The Mountain in the Sea
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Eunice Wong
-
By:
-
Ray Nayler
About this listen
2022 Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2023 Locus Awards - Winner
2023 Nebula Awards - Nominee, Short-listed
2022 Slate Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
“Eunice Wong’s measured pacing and mellow tones perfectly complement Nayler’s provocative exploration of memory, minds, and consciousness.” - Booklist
"The theme of the nature of consciousness is equal parts intriguing, thrilling, and eerie. Best of all, it's always compellingly narrated, making for a performance that's difficult to pause."- AudioFile Magazine
Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.
Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.
The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.
The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses’ advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.
But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.
A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
©2022 Ray Nayler (P)2022 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Dawn
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Julienne Irons
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.
-
-
Too Sexual
- By Amazon Customer on 08-29-23
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
Semiosis
- A Novel
- By: Sue Burke
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools. Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape—trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.
-
-
Weird. But good. But weird.
- By Lilyn G. on 03-20-18
By: Sue Burke
-
Embassytown
- By: China Mieville
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China Miéville doesn’t follow trends, he sets them. Relentlessly pushing his own boundaries as a writer - and in the process expanding the boundaries of the entire field - with Embassytown, Miéville has crafted an extraordinary novel that is not only a moving personal drama but a gripping adventure of alien contact and war. In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak....
-
-
must hear to fully appreciate.
- By Don Gilbert on 01-05-12
By: China Mieville
-
Titanium Noir
- A Novel
- By: Nick Harkaway
- Narrated by: Davis Brooks
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he’s called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he’s surprised by the routineness of it all. But when he arrives on scene, Cal soon learns that the victim—Roddy Tebbit, an otherwise milquetoast techie—is well over seven feet tall. And although he doesn’t look a day over thirty, he is ninety-one years old. Tebbit is a Titan—one of this dystopian, near-future society’s genetically altered elites. And this case is definitely Cal’s thing.
-
-
A great book but is it a Harkaway novel?
- By Tyler on 06-08-23
By: Nick Harkaway
-
Translation State
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Enae's grandmaman passes away, Enae inherits something unexpected: a diplomatic assignment to track down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. No one actually expects Enae to succeed; it's an empty assignment meant to keep hir occupied. But Enae has never had a true purpose—no one ever expected hir to do more than care for grandmaman—so sie is determined to accomplish this task to the best of her ability.
-
-
Single themed and not on par with the series
- By Andrew Pollack on 07-01-23
By: Ann Leckie
-
Dawn
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Julienne Irons
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.
-
-
Too Sexual
- By Amazon Customer on 08-29-23
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
Semiosis
- A Novel
- By: Sue Burke
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools. Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape—trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.
-
-
Weird. But good. But weird.
- By Lilyn G. on 03-20-18
By: Sue Burke
-
Embassytown
- By: China Mieville
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China Miéville doesn’t follow trends, he sets them. Relentlessly pushing his own boundaries as a writer - and in the process expanding the boundaries of the entire field - with Embassytown, Miéville has crafted an extraordinary novel that is not only a moving personal drama but a gripping adventure of alien contact and war. In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak....
-
-
must hear to fully appreciate.
- By Don Gilbert on 01-05-12
By: China Mieville
-
Titanium Noir
- A Novel
- By: Nick Harkaway
- Narrated by: Davis Brooks
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he’s called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he’s surprised by the routineness of it all. But when he arrives on scene, Cal soon learns that the victim—Roddy Tebbit, an otherwise milquetoast techie—is well over seven feet tall. And although he doesn’t look a day over thirty, he is ninety-one years old. Tebbit is a Titan—one of this dystopian, near-future society’s genetically altered elites. And this case is definitely Cal’s thing.
-
-
A great book but is it a Harkaway novel?
