The Wall
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 $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Will Poulter
-
By:
-
John Lanchester
About this listen
The best-selling author of The Debt to Pleasure and Capital returns with a chilling fable for our time.
Ravaged by the Change, an island nation in a time very like our own has built the Wall - an enormous concrete barrier around its entire coastline. Joseph Kavanagh, a new Defender, has one task: to protect his section of the Wall from the Others, the desperate souls who are trapped amid the rising seas outside and are a constant threat. Failure will result in death or a fate perhaps worse: being put to sea and made an Other himself. Beset by cold, loneliness, and fear, Kavanagh tries to fulfill his duties to his demanding captain and sergeant, even as he grows closer to his fellow Defenders. A dark part of him wonders whether it would be interesting if something did happen, if they came, if he had to fight for his life....
John Lanchester - acclaimed as "an elegant and wonderfully witty writer" (New York Times) and "a writer of rare intelligence" (Los Angeles Times) - has crafted a taut, hypnotic novel of a broken world and what might be found when all is lost. The Wall blends the most compelling issues of our time - rising waters, rising fear, rising political division - into a suspenseful story of love, trust, and survival.
©2019 Orlando Books Limited (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
A Children's Bible
- By: Lydia Millet
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Contemptuous of their parents, who pass their days in a stupor of liquor, drugs, and sex, the children feel neglected and suffocated at the same time. When a destructive storm descends on the summer estate, the group's ringleaders - including Eve, who narrates the story - decide to run away, leading the younger ones on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside.
-
-
Not sure what to make of this
- By CCC on 10-20-20
By: Lydia Millet
-
Severance
- A Novel
- By: Ling Ma
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York.
-
-
4.19 stars
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 12-06-18
By: Ling Ma
-
Station Eleven (Television Tie-in)
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.
-
-
gah!
- By Stacy on 10-08-14
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Dystopia before dystopia was cool...
- By Amber on 05-28-14
-
We
- By: Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the 26th century A.D., Yevgeny Zamyatin's masterpiece describes life under the regimented totalitarian society of OneState, ruled over by the all-powerful "Benefactor." Recognized as the inspiration for George Orwell's 1984, We is the archetype of the modern dystopia, or anti-Utopia: a great prose poem detailing the fate that might befall us all if we surrender our individual selves to some collective dream of technology and fail in the vigilance that is the price of freedom.
-
-
Interesting history, prose a little outdated
- By Joel D Offenberg on 11-30-11
By: Yevgeny Zamyatin
-
Aurora
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, Aurora tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system. Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.
-
-
The Future is Limited, Get Used to It
- By Martin Lesser on 08-20-15
-
A Children's Bible
- By: Lydia Millet
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Contemptuous of their parents, who pass their days in a stupor of liquor, drugs, and sex, the children feel neglected and suffocated at the same time. When a destructive storm descends on the summer estate, the group's ringleaders - including Eve, who narrates the story - decide to run away, leading the younger ones on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside.
-
-
Not sure what to make of this
- By CCC on 10-20-20
By: Lydia Millet
-
Severance
- A Novel
- By: Ling Ma
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York.
-
-
4.19 stars
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 12-06-18
By: Ling Ma
-
Station Eleven (Television Tie-in)
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.
-
-
gah!
- By Stacy on 10-08-14
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Dystopia before dystopia was cool...
- By Amber on 05-28-14
-
We
- By: Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the 26th century A.D., Yevgeny Zamyatin's masterpiece describes life under the regimented totalitarian society of OneState, ruled over by the all-powerful "Benefactor." Recognized as the inspiration for George Orwell's 1984, We is the archetype of the modern dystopia, or anti-Utopia: a great prose poem detailing the fate that might befall us all if we surrender our individual selves to some collective dream of technology and fail in the vigilance that is the price of freedom.
-
-
Interesting history, prose a little outdated
- By Joel D Offenberg on 11-30-11
By: Yevgeny Zamyatin
-
Aurora
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, Aurora tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system. Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.
-
-
The Future is Limited, Get Used to It
- By Martin Lesser on 08-20-15
-
The Power
- By: Naomi Alderman
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: They can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.
