
The Wrong Unit
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Rob Dircks
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By:
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Rob Dircks
About this listen
I don't know what the humans are so cranky about. Their enclosures are large, they ingest over 1,000 calories per day, and they're allowed to mate. Plus, they have me: an Autonomous Servile Unit, housed in a mobile/bipedal chassis. I do my job well: keep the humans healthy and happy.
"Hey you.”
Heyoo. That's my name, I suppose. It's easier for the humans to remember than 413s98-itr8. I guess I've gotten used to it.
Rob Dircks, author of Where the Hell is Tesla? and Don’t Touch the Blue Stuff!, has a "unit" with a problem: how to deliver his package, out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to guide him. Oh, and with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. It's a science fiction tale of technology gone haywire, unlikely heroes, and the nature of humanity. (Woah. That last part sounds deep. Don't worry, it's not.)
©2016 Rob Dircks (P)2016 Rob DircksListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“★★★★★ Dircks has delivered a fantastic novel that is charming, thoughtful, both heart wrenching and heart warming, thought-provoking, and ultimately just hilarious.” (AudiobookReviewer.com)
"Rob Dircks manages to bridge the tricky divide between science-fiction and humor so effortlessly that a comparison to Vonnegut is not a hyperbolic stretch.” (Ruth Sinanian, Literature Reviewer)
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Original, Funny, Unputdownable
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 05-08-20
By: Kira Jane Buxton
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The Raven Tower
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes. But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts.
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A Unique Perspective and an Intriguing Mystery
- By Amazon Customer on 05-15-19
By: Ann Leckie
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The Volcano Daughters
- A Novel
- By: Gina María Balibrera
- Narrated by: Gisela Chipe, Elena Rey, Alma Cuervo, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo’s regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail.
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A Masterpiece, a must read!
- By Plant lover on 09-30-24
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Olivetti
- By: Allie Millington
- Narrated by: Christopher Gebauer, Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindles—the family he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from twelve-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. Once a collector of words, now Olivetti only collects dust. He gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest’s mom, Beatrice—his used-to-be frequent visitor—only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him behind.
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Absolutely brilliant!
- By Stephanie C. on 05-14-24
By: Allie Millington
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Someone You Can Build a Nest In
- By: John Wiswell
- Narrated by: Carmen Rose
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body using a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth. However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she's found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warmhearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human
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Weird, but good
- By Kris Rudin on 12-08-24
By: John Wiswell
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The Island of Missing Trees
- A Novel
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Daphne Kouma, Amira Ghazalla
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish.
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WOW! What a great story and narration!
- By Marcy on 12-02-21
By: Elif Shafak
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The Employees
- A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century
- By: Olga Ravn
- Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Funny and doom-drenched, The Employees chronicles the fate of the Six-Thousand Ship. The human and humanoid crew members complain about their daily tasks in a series of staff reports and memos. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew becomes strangely and deeply attached to them, even as tensions boil toward mutiny, especially among the humanoids.
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I think this was a story?
- By Jordan on 07-02-23
By: Olga Ravn
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The Art of Racing in the Rain
- By: Garth Stein
- Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The New York Times best-selling novel from Garth Stein - a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope - a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it.
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5 out of 3000
- By Roger on 02-23-10
By: Garth Stein
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Mrs. Wickham
- By: Sarah Page
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
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Imagine if you made one little mistake when you were young and were punished for it for the rest of your life. Well, that’s what happened to Lydia (yes, that Lydia, the youngest Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice), and she’s here to set the record straight. Hold on to your teacups and get ready for sophisticated (and a little bit naughty) hot takes and witty banter that’ll make you laugh—and think. We meet Lydia just as she is denounced by her family, exiled miles from home, and married to the rogue George Wickham, who seems to love all women...except his own wife.
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Was I supposed to feel sorry?
- By LuJuna Brown-Jackson on 09-10-22
By: Sarah Page
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Annie Bot
- A Novel
- By: Sierra Greer
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jill Araya
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard.
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Good, but not great
- By Katie Ramey on 03-25-24
By: Sierra Greer
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Klara and the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?
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Well Worth Having Waited For!