- By Tyler on 06-08-23
By: Nick Harkaway
-
Translation State
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Enae's grandmaman passes away, Enae inherits something unexpected: a diplomatic assignment to track down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. No one actually expects Enae to succeed; it's an empty assignment meant to keep hir occupied. But Enae has never had a true purpose—no one ever expected hir to do more than care for grandmaman—so sie is determined to accomplish this task to the best of her ability.
-
-
Single themed and not on par with the series
- By Andrew Pollack on 07-01-23
By: Ann Leckie
-
Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
By: Dan Simmons
-
Sea of Tranquility
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
-
-
An excellent listen.
- By Mark on 04-11-22
-
Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
-
-
Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
By: Susanna Clarke
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
Babel
- Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.
-
-
The novel language lovers have been waiting for
- By LisaLee on 09-06-22
By: R. F. Kuang
-
Legends & Lattes
- A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes
- By: Travis Baldree
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.
-
-
slice of life
- By Anonymous User on 02-25-22
By: Travis Baldree
-
Nettle & Bone
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Amara Jasper
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marra never wanted to be a hero. As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate—and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince. Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
-
-
If Only I Could Cut Out Half the Story
- By Ree on 04-28-22
By: T. Kingfisher
-
The Actual Star
- A Novel
- By: Monica Byrne
- Narrated by: Carolina Hoyos, Kareem Ferguson, Gisela Chipe
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Actual Star takes listeners on a journey over thousands of years and six continents—collapsing three separate timelines into one cave in the Belizean jungle. An epic saga of three reincarnated souls, this novel demonstrates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, love and hate. The book jumps forward and backward in time among a pair of twins who ruled a Maya kingdom, a young American on a trip of self-discovery, and two dangerous charismatics in a conflict that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.
-
-
Maybe the best 2012 story
- By Sean Dustman on 09-21-21
By: Monica Byrne
-
Worlds of Exile and Illusion
- Three Complete Novels of the Hainish Series in One Volume—Rocannon's World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three remarkable journeys into the stars: Worlds of Exile and Illusion includes Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions. These three spacefaring adventures mark the beginning of grand master Ursula K. Le Guin’s remarkable career. Set in the same universe as Le Guin’s groundbreaking classics The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, these first three books of the celebrated Hainish series follow travelers of many worlds and civilizations in the depths of space.
-
Borne
- By: Jeff VanderMeer
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Borne, a young woman named Rachel survives as a scavenger in a ruined city half destroyed by drought and conflict. The city is dangerous, littered with discarded experiments from the Company - a biotech firm now derelict - and punished by the unpredictable predations of a giant bear. Rachel ekes out an existence in the shelter of a run-down sanctuary she shares with her partner, Wick, who deals his own homegrown psychoactive biotech.
-
-
Bizarre and Bracing!
- By The Casual Nerd on 02-08-18
By: Jeff VanderMeer
-
The World's Largest Man
- A Memoir
- By: Harrison Scott Key
- Narrated by: Harrison Scott Key
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harrison Scott Key was born in Memphis, but he grew up in Mississippi, among pious, Bible-reading women and men who either shot things or got women pregnant. At the center of his world was his larger-than-life father - a hunter, a fighter, and a football coach. Harrison, with his love of books and excessive interest in hugging, couldn't have been less like Pop, and when it became clear that he was not able to kill anything very well or otherwise make his father happy, he resolved to become everything his father was not.
-
-
I laughed every day to and from work. Loved it!
- By KufRN on 06-06-18
-
Some Desperate Glory
- By: Emily Tesh
- Narrated by: Sena Bryer
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the majoda their victory over humanity. They are what’s left. They are what must survive. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. When Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to Nursery to bear sons, she knows she must take humanity's revenge into her own hands.