-
-
A necessary read
- By Grace on 11-22-17
By: Naomi Alderman
-
The Parrot and the Igloo
- Climate and the Science of Denial
- By: David Lipsky
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1956, the New York Times prophesied that once global warming really kicked in, we could see parrots in the Antarctic. In 2010, when science deniers had control of the climate story, Senator James Inhofe and his family built an igloo on the Washington Mall and plunked a sign on top: AL GORE'S NEW HOME: HONK IF YOU LOVE CLIMATE CHANGE. In The Parrot and the Igloo, bestselling author David Lipsky tells the astonishing story of how we moved from one extreme (the correct one) to the other.
-
-
Depressing
- By Watch Hill on 08-13-23
By: David Lipsky
-
The Ministry for the Future
- A Novel
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Ramon de Ocampo, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us - and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.
-
-
Great ideas, uneven narration
- By depthpsychologist on 12-09-20
-
Battle Royale
- By: Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki - translator
- Narrated by: Mark Dacascos
- Length: 19 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. A Japanese pulp classic available in English-language audio for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world.
-
-
Kids should not have guns.
- By Teresa on 10-07-13
By: Koushun Takami, and others
-
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
-
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
-
The Fifth Season: Booktrack Edition
- The Broken Earth, Book 1
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the way the world ends...for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
-
-
I would give this less than one star if I could.
- By Christin on 02-12-20
By: N. K. Jemisin
-
American War
- A Novel
- By: Omar El Akkad
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, that unmanned drones fill the sky. And when her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she quickly begins to be shaped by her particular time and place until, finally, through the influence of a mysterious functionary, she is turned into a deadly instrument of war.
-
-
Best listen in years
- By odin on 04-08-17
By: Omar El Akkad
-
How High We Go in the Dark
- A Novel
- By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Brian Nishii, Keisuke Hoashi, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.
-
-
Should come with a sadness warning
- By KJH on 03-16-22
-
Never
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 23 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Never is an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heart-pounding story that transports listeners to the brink of the unimaginable.
-
-
I'll NEVER get through this one
- By Georgia on 11-11-21
By: Ken Follett
-
The Displacements
- A Novel
- By: Bruce Holsinger
- Narrated by: Austenne Grey
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To all appearances, the Larsen-Hall family has everything: healthy children, a stable marriage, a lucrative career for Brantley, and the means for Daphne to pursue her art full-time. Their deluxe new Miami life has just clicked into place when Luna—the world’s first category 6 hurricane—upends everything they have taken for granted. When the storm makes landfall, it triggers a descent of another sort. Their home destroyed, two of its members missing, and finances abruptly cut off, the family finds everything they assumed about their lives now up for grabs.
-
-
3.75 of 5 Stars
- By reader and teacher on 08-06-22
By: Bruce Holsinger
-
The High House
- A Novel
- By: Jessie Greengrass
- Narrated by: Camilla Rockley, Sam Newton, Mariam Abu-Hejleh
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perched on a sloping hill, set away from a small town by the sea, the High House has a tide pool and a mill, a vegetable garden, and, most importantly, a barn full of supplies. Caro, Pauly, Sally, and Grandy are safe, so far, from the rising water that threatens to destroy the town and that has, perhaps, already destroyed everything else. But for how long?
-
-
Narration difficult
- By mdelafield on 07-09-23
Related to this topic
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
The Designate
- Lens, Book 1
- By: J.B. Cantwell
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brooklyn, 2095. Seventeen-year-old Riley Taylor longs to escape the crushing poverty of the slums. Stuck with her best friend in a totalitarian police state, their only hope of freedom is joining the military. But when Riley gets ripped away from him in their first brutal combat, she’s shocked to discover why so many recruits come home in coffins.
-
-
Where do I start
- By jonmino on 01-24-22
By: J.B. Cantwell
-
Scythe
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
-
-
Teenage Thumbs up
- By Lila R on 04-01-17
By: Neal Shusterman
-
Pirate of the Prophecy
- Empress of the Endless Sea, Book 1
- By: Jack Campbell
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world of Dematr, the Emperor and his legions rule over the lands on the eastern side of the Sea of Bakre, and the Great Guilds rule over the Emperor and his subjects. The Mechanics Guild, whose members claim they came from the stars, controls technology far beyond that of the swords and sailing ships of the common people, while the Mage Guild wields strange powers. Jules, an orphan, has fought her way up to become an officer in training with the Emperor’s fleet. But her life is shattered when a Mage prophesizes that her bloodline will one day overthrow the Great Guilds.
