that main plot line. This novel breaks that by putting together seemingly unrelated sections. This too could result in something interesting with a surprise ending that unifies what before seemed completely unrelated plots. But I don't think that can work here due to the length of the novel, and the only point where it became possible to start merging these plot lines.
What does Oliver Wyman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Oliver Wyman is an excellent narrator. I have purchased books because the publisher contracted his voice talent.
Did The Boy Who Would Live Forever inspire you to do anything?
Nope
Any additional comments?
It's a good novel. Not bad. But not great either. It's not on the order of Gateway, or any of the subsequent novels in that fictional world.
I often find the mischaracterization of religious folk a bit grating that occurs relatively frequently these days in the SF world. It bugs me when an author creates a character who is nothing more thana caricature cobbled together from slurs, epithets, and base accusations by people who don't like folk of one religious denomination or another. It cheapens the rest of the novel when the author puts so much more work into bring to life his other characters. Here he has a main character who is well-rounded and believable. Then we have a minister who is more or less a caricature. There was nothing real or believable about him.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Justin
- 07-10-15
excellent performance, but the storyline was not
the performance was excellent but the story line was not as good as the previous books
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- JohnB
- 07-01-15
Not what I was hoping for.
I was a bit disappointed by this final book in the Gateway series. However, it's still a good read and an excellent series. The performance throughout the series is excellent.
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- mike f.
- 04-17-22
Not worth it
Not worth listening to and falls short of the previous books in the series, skip
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1 person found this helpful
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- Will Acklerly
- 03-25-24
wrapping up the known universe
Wan and the Heechee find closure! Cool! This ties up all the loose ends once and for all!
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- Ron A. Parsons
- 02-19-15
A focus on personality interactions
We discover a place where time comes 'almost' to a standstill, relative to earth.
The focus on getting a female pregnant goes to interactions
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3 people found this helpful
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- James
- 07-01-16
Dull, boring
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Puts me asleep listening to Pohl going on and on in detail describing food dishes. Or describing the decisions made by the richest people in the universe.
What was most disappointing about Frederik Pohl’s story?
Boring and uninteresting...
What didn’t you like about Oliver Wyman’s performance?
Well done and consistent.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Boy Who Would Live Forever?
Most
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2 people found this helpful
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- John
- 05-20-13
Boring
Would you try another book from Frederik Pohl and/or Oliver Wyman?
This novel jumps around way too much. Seems just like an anthology of heechee short stories strung together by a common thread. I found myself wanting it to be over.
I generally like Frederick Pohl, and I liked the other heechee novels, especially at the start, but this one seems disjointed and boring.
It is like a long soap opera with no action and no plot. More like a way for Pohl to preach his world views to his readers, disguised as a novel.
Did Oliver Wyman do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
Wyman's narration was excellent.
Any additional comments?
Yawn.
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3 people found this helpful