-
-
YA Space Opera fights fascism but pulls punches
- By Dream Fractal on 06-26-23
By: Emily Tesh
Critic reviews
"With a thriller heart and a sci-fi head, The Mountain in the Sea delivers a spooky smart read. Artificial intelligence, nascent animal sentience, murderous flying drones: like the best of Gibson or Atwood, it brings all of the plot without forgetting the bigger questions of consciousness, ecocide, and scientific progress. Truly a one-of-a-kind story"—Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors
"Nayler’s masterful debut combines fascinating science and well-wrought characters to deliver a deep dive into the nature of intelligent life. . . As entertaining as it is intellectually rigorous, this taut exploration of human—and inhuman—consciousness is a knockout." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Less a science-fiction adventure than a meditation on consciousness and self-awareness, the limitations of human language, and the reasons for those limitations, the novel teaches as it engages." —Kirkus Reviews
"With a thriller heart and a sci-fi head, The Mountain in the Sea delivers a spooky smart read. Artificial intelligence, nascent animal sentience, murderous flying drones: like the best of Gibson or Atwood, it brings all of the plot without forgetting the bigger questions of consciousness, ecocide, and scientific progress. Truly a one-of-a-kind story" —Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors
Related to this topic
-
Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
-
-
Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
-
Gateways
- Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl
- By: Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It isn’t easy to get a group of bestselling SF authors to write new stories for an anthology, but that’s what Elizabeth Anne Hull has done in this powerhouse book. With original, captivating tales by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe, and others, Gateways is a SF event that will be a must-buy for SF readers of all tastes, from the traditional to the cutting edge; from the darkly serious to the laugh-out-loud funny.
-
-
Spectacular.
- By Steve Reid on 08-21-15
By: Greg Bear, and others
-
Void Star
- By: Zachary Mason
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Tristan Morris, Sean Pratt, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not far in the future, the seas have risen, and the central latitudes are emptying. But it's still a good time to be rich in San Francisco, where weapons drones patrol the skies to keep out the multitudinous poor.
-
-
if you're That Guy
- By Zachary on 06-18-17
By: Zachary Mason
-
Area X
- The Southern Reach Trilogy - Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance
- By: Jeff VanderMeer
- Narrated by: Carolyn McCormick, Bronson Pinchot, Xe Sands
- Length: 26 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dive into the mysteries of Area X, a remote and lush terrain that has inexplicably sequestered itself from civilization. Twelve expeditions have gone in, and not a single member of any of them has remained unchanged by the experience - for better or worse.
-
-
Book 1: intriguing! Book 2: Zzzz. Book 3: WTF!
- By KR on 02-03-15
By: Jeff VanderMeer
-
Borne
- By: Jeff VanderMeer
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Borne, a young woman named Rachel survives as a scavenger in a ruined city half destroyed by drought and conflict. The city is dangerous, littered with discarded experiments from the Company - a biotech firm now derelict - and punished by the unpredictable predations of a giant bear. Rachel ekes out an existence in the shelter of a run-down sanctuary she shares with her partner, Wick, who deals his own homegrown psychoactive biotech.
-
-
Bizarre and Bracing!
- By The Casual Nerd on 02-08-18
By: Jeff VanderMeer
-
Invasion
- Alien Invasion, Book 1
- By: Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are coming. The countdown has begun. First visible only as blips on a telescope image, the discovery of objects approaching from Jupiter's orbit immediately sets humanity on edge. NASA doesn't even bother to deny the alien ships' existence. The popular Astral space app (broadcasting from the far side of the moon and accessible by anyone with Internet) has already shown the populace what is coming.
-
-
"terrible, absolutely terrible"
- By Andre M. Nel on 08-02-18
By: Sean Platt, and others
-
Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
-
-
Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
-
Gateways
- Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl
- By: Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It isn’t easy to get a group of bestselling SF authors to write new stories for an anthology, but that’s what Elizabeth Anne Hull has done in this powerhouse book. With original, captivating tales by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe, and others, Gateways is a SF event that will be a must-buy for SF readers of all tastes, from the traditional to the cutting edge; from the darkly serious to the laugh-out-loud funny.
-
-
Spectacular.