-
-
I had to stop listening
- By Budgiegrower on 03-31-20
By: Jack Campbell
-
Beyond
- Founding of Valdemar Series, Book 1
- By: Mercedes Lackey
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Within the Eastern Empire, Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a tiny, bucolic Duchy that focuses mostly on horse breeding. Anticipating the day when the Empire's exploitative and militant leaders would not be content to leave them alone, Korda's father set out to gather magicians in the hopes of one day finding a way to escape and protect the people of the Duchy from tyranny.
-
-
Exceptional Listen
- By Amazon Customer on 09-27-21
By: Mercedes Lackey
-
Under a Graveyard Sky
- Black Tide Rising, Book 1
- By: John Ringo
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few marines. When an airborne "zombie" plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia, and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.
-
-
Sorry to say....not so good. :(
- By Chris on 03-07-14
By: John Ringo
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
The Designate
- Lens, Book 1
- By: J.B. Cantwell
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brooklyn, 2095. Seventeen-year-old Riley Taylor longs to escape the crushing poverty of the slums. Stuck with her best friend in a totalitarian police state, their only hope of freedom is joining the military. But when Riley gets ripped away from him in their first brutal combat, she’s shocked to discover why so many recruits come home in coffins.
-
-
Where do I start
- By jonmino on 01-24-22
By: J.B. Cantwell
-
Scythe
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
-
-
Teenage Thumbs up
- By Lila R on 04-01-17
By: Neal Shusterman
-
Pirate of the Prophecy
- Empress of the Endless Sea, Book 1
- By: Jack Campbell
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world of Dematr, the Emperor and his legions rule over the lands on the eastern side of the Sea of Bakre, and the Great Guilds rule over the Emperor and his subjects. The Mechanics Guild, whose members claim they came from the stars, controls technology far beyond that of the swords and sailing ships of the common people, while the Mage Guild wields strange powers. Jules, an orphan, has fought her way up to become an officer in training with the Emperor’s fleet. But her life is shattered when a Mage prophesizes that her bloodline will one day overthrow the Great Guilds.
-
-
I had to stop listening
- By Budgiegrower on 03-31-20
By: Jack Campbell
-
Beyond
- Founding of Valdemar Series, Book 1
- By: Mercedes Lackey
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Within the Eastern Empire, Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a tiny, bucolic Duchy that focuses mostly on horse breeding. Anticipating the day when the Empire's exploitative and militant leaders would not be content to leave them alone, Korda's father set out to gather magicians in the hopes of one day finding a way to escape and protect the people of the Duchy from tyranny.
-
-
Exceptional Listen
- By Amazon Customer on 09-27-21
By: Mercedes Lackey
-
Under a Graveyard Sky
- Black Tide Rising, Book 1
- By: John Ringo
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few marines. When an airborne "zombie" plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia, and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.
-
-
Sorry to say....not so good. :(
- By Chris on 03-07-14
By: John Ringo
-
Daughter of Dragons
- The Legacy of Dragons, Book 1
- By: Jack Campbell
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world of Dematr had been locked unchanging for centuries by the Great Guilds, most people living in a world of oil lamps, crossbows, and horse cavalry, the Mechanics reserving to themselves the technology for steam locomotives, rifles, and far-talkers while the Mages treated all others as if they were nothing - until Master Mechanic Mari, dragon slayer and pirate queen, and Master of Mages Alain raised the army of the new day to free their world.
-
-
Great Start to Sequel Series
- By Michael on 02-15-17
By: Jack Campbell
-
Elementals: Ice Wolves
- By: Amie Kaufman
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives. So when 12-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Family or not, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away. To rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else.
-
-
A well thought out tale
- By Dan on 04-17-18
By: Amie Kaufman
-
The Age of Ra
- Pantheon, Book 1
- By: James Lovegrove
- Narrated by: Andy Cresswell
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ancient Egyptian gods have defeated all the other pantheons and claimed dominion over the earth, dividing it into warring factions. Lt. David Westwynter, a British soldier, stumbles into Freegypt, the only place to have remained independent of the gods’ influence. There, he encounters the followers of a humanist leader known as the Lightbringer, who has vowed to rid mankind of the shackles of divine oppression. As the world heads towards an apocalyptic battle, there is far more to this freedom fighter than it seems.