- By otherdeb on 03-04-21
By: Kazuo Ishiguro
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Watership Down
- By: Richard Adams
- Narrated by: Peter Capaldi
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the warren; he felt sure of it. They had to leave immediately. So begins a long and perilous journey of survival for a small band of rabbits. As the rabbits skirt danger at every turn, we become acquainted with the band, its humorous characters, and its compelling culture, complete with its own folk history and mythos. Fiver’s vision finally leads them to Watership Down, an upland meadow. But here they face their most difficult challenges of all.
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Capaldi is FANTASTIC; tech editing, not as much
- By Becca on 05-19-19
By: Richard Adams
Dircks’ has delivered a fantastic novel that is charming, thoughtful, both heart wrenching and heart warming, thought-provoking, and ultimately just hilarious. Heyoo’s character as a robot attempting to interpret human motivations and actions is just captured so well and with a lot of amusing thoughts from the robot. Beyond the humor, there is fantastic character development. Heyoo and the other two main characters really grow and change throughout the novel. In fact, Heyoo’s slow change, both physical and intellectual, during his long journey is truly transformative. While the premise for the story isn’t unique, the perspective is really novel and I like that throughout, it is slowly revealed how humanity got to the point that it became controlled by Core. Also, while the timeline extends over many years, the story does not drag at all. Dircks’ achieves a great balance between action and reflection. Ultimately, this is a humorous story about humanity and freedom.
The narration was also done by Rob Dircks and it was spot-on. His voice capture of Heyoo and the units was really well done. All of the human characters were also really well captured and distinguishable. He was really able to make the listening experience immersive. The production quality was good as well. I would highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys funny novels about robots, overthrowing robot overlords, and humanity at large.
Audiobook was provided for review by the author.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog
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thought-provoking, and ultimately just hilarious
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What made the experience of listening to The Wrong Unit the most enjoyable?
It's fun, well written sci fi. Great subject idea.What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Unfortunately to my English ear I struggled with the narrator pronouncing some words super quickly and I couldn't make out what was being said. This spoilt my listening and I had to stop with what was an enjoyable read....Any additional comments?
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.Great story
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Completely Captivating
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Great read for a new father.
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Audiobook narrator Rob Dircks rating: 4.5 stars
This is another short and fun science fiction book by Rob Dircks (author of Where the Hell is Tesla? A Novel). This book had a semi-similar feel to the book The Road (though, The Wrong Unit is much more positive and less dreary). It’s similar because of the two initial main characters and their relationship building. I really liked the interaction between Heyoo and Wa and how they grew together.
I don’t normally remember quotes from books but I really enjoyed the quote of “Fear not, you can always find beauty, even in a broken world.” Very poetic and well placed (then I learned that this similar quote shows up a few more times in the book).
This book had just the right amount of sci-fi mixed in with humor to make for a fun and short novel. I suppose that I did not enjoy this book as much as Rob’s first book but I still really enjoyed this one. I did not particularly care for the part where the kid picks up the gun and it discharges on him.
I liked the nod towards the Houston Astros and the baseball references (I thought there could be more baseball references in this book as well!). One thing that stood out to me was how we were given dates but we were also given elapsed time throughout the book. Sometimes it’s hard to calculate in my head how much time has elapsed when we’re just given dates. So I really appreciate having both options at the beginning of some of the chapters.
Not only is Rob a good author, he is a good narrator as well! I feel like he does a great job of breathing life into his characters and changing his voice for different characters. I am glad he reads his books.
I was gifted this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
A fun, light-hearted sci-fi book. Recommended!
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learn a little humanity from a machine!
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Danger Will Robinson
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glass box of emotions.
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Would you consider the audio edition of The Wrong Unit to be better than the print version?
I only listened as I use audio to get through my commute to work.Who was your favorite character and why?
HeyYou! Who doesn't love a slightly sarcastic robot?Which scene was your favorite?
So many to choose from. I think when Wah fashioned the wings for them to fly over the canyon to get to Shanghai. At this point, it seemed the two characters matured and became more equals -- fully trusting each other.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I found this to be very entertaining and engaging. Rob Dirks reads his own work in a way that you forget the author is reading to you -- he's simply acting out the story for you and the characters come alive. And I did laugh several times, and there were some very endearing and touching moments in the latter pages of the story.Any additional comments?
Rob, when is your next SciFi book? Keep 'em coming!!!A must have
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Loved this
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