- By Steve Reid on 08-21-15
By: Greg Bear, and others
-
Void Star
- By: Zachary Mason
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Tristan Morris, Sean Pratt, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not far in the future, the seas have risen, and the central latitudes are emptying. But it's still a good time to be rich in San Francisco, where weapons drones patrol the skies to keep out the multitudinous poor.
-
-
if you're That Guy
- By Zachary on 06-18-17
By: Zachary Mason
-
Area X
- The Southern Reach Trilogy - Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance
- By: Jeff VanderMeer
- Narrated by: Carolyn McCormick, Bronson Pinchot, Xe Sands
- Length: 26 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dive into the mysteries of Area X, a remote and lush terrain that has inexplicably sequestered itself from civilization. Twelve expeditions have gone in, and not a single member of any of them has remained unchanged by the experience - for better or worse.
-
-
Book 1: intriguing! Book 2: Zzzz. Book 3: WTF!
- By KR on 02-03-15
By: Jeff VanderMeer
-
Borne
- By: Jeff VanderMeer
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Borne, a young woman named Rachel survives as a scavenger in a ruined city half destroyed by drought and conflict. The city is dangerous, littered with discarded experiments from the Company - a biotech firm now derelict - and punished by the unpredictable predations of a giant bear. Rachel ekes out an existence in the shelter of a run-down sanctuary she shares with her partner, Wick, who deals his own homegrown psychoactive biotech.
-
-
Bizarre and Bracing!
- By The Casual Nerd on 02-08-18
By: Jeff VanderMeer
-
Invasion
- Alien Invasion, Book 1
- By: Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are coming. The countdown has begun. First visible only as blips on a telescope image, the discovery of objects approaching from Jupiter's orbit immediately sets humanity on edge. NASA doesn't even bother to deny the alien ships' existence. The popular Astral space app (broadcasting from the far side of the moon and accessible by anyone with Internet) has already shown the populace what is coming.
-
-
"terrible, absolutely terrible"
- By Andre M. Nel on 08-02-18
By: Sean Platt, and others
-
Far-Seer
- The Quintaglio Ascension, Book 1
- By: Robert. J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Face of God is what every young saurian learns to call the immense, glowing object which fills the night sky on the far side of the world. Young Afsan is privileged, called to the distant Capital City to apprentice with Saleed the court astrologer. But when the time comes for Afsan to make his coming-of-age pilgrimage, to gaze upon the Face of God, his world is changed forever- for what he sees will test his faith...and may save his world from disaster!
-
-
Definitely Original!
- By Simone on 08-30-16
-
Stations of the Tide
- By: Michael Swanwick
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Jubilee Tides will drown the continents of the planet Miranda beneath the weight of her own oceans. But as the once-in-two-centuries cataclysm approaches, an even greater catastrophe threatens this dark and dangerous planet of tale-spinners, conjurers, and shapechangers. From author Michael Swanwick—one of the most brilliantly assured and darkly inventive writers of contemporary fiction—comes a masterwork of radically altered realities and world-shattering seductions.
-
-
Hard to categorize, hard to put down
- By Robert L. on 03-25-12
By: Michael Swanwick
-
Prador Moon
- A Novel of the Polity, Book 1
- By: Neal Asher
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Asher takes on first contact, Polity style. This original novel recounts the first contact between the aggressive Prador aliens, and the Polity Collective as it is forced to retool its society to a war footing. The overwhelming brute force of the Prador dreadnaughts causes several worlds and space stations to be overrun. Prador Moon follows the initial Polity defeats, to the first draws, and culminates in what might be the first Polity victory, told from the point of view of two unlikely heroes.
-
-
Narration Terrible; Prador’s Moon has Big Ideas and Epic Scale
- By For_the_Love_of_Books on 08-09-18
By: Neal Asher
-
The Draco Tavern
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a tremendous spacecraft takes orbit around Earth's moon and begins sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport in Siberia. Their presence attracts many, including Rick Schumann, who establishes a tavern catering to all the various species of visiting aliens, a place he calls the Draco Tavern. From the mind of best-selling author Larry Niven come 27 tales and vignettes from this interstellar gathering place.