-
-
Fun but trite
- By Patrick Quinn on 02-10-21
By: James Lovegrove
-
The Moon-Spinners
- By: Mary Stewart
- Narrated by: Daphne Kouma
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on a walking holiday through the beautiful, deserted hills of Crete, Nicola Ferris stumbles across a critically injured Englishman, guarded by a fierce Greek. Nicola cannot abandon them and so sets off on a perilous search for their lost companion - all the while being pursued by someone who wants to make sure none of them leave the island....
-
-
Classic thriller, but wish narrator was literate
- By VirginiaMom on 09-04-19
By: Mary Stewart
-
A Choir of Lies
- By: Alexandra Rowland
- Narrated by: John Keating, Xanthe Elbrick
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three years ago, Ylfing watched his master-Chant tear a nation apart with nothing but the words on his tongue. Now Ylfing is all alone in a new realm, brokenhearted and grieving - but a Chant in his own right, employed as a translator to a wealthy merchant of luxury goods, Sterre de Waeyer. But Ylfing has been struggling to come to terms with what his master did, with the audiences he's been alienated from, and with the stories he can no longer trust himself to tell. That is, until Ylfing's employer finds out what he is, what he does, and what he knows.
-
-
Really great book!!
- By Pamela McCabe on 03-22-20
-
In Pharaoh's Army
- Memories of the Lost War
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor, and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic.
-
-
Boring Waste of Time
- By Ethan on 08-21-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Girl with No Name
- By: Marina Chapman
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1954, in a remote South American village, a four-year-old girl was abducted and then abandoned deep in the Colombian rainforest. So begins the incredible true story of Marina Chapman, who went on to spend several years alone in the jungle, her only family a troop of capuchin monkeys. Using instinct to guide her, she copied everything they did and soon learned to fend for herself. At around 10 years old, a completely feral Marina was returned to civilisation by hunters, who sold her as a slave to a brothel. Beaten daily and groomed to be a prostitute, she escaped - to live the perilous existence of a Colombian city street kid.
-
-
Second time
- By Debbie on 05-21-15
By: Marina Chapman
-
Infected Dead Series Boxed Set, Books 1-3
- By: Bob Howard
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 26 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set on the coast of South Carolina, an unknown infection has caused people to die and come back to life as reanimated corpses, attacking any living person. This is the story of the survival of one man who was the benefactor of a shelter that helped him to live through the onslaught of the infected dead.
-
-
Easiest Zombie Apocalypse to survive ever!
- By Wakespike on 12-31-22
By: Bob Howard
-
Once We Were Here
- By: Christopher Cosmos
- Narrated by: Gary Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On October 28, 1940, Mussolini provides Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas with an ultimatum - either allow Axis forces to occupy their country or face war - and Greece’s response is swift: “Oxi!” they say. “No!” In a small village nestled against the radiant waters of the Aegean Sea, Alexei, the son of a local fisherman, and his best friend Costa - who were both born on the same night eighteen years earlier and have been like brothers ever since - leave their homes, like all the other young men in their village and throughout Greece, to bravely fight for their country.
-
-
Great story...
- By E. H. on 12-09-20
-
Running Blind
- By: Desmond Bagley
- Narrated by: Paul Tyreman
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The assignment begins with a simple errand - a parcel to deliver. But to Alan Stewart, standing on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. The desolate terrain is obstacle enough. But when Stewart realises he has been double-crossed and that the opposition is gaining ground, his simple mission seems impossible....
-
-
Timeless
- By Jim on 01-17-23
By: Desmond Bagley
-
Vampirates
- Demons of the Ocean
- By: Justin Somper
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conor and Grace are twins, recently orphaned after their widowed father's death. They decide to set sail for new pastures in their father's last possession, his sailboat. But a vicious storm capsizes their boat, and the twins are separated. Two mysterious ships sail to their rescue, each picking up one twin before disappearing into the mist. Conor wakes to find himself on a pirate ship; Grace finds herself locked in a darkened room, as the vampirates wait for night to fall and their feasting to begin.
-
-
Decent... with a lackluster finale
- By Halbert on 11-29-07
By: Justin Somper
-
Over the Woodward Wall
- By: A. Deborah Baker
- Narrated by: Heath Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning to the way he completes his homework - without complaint, without fuss, without prompt. Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable. They live on the same street. They live in different worlds.