-
-
A Great Listen
- By D. Arkless on 04-07-07
By: Larry Niven
-
Camouflage
- By: Joe Haldeman
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The artifact is found seven miles below the surface of the sea and beneath 40 more feet of sand. The Navy's efforts to raise a wrecked submarine uncover it - and set in motion a scientific race to retrieve it, to discover just what it is and where it came from. Denser than any substance known to man, it has broken every drill bit they've tried on it and will not budge an inch. It resists every effort to breach it - or communicate with it.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Nathan Caroland on 09-21-08
By: Joe Haldeman
-
The Tar-Aiym Krang
- A Pip & Flinx Adventure
- By: Alan Dean Foster
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The First of the Flinx and Pip Novels AT LAST!
- By Chris on 01-20-09
By: Alan Dean Foster
-
Distress
- By: Greg Egan
- Narrated by: Adam Epstein
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Investigative reporter Andrew Worth turns down a documentary on a mysterious new mental illness - "Distress," or acute clinical anxiety syndrome, for another assignment. He's on his way to the artificial island of Stateless, where the world's top physicists are gathering to decide on a new TOE, or Theory of Everything, to replace Einstein's outmoded legacy.
-
-
A good book ruined by a poor (and strange) reading
- By David on 12-06-13
By: Greg Egan
-
Expendable
- League of Peoples, Book 1
- By: James Alan Gardner
- Narrated by: Christine Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Under the benevolent leadership of the League of Peoples, there is no war, little crime, and life is sacred...unless you're an Explorer. The ugly, the flawed, the misfit, the deformed, they are the unwanted, flung to the farthest corners of the galaxy to investigate hostile planets and strange, vicious creatures. Out there, there are a thousand different - and terrible - ways to die.
-
-
FU@@ING EXPLORERS
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 03-06-15
-
A World Out of Time
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core.
-
-
Do you know how people get old?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-13-12
By: Larry Niven
-
In the Ocean of Night
- Galactic Center, Book 1
- By: Gregory Benford
- Narrated by: Maxwell Caulfield
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 2019. NASA astronaut Nigel Walmsley is sent on a mission to intercept a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Ordered to destroy it, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe - a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal….
-
-
Like some Space with your Soaps?
- By Bradley on 05-15-12
By: Gregory Benford
-
Robot Uprisings
- By: Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford, Tamara Marston, A.T. Chandler, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives.
-
-
Has some bright spots
- By ChrisM. on 10-22-15
By: Daniel H. Wilson, and others
-
The Engines of God
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans call them Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues scattered on distant planets throughout the galaxy, encoded with strange inscriptions that defy translation. Searching for clues about the Monument-Makers, teams of 23rd century linguists, historians, engineers and archaeologists have been excavating the enigmatic alien ruins on a number of planets, uncovering strange, massive false cities made of solid rock. But their time is running out.
-
-
Conceptually intriguing, but uneven writing style
- By Michael G Kurilla on 05-12-11
By: Jack McDevitt
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Tusks of Extinction
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again. The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth. Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold? And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?
-
-
If you liked Mountain in the Sea, you’ll like this
- By Olivia on 01-21-24
By: Ray Nayler
-
Where the Axe Is Buried
- A Novel
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President, a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power. Meanwhile, on the fringes of a Western Europe that has renounced human governance in favor of ostensibly more efficient, objective, and peaceful AI Prime Ministers, an experimental artificial mind is malfunctioning, threatening to set off a chain of events that may spell the end of the Western world.
By: Ray Nayler
-
The Ten Percent Thief
- By: Lavanya Lakshminarayan
- Narrated by: Deepa Samuel, Shawn K. Jain
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore, where everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values, and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Twenty Percent—the Virtual elite—and have the world at your feet. Otherwise you risk falling to the precarious Ten Percent, and deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water, or even humanity. The system has no flaws. Until the elusive "Ten Percent Thief" steals a single jacaranda seed from the Virtual city.
-
Semiosis
- A Novel
- By: Sue Burke
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools. Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape—trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.
-
-
Weird. But good. But weird.
- By Lilyn G. on 03-20-18
By: Sue Burke
-
In Ascension
- By: Martin MacInnes
- Narrated by: Freya Miller
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms—what she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings.
-
-
I often yelled at my car soeaker to get to the point
- By Richard Costa on 11-01-24
By: Martin MacInnes
-
The Body Scout
- A Novel
- By: Lincoln Michel
- Narrated by: Greg Chun
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the future you can have any body you want—as long as you can afford it. But in a New York ravaged by climate change and repeat pandemics, Kobo is barely scraping by. He scouts the latest in gene-edited talent for Big Pharma-owned baseball teams, but his own cybernetics are a decade out of date and twin sister loan sharks are banging down his door. Things couldn't get much worse.
-
-
Great sci-fi take on baseball
- By Dave Yerzy on 12-04-21
By: Lincoln Michel
-
The Tusks of Extinction
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again. The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth. Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold? And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?
-
-
If you liked Mountain in the Sea, you’ll like this
- By Olivia on 01-21-24
By: Ray Nayler
-
Where the Axe Is Buried
- A Novel
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President, a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power. Meanwhile, on the fringes of a Western Europe that has renounced human governance in favor of ostensibly more efficient, objective, and peaceful AI Prime Ministers, an experimental artificial mind is malfunctioning, threatening to set off a chain of events that may spell the end of the Western world.
By: Ray Nayler
-
The Ten Percent Thief
- By: Lavanya Lakshminarayan
- Narrated by: Deepa Samuel, Shawn K. Jain
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore, where everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values, and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Twenty Percent—the Virtual elite—and have the world at your feet. Otherwise you risk falling to the precarious Ten Percent, and deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water, or even humanity. The system has no flaws. Until the elusive "Ten Percent Thief" steals a single jacaranda seed from the Virtual city.
-
Semiosis
- A Novel
- By: Sue Burke
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools. Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape—trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.
-
-
Weird. But good. But weird.
- By Lilyn G. on 03-20-18
By: Sue Burke
-
In Ascension
- By: Martin MacInnes
- Narrated by: Freya Miller
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms—what she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings.
-
-
I often yelled at my car soeaker to get to the point
- By Richard Costa on 11-01-24
By: Martin MacInnes
-
The Body Scout
- A Novel
- By: Lincoln Michel
- Narrated by: Greg Chun
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the future you can have any body you want—as long as you can afford it. But in a New York ravaged by climate change and repeat pandemics, Kobo is barely scraping by. He scouts the latest in gene-edited talent for Big Pharma-owned baseball teams, but his own cybernetics are a decade out of date and twin sister loan sharks are banging down his door. Things couldn't get much worse.
-
-
Great sci-fi take on baseball
- By Dave Yerzy on 12-04-21
By: Lincoln Michel
-
Light from Uncommon Stars
- By: Ryka Aoki
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: To escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate. But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four.
-
-
Awesome with a few hitches.
- By Levi Fay on 10-01-21
By: Ryka Aoki
-
Translation State
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Enae's grandmaman passes away, Enae inherits something unexpected: a diplomatic assignment to track down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. No one actually expects Enae to succeed; it's an empty assignment meant to keep hir occupied. But Enae has never had a true purpose—no one ever expected hir to do more than care for grandmaman—so sie is determined to accomplish this task to the best of her ability.