-
-
Intriguing story! I recommend!
- By Smasher277 on 11-23-20
By: A. Deborah Baker
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The New Wilderness
- By: Diane Cook
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bea’s five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away, consumed by the smog and pollution of the overdeveloped metropolis that most of the population now calls home. If they stay in the city, Agnes will die. There is only one alternative: the Wilderness State, the last swath of untouched, protected land, where people have always been forbidden. Until now.
-
-
meh
- By soup cook on 10-29-20
By: Diane Cook
-
Capital
- By: John Lanchester
- Narrated by: Colin Mace
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 2008, and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road, London - a banker and his shopaholic wife, an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson, Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid, the young soccer star from Senegal and his minder - are receiving anonymous postcards reading "We Want What You Have." Who is behind it? What do they want?
-
-
Wonderful characters, great story
- By Lynda Rands on 10-16-12
By: John Lanchester
-
The Wake
- By: Paul Kingsnorth
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of the Norman Invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror was uncompromising and brutal. English society was broken apart, its systems turned on their head. What is little known is that a fractured network of guerrilla fighters took up arms against the French occupiers.
-
-
Please…get me out of his head!
- By Craig on 07-11-16
By: Paul Kingsnorth
-
The Wall
- By: Marlen Haushofer
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While vacationing in a hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains, a middle-aged woman awakens one morning to find herself separated from the rest of the world by an invisible wall. With a cat, a dog, and a cow as her sole companions, she learns how to survive and cope with her loneliness.
-
-
A masterpiece. I’ll be thinking about this for years.
- By John on 06-04-24
By: Marlen Haushofer
-
Fever
- By: Deon Meyer
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nico Storm and his father, Willem, drive a truck filled with essential supplies through a desolate land. They are among the few in the world, as far as they know, to have survived a devastating virus that has swept over the planet. Their lives turned upside down, Nico realizes that his superb marksmanship and cool head mean he is destined to be his father's protector, even though he is still only a boy.
-
-
Amazing
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 07-16-18
By: Deon Meyer
-
The Water Cure
- A Novel
- By: Sophie Mackintosh
- Narrated by: Hannah Murray, Gemma Whelan, Morfydd Clark
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has lain the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out a clear message: Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Here women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world. But when their father, the only man they've ever seen, disappears, they retreat further inward until the day two men and a boy wash ashore.
-
-
Unique, strange, beautiful
- By Brittany Clemens on 01-08-19
-
The New Wilderness
- By: Diane Cook
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bea’s five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away, consumed by the smog and pollution of the overdeveloped metropolis that most of the population now calls home. If they stay in the city, Agnes will die. There is only one alternative: the Wilderness State, the last swath of untouched, protected land, where people have always been forbidden. Until now.
-
-
meh
- By soup cook on 10-29-20
By: Diane Cook
-
Capital
- By: John Lanchester
- Narrated by: Colin Mace
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 2008, and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road, London - a banker and his shopaholic wife, an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson, Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid, the young soccer star from Senegal and his minder - are receiving anonymous postcards reading "We Want What You Have." Who is behind it? What do they want?
-
-
Wonderful characters, great story
- By Lynda Rands on 10-16-12
By: John Lanchester
-
The Wake
- By: Paul Kingsnorth
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of the Norman Invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror was uncompromising and brutal. English society was broken apart, its systems turned on their head. What is little known is that a fractured network of guerrilla fighters took up arms against the French occupiers.
-
-
Please…get me out of his head!
- By Craig on 07-11-16
By: Paul Kingsnorth
-
The Wall
- By: Marlen Haushofer
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While vacationing in a hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains, a middle-aged woman awakens one morning to find herself separated from the rest of the world by an invisible wall. With a cat, a dog, and a cow as her sole companions, she learns how to survive and cope with her loneliness.
-
-
A masterpiece. I’ll be thinking about this for years.
- By John on 06-04-24
By: Marlen Haushofer
-
Fever
- By: Deon Meyer
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nico Storm and his father, Willem, drive a truck filled with essential supplies through a desolate land. They are among the few in the world, as far as they know, to have survived a devastating virus that has swept over the planet. Their lives turned upside down, Nico realizes that his superb marksmanship and cool head mean he is destined to be his father's protector, even though he is still only a boy.