-
-
Single themed and not on par with the series
- By Andrew Pollack on 07-01-23
By: Ann Leckie
-
The Mountain and the Sea
- By: Kwame Dawes
- Narrated by: Paula-Anne Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esther, a painter living in Jamaica and recovering from the death of her husband, comes across a man on a mountain road with no memory of his past. As a hurricane rushes towards the island, she shelters the handsome stranger, names him “Monty”, and tries to uncover the mystery of his missing memory. She soon finds herself falling in love with a man she barely knows, and who doesn’t even know himself. The Mountain and the Sea is a romantic tale about letting go of the past and embracing the present.
-
-
Pornography
- By Randall on 04-04-20
By: Kwame Dawes
-
Remnant Population
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Moon
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 40 years, Colony 3245.12 has been Ofelia’s home. On this planet far away in space and time from the world of her youth, she has lived and loved, weathered the death of her husband, raised her one surviving child, lovingly tended her garden, and grown placidly old. And it is here that she fully expects to finish out her days - until the shifting corporate fortunes of the Sims Bancorp Company dictates that Colony 3245.12 is to be disbanded, its residents shipped off, deep in cryo-sleep, to somewhere new and strange and not of their choosing.
-
-
Grandmother Wisdom Wish Fulfillment
- By Jon B on 04-25-22
By: Elizabeth Moon
-
Corey Fah Does Social Mobility
- By: Isabel Waidner
- Narrated by: Kit Griffiths
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of Corey Fah, a writer who has hit the literary jackpot: their novel has just won the prize for the Fictionalization of Social Evils. But the actual trophy, and with it the funds, hovers peskily out of reach. Neon-beige, with UFO-like qualities, the elusive trophy leads Corey, with their partner Drew and eight-legged companion Bambi Pavok, on a spectacular quest through their childhood in the Forest and an unlikely stint on reality TV. Navigating those twin horrors, along with wormholes and time loops, Corey learns—the hard way—the difference between a prize and a gift.
By: Isabel Waidner
-
An Unkindness of Ghosts
- By: Rivers Solomon
- Narrated by: Cherise Boothe
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, whom they consider to be less than human.
-
-
Well-balanced space opera
- By William Emmons on 08-06-18
By: Rivers Solomon
-
Way Station
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.
-
-
A very special novel that will inspire you.
- By Noe on 08-08-10
-
The Resisters
- By: Gish Jen
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The time: not so long from now. The place: AutoAmerica. The land: half under water. The Internet: one part artificial intelligence, one part surveillance technology, and oddly human - even funny. The people: Divided. The angel-fair "Netted" have jobs, and literally occupy the high ground. The "Surplus" live on swampland if they're lucky, on water if they're not. The story: To a Surplus couple - he once a professor, she still a lawyer - is born a Blasian girl with a golden arm. At two, Gwen is hurling her stuffed animals from the crib; by 10, she can hit whatever target she likes. Her teens find her happily playing in an underground baseball league.
-
-
Fantastic. A modern classic.
- By Marco Gorgonzola on 05-29-20
By: Gish Jen
-
The Terraformers
- By: Annalee Newitz
- Narrated by: Emily Lawrence
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her. But the bright, clean future they're building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn’t exist, hidden inside a massive volcano. As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she's devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E's future for generations to come.
-
-
No no no no no
- By Jeff Reynolds on 03-12-23
By: Annalee Newitz
-
The Red
- First Light
- By: Linda Nagata
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lieutenant James Shelley, who has an uncanny knack for premeditating danger, leads a squad of advanced US Army military tasked with enforcing the peace around a conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. The squad members are linked wirelessly 24/7 to themselves and a central intelligence that guides them via drone relay - and unbeknownst to Shelley and his team, they are being recorded for a reality TV show.
-
-
a seriously dark bit of work
- By Midwestbonsai on 10-02-15
By: Linda Nagata
-
Midnight Robber
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival - until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime. Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree....
-
-
Even Through the Dimensions, Girls Are Not Safe
- By mary on 12-11-12
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Spear
- By: Nicola Griffith
- Narrated by: Nicola Griffith
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The girl knows she has a destiny before she even knows her name. She grows up in the wild, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake come to her on the spring breeze, and when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she knows that her future lies at his court. And so, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and, with a broken hunting spear and mended armour, rides on a bony gelding to Caer Leon.
-
-
Bland protagonist
- By Matthew on 04-28-24
By: Nicola Griffith
What listeners say about The Mountain in the Sea
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Blake Burkholder
- 02-07-23
Incredible book
A beautiful story for anyone who loves the sea. Highly recommend regardless of any genre you may prefer
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sandworm
- 03-10-23
Fantastic slightly cyberpunk story of great depth
I enjoyed every minute of this book, it explores many themes of the evolution of AI, communication between disparate species, and more. Highly recommended!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ian
- 02-09-23
"We will always do what we are capable of"
What a wonderful and fantastic read.
This book is first and foremost, a very interesting look into what our shared future may look like. It doesn't focus on defining the rights and wrongs about what humans are doing to the planet, and instead explores humanity's actions and the impact we have on our world through the lens of reality. The story is told through three related but separate story lines, the events of each causing ripples that affect the others, which in turn causes more ripples of affect to come back around.
The book explores what it means to be conscious, to be alive, and to be part of a greater whole of your species. Just like the octopuses that are the central driving force of the book, we see how each of us is our own person with our own wants and needs, while also being part of a greater whole. Not every individual human agrees with what 'humanity' does, but at the same time, every action that humanity takes is just individual humans taking their own actions. Individual humans are completely independent and able to make their own choices to affect the greater whole, but at the same time, the actions of others also come back to affect and dictate our actions. It's a very interesting concept, demonstrated by the octopuses as well, where each individual octopus has a mind and makes choices, but through it's distributed neural makeup, each of it's 8 limbs also 'think' separately and in some ways make their own decisions.
The story in this book is very well done, it isn't preachy or trying to convince you that there are good and bad ways to do things, it simply shows us the consequences of being part of a greater whole. I think this quote from the book sums it up quite well, "The great and terrible thing about humankind is simply this: we will always do what we are capable of". Humans as a whole will simultaneously be doing great and terrible things, and the only way we can truly understand and change the actions of humanity as a whole is to accept that and try to understand WHY people do things.
I really enjoyed the book. The different storylines were all interesting, and they were split up and told in sections in a way that always shows how they were affecting one another while never getting boring or feeling contrived for the story.
I definitely recommend this book if you are interested in octopuses, the future of our planet and climate, or even just exploring what it means to be an individual in this world, a member of a group and also a singular entity with your own ideas and thoughts.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrew M. Comb
- 05-23-24
Not about the octopuses
I feel hoodwinked. This book is far more about consciousness and AI and human significance in our environment. The octopuses are a plot device. Disappointing, but not a bad book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeff
- 05-04-23
Difficult, but worthwhile
this isn't an easy story. plenty to think on at ending. listen to sample first
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jp
- 01-09-24
A collection of consciousnesses
yes this book is about intelligent octopuses and AI, but it covers many more subjects. from corporate greed and corporate spies to environmental degradation, globalization, automation, and of course AI.
I liked how the author subtly introduced new and different types of intelligent beings, different ways of being in the world. for example, from a single robot drone, to a remote piloted drone, to an army of them piloted by one mind.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt Moore
- 10-28-24
An Entrancing Story About What Is -- and What Isn't -- Sentience
Was quite taken with the melding of real-world yet nascent AI concerns and hopes with the aspect of a truly earthly sentience that isn't of humanity. The character exploration is richly detailed, garnering an appreciation for them, particularly those that appear human but are not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jamin
- 01-06-23
Good near term sci-fi book on AI
Very fun and interesting read with well developed characters and an engaging story exploring AI and consciousness. I recommend listening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 01-09-23
One of my favorite books ever
So good! Riveting, dark, yet hopeful. One of my very favorite books ever. Please read!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ellie
- 02-02-23
Unexpected great read
Wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Held my attention from the first.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!