-
-
Amazing
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 07-16-18
By: Deon Meyer
-
The Water Cure
- A Novel
- By: Sophie Mackintosh
- Narrated by: Hannah Murray, Gemma Whelan, Morfydd Clark
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has lain the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out a clear message: Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Here women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world. But when their father, the only man they've ever seen, disappears, they retreat further inward until the day two men and a boy wash ashore.
-
-
Unique, strange, beautiful
- By Brittany Clemens on 01-08-19
-
The Choosing
- By: Rachelle Dekker
- Narrated by: Morgan Hallett
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like all citizens since the ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she'd spent a lifetime preparing for - her choosing ceremony - to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she'll spend her days serving as a lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it's her duty to follow the true way of the authority. But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs.
-
-
Predictable, young adult drama, and muddy belief
- By Melting Alaskan on 04-18-17
By: Rachelle Dekker
-
The Great Zoo of China
- By: Matthew Reilly
- Narrated by: Rich Orlow
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for 40 years. They have proven the existence of dragons - a landmark discovery no one could ever believe is real and a scientific revelation that will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing findings within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see these fabulous creatures for the first time.
-
-
Dumb dumb dumb
- By CKDexter on 06-30-16
By: Matthew Reilly
-
The Wall
- By: Brian Penn
- Narrated by: Luke Welland
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 2099, and the former United States of America is in the midst of another civil war. In the wake of a revolutionary technology that grants people a second chance at life, an impenetrable wall divides the prosperous nation of Zion from the slums of MiddleLand. Stuck inside the wall and desperate to reunite with his fiancée, contraband smuggler Asher is hell-bent on finding a way out.
-
-
US history, dystopia, and a love for God.
- By Kindle Customer on 10-26-24
By: Brian Penn
-
Reality
- And Other Stories
- By: John Lanchester
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Antony Boyle, Emilia Fox, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ghost stories for the digital age by the Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Wall. A mysterious, tall man haunts a country house in search of a cell signal; a family discovers their dependence on the latest technological gadget goes to the very foundations of human relations; and the merry contestants in a reality TV show may actually be...somewhere very hellish, indeed. Reality and Other Stories is a book of disquiet that captures the severe disconnection and distraction of our time.
-
-
perfectly creepy for today's tech world
- By Juanita G. on 05-20-21
By: John Lanchester
-
Crime and Punishment
- By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Narrated by: Will Poulter
- Length: 22 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Often considered one of the first ever psychological thrillers, Crime and Punishment is a gripping tale of a poverty-stricken young man in Saint Petersburg, Russia, who hatches a plan to kill someone for money. Once the deed is done, he finds himself racked with guilt, confusion and disgust for his act. In this new recording, Will Poulter gives new life to the troubled protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, in a performance that will have you questioning where we draw the line between right and wrong.
-
-
Captivating story, excellent narration
- By Cadus on 05-18-23
-
The Bear
- By: Andrew Krivak
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last of humankind. But when the girl finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness that offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen.
-
-
Interconnectedness of all life
- By Sherrie Brownell on 07-18-20
By: Andrew Krivak
What listeners say about The Wall
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike Trivett
- 01-11-24
Quick but enjoyable
Compelling story that kept me engaged. I would recommend. I’ll certainly now look for other works by this author.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Margaret
- 05-13-24
Magnificent world-building
Extraordinary world-building in this tale of what could be a near future, if sea-level rise leads to war. The writing is spare and muscular. Lancaster focuses on only a few details, but the details he selects create a vivid picture of human adaptability. We carry our biases and conflicts into every world, but we also carry forward a fundamental human need for connection and community. Lancaster paints two monotonous worlds where living is rigorously simple- on a wall overlooking the sea, and on the open sea. Yet neither of these monotonous worlds bore the reader; there's always a new discovery around each corner of this narrative, and a quiet tension that pulls the reader forward. Highly recommend.
Narrator Will Poulter is a perfect fit for this narrative.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Astyanax Kanakakis
- 08-14-19
A dystopian book?
Dystopian fiction is most of the times so far away from current reality. The book describes a nightmarish world that is so nightmarishly close. Excellent book with challenging notions throughout.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 12-19-19
Thrilling
It was easy to get into, exciting and thrilling all the way through. Well 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
- Cynthia R Phillips
- 08-07-19
Slow start sneaks up on you and whispers truth
Politics aside, the ideas expressed here are done so quietly and profoundly. it took me a while to grasp that the Defenders on The Wall are probably muss 17 and up with the oldest, the Captain, probably no more than 24.
The idea that the sins of the parents are the burden of the children is handled realistically. The interaction between the young soldiers is also realistic as is the reaction of the public to the Defenders and vice versa.
Recommended to fans of Margaret Atwood, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Doris Lessong and Mary Doria Russell.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S.A.N MONSANTO MONSANTO
- 01-12-20
it is cold wall
The Wall,” arrives at a moment in which the definition of a wall is a matter of national debate, and it actively invites such associations. As the main character says on the first page, as he searches for words to describe the wall of the title, “You look for metaphors.”
The narrator is a young man with the Kafkaesque name of Joseph Kavanagh. He has just arrived at the Wall, “a long low concrete monster” that runs for thousands of kilometers around the periphery of an unnamed island nation, closing it off completely from the outside world. All citizens are required to serve there for two years as Defenders, forming the last line of resistance against the threat of an armed invasion. This recalls the Night’s Watch of “Game of Thrones,” except that the country is recognizably Britain, and the enemies on the other side aren’t supernatural White Walkers, but human beings in rowboats and dinghies.
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
- Shawn Oueinsteen
- 08-27-19
A Climate Crisis Viewpoint
This is an odd, but fascinating novel. The author never quite says it's about the climate crisis. The wall is supposed to keep our "the others" but they are never called climate refugees. Late in the novel, the reader learns that the wall originally was built to keep out rising seas. As a result, it's a rather powerful climate novel. It's major drawback is it's lack of emotion and lack of strong central characters. But it's an enjoyable book, and the reader is very good. The world needs more climate crisis novels. This is a pretty good one. It's not a great one but it's a pretty good one
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ashley Gallegos
- 07-16-24
One of my all time favorites
I loved this story! It's a haunting and beautiful coming of age story. In a dystopian world there is love and hope but also wind and cold and dark water. It's a story that has stuck in my head, like a memory. Would make a wonder film. Narrator was perfect. Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jonas Blomberg Ghini
- 11-19-19
It's OK
Some spoilers ahead, I'm afraid.
The start is quite a slog. I understand the literary tool of setting a mood by drawing the minutia and monotony in excruciating detail, and I cannot deny it works. I just don't like it as a tool. Perhaps it is used here to contrast life's three regions: within, on, and outside the wall. As I can identify that as a possibility, the tool must work, a bit, at least, but the tone never changes. The story is only ever related in the same flat and pointless manner. Our protagonist only cares about getting off the Wall, but the thought of it seems not to give him any actual hope. So everything is grey, everything is a waste of time and effort.
I feel Lanchester misses a great opportunity to investigate society and human nature when he simply skips what could have been an incredibly interesting tension between those who choose to have and those who choose not to have children. In the story, the ones who have no children just find those who do a bit odd, and nothing more is said on the matter. I simply don't buy it. A Great Britain surrounded by a large wall would run into population trouble fast, as is hinted at in the story. And under pressure, humanity tends not to work all that well. There is no way society would not become this awkward, potentially violent mess where childless people consider themselves morally superior to those who make babies, while the "breeders" think they are the more responsible for the future. By and large, we love to hate what we love, and the distinction between having and not having children in a world suffering significant ecological collapse is not likely to be exempt from this.
Chewy, the protagonist, is boring as a single, regular, dusty, red brick. Maybe there's a small crack in the brick, but it's not large enough to explore. I mean, he has nothing more to say about the world after everything went to shit than that he hates the previous generation (like so many generations before him), and that he looks forward till military service is over? He has a lucid moment where he reflects on treason towards the end, but that's about it for any individuality and thought.
I'm not going to say it was a waste of time to listen to The Wall, but I also do not feel like I leave it having become better in some way, or that I have been shown interesting art or philosophy. Not everything needs to be that, though, and the narration is great at capturing the mood, serving the story up in as good a dressing as can be. For my part, I am glad to put it down, and look forward to more interesting fare ahead.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JDS
- 04-16-19
A Slice of Future Time
A tightly woven, incredibly poignant, vision of what future generations may plausibly experience. At base, humans default to in-/out-group behavior, shown so vividly here. Listen to it in
conjunction with The Inhospirable Earth for an additional kick to start truly caring for this precious orb.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful