Download Legally Full Audiobook in Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary Free Online in Multiple Languages

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Bones of the Earth

Author: Michael Swanwick

Narrator: Kevin Pariseau

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-07-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 64 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

World-renowned paleontologist Richard Leyster's universe changed forever the day a stranger named Griffin walked into his office with a remarkable job offer... and an ice cooler containing the head of a freshly killed Stegosaurus.

For Leyster and a select group of scientific colleagues, an impossible fantasy has come true: the ability to study dinosaurs up close, in their own era and milieu. But tampering with time and paradox can have disastrous effects on the future and the past alike, breeding a violent new strain of fundamentalist terror - and, worse still, encouraging brilliant rebels like Dr. Gertrude Salley to toy with the working mechanisms of natural law, no matter what the consequences. And when they concern the largest, most savage creatures that ever walked the Earth, the consequences may be too horrifying to imagine.

Critic Reviews:

"Expanded from his Hugo Award-winning story "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur," Michael Swanwick's Bones of the Earth is a time-travel novel as exciting as Jurassic Park and far more intelligent." (Amazon.com review)

Members Reviews:

Revels in paleontology and paradoxes

Paleontologist Richard Leyster works for the Smithsonian. It???s his dream job, so naturally he scoffs when a strange man named Harry Griffin offers him a new job whose description and benefits are vague. But when Griffin leaves an Igloo cooler containing the head of a real dinosaur on Leyster???s desk, Leyster is definitely intrigued. A couple of years later, when Griffin finally contacts him again, Leyster is ready to sign on to Griffin???s crazy project. He and a team of scientists are sent back to the Mesozoic era to study, up close and personal, the animals that, previously, had only been known by their bones. When a Christian fundamentalist terror group disrupts the project, things get very dangerous for Leyster and his colleagues. There are also concerns about the whole time-travel technology. How does it work? Where did it come from? What is the government hiding?

Bones of the Earth gleefully revels in paleontology and paradoxes. Readers will go to science conferences, watch grad students do field work, and listen to lengthy discussions about the classification of dinosaurs, the evolution of fringe ecological niches, and the event that caused dinosaur extinction. Some of this gets a little dry. There???s an entire chapter called ???Peer Review??? in which several scientists work together to write up a paper that, due to being stuck in the Mesozoic era, they know will never be published. (Even though this went on too long, I loved this idea!) But it???s not all stuffy science, because this is Michael Swanwick, so there???s also a paleontologist orgy ??? probably the first one ever.

Most people, if they had the chance to move around in time, would be tempted to use this ability to profit financially ??? get the lottery numbers from the newspaper, find out who won a horse race and go back and bet on it... But not a paleontologist. Swanwick speculates that they???d prefer prestige over money (and I think he???s right about that). Thus, Dr. Gertrude Salley, who???s both a hero and a villain in this story, gleans facts instead of dollars during her time travels. Later, when Salley creates a time paradox and is forced to meet herself, she???s chagrined to learn that she???s not much fun to be around.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Destiny's Road

Author: Larry Niven

Narrator: Paul Michael Garcia

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-08-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 166 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Get ready for an adventure on a world from the brilliant imagination of New York Times best-selling author Larry Niven.

Wide and smooth, the Road was seared into planet Destinys rocky surface by the fusion drive of the powered landing craft, Cavorite. The Cavorite deserted the original interstellar colonists, stranding them without hope of contacting Earth.

Now, descendants of those pioneers have many questions about the Road, but no settler who has gone down it has ever returned. For Jemmy Bloocher, a young farm boy, the questions burn too hot - and he sets out to uncover the many mysteries of Destinys Road.

Critic Reviews:

Nivens sure hand with details opens the story up in unexpected directions[an] admirable balance. (New York Times)

Members Reviews:

This is no Lucifer's Hammer

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I've noticed quite a large difference between the amazon reviews and the audible reviews. Perhaps it might be the narration turning people off??? But I personally didn't mind the narration.

I have a theory regarding the difference between amazon and audible reviews, and it does not involve any conspiracy theory with amazon! I think it is just the main character experiences so much, and yet just seems to take it as though it is another day. For example, Jemmy has to run away because of an accident, and yet the style of writing or the narration did not seem to indicate any crisis had occurred in the first place. As a listener it is easier to notice this lack of emotion. However, as a reader you tend to read yourself into the experience. With the audible version I tend to rely on the emotion or style of the narrator for that emotional character development (I know not all people are like this, but that is just me :-) As a reader I find myself reading more between the lines of a character.

I think this Niven book is one of those stories that is best read and not listened too. Which makes it hard for me to recommend this audible story to anyone.

What do you think your next listen will be?

It will be have to be something with a bit more action. Perhaps, a zombie quickie like 'Die Trying'. I was hoping for so much more from this book after enjoying Niven's book "Lucifer's Hammer". However, I was greatly disappointed. So the next book is one I have not read any reviews on. Perhaps, this time I will be taken by surprise for the better!!

Which character as performed by Paul Michael Garcia was your favorite?

The obvious choice is Jemmy, but I certainly didn't stay awake at night wondering what would happen. In a book which depends on the audience being there in 'another world' the divorce of emotion in the main character made it difficult for me to 'experience' or be immersed into the storyline.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointed, because it really could have been another Niven classic, which I could really get into! But instead, it tuned into a bit of a chore to listen to!

Any additional comments?

My advice is while the book is not bad it is not one of Niven's best and would best when it is on special.

The story might be greatthe narration isn't

This is like listening to a completely disconnected set of phrases. I bet the book is okay, but I can't stand more than a few paragraphs before switching to something else.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Center of Gravity: Star Carrier, Book Two

Author: Ian Douglas

Narrator: Nick Sullivan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-19-11

Publisher: HarperCollins

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 912 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In the evolution of every sentient race, there is a turning point when the species achieves transcendence through technology. The warlike Sh'daar are determined that this monumental milestone will never be achieved by the creatures known as human.

On the far side of known human space, the Marines are under siege, battling the relentless servant races of the Sh'daar aggressor. With a task force stripped to the bone and the Terran Confederation of States racked by dissent, rogue Admiral Alexander Koenig must make the momentous decision that will seal his fate and the fate of humankind. A strong defensive posture is futile, so Koenig will seize the initiative and turn the gargantuan Star Carrier America toward the unknown. For the element of surprise is the only hope of stalling the Sh'daar assault on Earth's solar system - and the war for humankind's survival must be taken directly to the enemy.

Members Reviews:

If you enjoyed the 1st installment...

You'll enjoy this one. Same generic plot, same boilerplate characters, same breakneck space battles that are highly entertaining, etc.... However I'd say this book is roughly 50% space battle where the first book was 75%. There is a bit more downtime and an attempt to flesh out characters, aliens, and the conflict. A nice attempt, but nothing surprising.

Once again a very decent performance from Nick Sullivan.

Biggest gripe: like the first book, Ian Douglas explains everything over and over and over. How many time do we need explained that a VC-10 CRATE missile has a variable yield warhead and can accelerate at 5000G? Really?

round 2 well done.

narrator does a great job. story continues to move and the pace just keeps on!

Starting to get REAL good

This is a slow starting series. Lots of very technical info. Great characters beginning to flesh out and the action is there in droves. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Reminding me some of another favorite, Babylon 5.

Great Technology for the Future

What made the experience of listening to Center of Gravity: Star Carrier, Book Two the most enjoyable?

I found the technological speculation of the entire series to be fascinating. Its astounding how few other sci-fi writers carry the possibilities of nano-tech to such a high level of development but Douglas did a spectacular job.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This was a book i listened to in 1.5 sittings. I listen to them all day at work so a 12 hour book is either one day's worth (depending on how buys i am at home) or 1.5 work days. i will probably listen to this one again!

Even Better than first book

"Empire strikes back"

second book even better than first .

I anticipate that third book won't be the last.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Invasion

Subtitle: Book One of the Secret World Chronicle

Author: Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Cody Martin, Dennis Lee

Narrator: Nick Sullivan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 486 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The world had become used to the metahumans - people sometimes perfectly ordinary, but sometimes quite extraordinary in appearance - who mostly worked with their governments as high-powered peace officers, fighting crime, and sometimes fighting rogue metahumans who had become super-criminals. Then that comfortable world ended in just one terrifying day.

Suddenly, all world governments were simultaneously attacked by soldiers in giant mecha robotic suits with the swastika symbol of the Third Reich on their metal arms. If these were Nazis, where had they been hiding since the end of World War II? And where had they gotten armor and weapons far in advance of anything on the planet? Weapons against which even the metahuman heroes seemed to be helpless

Members Reviews:

It's ...okay.

For the first FIVE hours, the book is a relentless wholesale blowout of 'FLASH' 'BANG' 'WHIZ' 'BOOM', with very little in plot progression. You merely get to meet the enemy, and watch them get relentlessly blown to smithereens. FOR. FIVE. HOURS. And you never get the enemy's POV, or any insidious dialogue. They really read as these flat lifeless targets, for the good guy mutants to squish in fancy ways.

It introduces all the characters in that first round like members in a game show. You get their introduction, you learn their plight, and then you get to know them. It felt like I was being encouraged to form an emotional response for these characters before understanding them. The deliberately sparse revelations of the plot-line paired with the free-flowing interruptions of the character's personal emotional responses to said revelations was nerve-wracking. And the characters in this book aren't subtle mutations, we're talking blue people who heal with their brain, and fly. Extremely unlikely mutants, like the x-men.

A lot of the cultural concerns addressed in this novel are outdated from the Cold War, and a lot of the national view points are portrayed terribly wrongly (the Germans ALL liking WWII? My gran said there were curfews, patrols, and then one of your neighbors would disappear. There wasn't a brochure for what was happening.) I honestly began the book thinking it was based in a 1930's alternate history, the level of information granted is so palsy, until a guy whipped out a cell phone. I had trouble identifying or liking any of the characters, except for the burn victim.

Surprise

Its always nice to find a new series to get excited about. I started this one with low expectations and was very pleasantly impressed. I thought 'super hero crap! Naww not for me'. But having given it a go a found that the superhero crap was actually quite believably done, add in magic, Nazis, crime lords, religion, communism, and you have such a mess that it just has to be either a complete disaster or some of the best fun I have had in ages.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: 7th Sigma

Author: Steven Gould

Narrator: Fred Berman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-05-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 189 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Welcome to the territory. Leave your metal behind, all of it. The bugs will eat it, and they'll go right through you to get it. Don't carry it, don't wear it, and for God's sake, don't come here if you've got a pacemaker.

The bugs showed up about 50 years ago - self-replicating, solar-powered, metal-eating machines. No one knows where they came from. They don't like water, though, so they've stayed in the desert Southwest. The territory. People still live here, but they do it without metal. Log cabins, ceramics, what plastic they can get that will survive the sun and heat. Technology has adapted, and so have the people.

Kimble Monroe has chosen to live in the territory. He was born here, and he is extraordinarily well adapted to it. He's one in a million. Maybe one in a billion.

In 7th Sigma, Gould builds an extraordinary SF novel of survival and personal triumph against all the odds.

Critic Reviews:

"The story is compelling enough that I really did lose sleep to finish the book." (

The San Diego Union-Tribune)

"

7th Sigma offers further proof that good fiction isnt necessarily about the originality of the tale itself, rather than about how it is told. Gould tells it well." (

Locus)

Members Reviews:

What if you couldn't use metal ever again?

This is a novelization of Gould's short story, "Bugs of the Arroyo," which is included with little rewriting as part of the story arc. It's a great coming-of-age story set in the desert southwest of the U.S. where a mysterious new technology has forced the abandonment of any and all technologies that require the use of metal. The thoughtful and thought-provoking descriptions of how this would force people to adapt are worth the price of admission all by themselves. In the bargain you get a story of human resilience and adaptability wrapped in some vivid and evocative descriptions of the physical and social world in which the story is set. The only flaw here is a rough and somewhat jarring transition between the new material and the original story (the new material is much better written). It is clear, by the way, that this is the first of at least two books because the mystery of the invasive technology is far from resolved at the end of this volume. Narrator Fred Berman is the perfect reader, so this is a great listen all 'round.

A Rudyard Kipling-esque SF Western with Aikido

First, let's talk about what 7th Sigma is and is not. Much like Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book was based on the Jungle Book, this is a retelling of another Rudyard Kipling novel - Kim. This is a coming of age adventure story, with SF elements, set against a southwestern backdrop. Yes, there are bugs that eat metal, but this is NOT a Crichton-esque techno thriller or a post-apocalyptic survival story, as it seems to be marketed.

Like Kipling's Kim, this is told as a serial novel, centering around a young boy named Kimble who is growing up - the major SF divergence is that it takes place in The Territory, where bugs eat everything metal. The people who choose to stay here learn to make due without metal - be it the rivets in their jeans, the lead in their rifles, or chips in their computers. But that's really just the setting, and it sounds more gritty than it is.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Hybrids

Author: Whitley Strieber

Narrator: David Colacci

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-30-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 75 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

For years, people have feared that sexual material removed from victims of alien abductions might lead to the creation of something that modern science considers impossible: hybrids of the alien and the human. They would think like aliens, but appear human, and be able to do something that full-blooded aliens can't: walk the earth freely. In Hybrids, Whitley Strieber unleashes his unparalleled skills as a thriller writer and his unique knowledge of the abduction phenomenon to explore what might happen if hybrids invaded the earth---not from the stars, but from exactly where the aliens told him they would emerge, when one of them said, "We will come from within you."

Members Reviews:

Narrator

The book is fairly interesting. I have other books by Whitley Strieber avd enjoyed them.

The choice of narrator is so very important. The choice of Mr Colacci for this book is an unfortunate one, IMHO. It is difficult to follow the storyline because his sentence are run-ons.

He is not the worst I have come across; I was able to listen to the book, but it could have been so much better. He enunciated clearly , but needs to slow down a bit.

I wonder if any feedback is given to the narrators.

script for blockbuster action fail

Some of the writing just made me cringe. It seemed like it was a failed script for a big action movie that wasn't fully fleshed out. I like books that have some semblance of credibility that you only have to partly suspend your disbelief. This wasn't one of those.

pretty good

very interesting story...good action...nice technologies..good narration. weird ending. zombie-like quasi-end of the world scenario

Violence

I am very disappointed with Whitley. I have read a few of his books. This one is not typical for him. The violence is unnecessary. I don't need to know how it feels to have your skin ripped off and your eyeballs removed. Screaming children who are being tortured was just way too much for me. I could not finish this book.

It was interesting.

This book was written like it was backed by super emotional orchestrated music, way overly descriptive and wordy. Could have done the book in about 2 thirds the time with better flow if the writer had slimmed the wordiness down quite a bit. But hey, some people like that in a book. The Narrator was a bit strange. He read it kind of like he was influenced by the invisible emotional music with a strange downward inflection. The other review said that there were run-on sentences but I didn't find that at all.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Clementine

Subtitle: A Novel of the Clockwork Century

Author: Cherie Priest

Narrator: Dina Pearlman, Victor Bevine

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-25-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 345 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Maria Isabella Boyd's success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty, she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago.

Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies, and Uncle Sam isn't pleased. The Clementine is carrying a top secret load of military essentials - essentials that must be delivered to Louisville, Kentucky, without delay.

Intelligence suggests that the unrelenting pursuer is a runaway slave who's been wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon for 15 years. In that time, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey has felonied his way back and forth across the continent, leaving a trail of broken banks, stolen war machines, and illegally distributed weaponry from sea to shining sea. And now it's Maria's job to go get him. He's dangerous quarry, and she's a dangerous woman, but when forces conspire against them both, they take a chance and form an alliance. She joins his crew, and he uses her connections. She follows his orders. He takes her advice. And somebody, somewhere, is going to rue the day he crossed either one of them.

Critic Reviews:

"Piracy meets politics head-on in this steampunk thriller.... Explosive battle scenes, riveting action, and a sharp-eyed examination of the mistrust between Croggon's all-black crew and very white, very Southern Maria play out in a desperate race against the clock." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Fun!

No Pulitzer prizes here. This is a quick story with an interesting cast and some unique action sequences. For a good time, call Clementine.

Nice stand alone story

I have been enjoying Mrs. Priest Clockwork Century and this is a story that features one of the more enjoyable characters. The narration was very well done, even though it shifts between a male & female narrator. Well worth the cost.

Great audio production

I liked Clementine better than Boneshaker. It stands alone in the same world, so you dont have to read Boneshaker first. Clementine features a couple of really interesting protagonists and its nice to see a black man on the cover of a fantasy novel, isnt it? The audio version of Clementine is terrific. The two narrators, Dina Pearlman and Victor Bevine, work together seamlessly.

Original and Fun!

What made the experience of listening to Clementine the most enjoyable?

I found the plot interesting and original. Narration was very good and I am looking forward to more stories from Cherie Priest.

What other book might you compare Clementine to and why?

Steampunk isn't a new genre, but it's truly blossoming these days. Similar new (at least to me) authors are bringing originality and energy that I really appreciate.

Have you listened to any of Dina Pearlman and Victor Bevine s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Narration was good -- I really appreciate having female and male voices on this one.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Evolutionary Void

Author: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrator: John Lee

Format: Unabridged

Length: 24 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-12-10

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 258 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Peter F. Hamiltons startling perspectives on tomorrows technological and cultural trends span vast tracts of space and time, his stories are as compelling as they are epic in scope, and yet they are always grounded in characters human, alien and other who, for all their strangeness, still touch our hearts and fire our imaginations. Now, in The Evolutionary Void, Hamilton concludes the highly acclaimed Commonwealth saga that has unfolded in The Dreaming Void and The Temporal Void.

Members Reviews:

Satisfying conclusion to a hard core Sci Fi series

This book concludes the Void trilogy: (1) Dreaming Void (2) Temporal Void (3) Evolutionary Void.

If you are new to the series then you have to start with Dreaming Void, if you can get it : "The Dreaming Void" seems to have disappeared from the Australian store but there it sits in my audible library.

What a thrill

Would you listen to The Evolutionary Void again? Why?

Yes,it's one of those books that you can't wait to get back to. I listen to books on long car trips but for this book it was worth switching it on for the short ones.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Paula Myo, everyone loves a hero and she is the greatest hero in the story, she just never gives up!

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

I read the first two books in this series myself so I was a bit sceptical about someone else reading it to me but I found John Lee interpreted it the same way I did.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but I managed to listen to some of it everyday so the enjoyment lasts longer.

I really liked it.

I was always intrigued to find out what was going to happen. As a former pandoras star reader I liked the references back.

A great ending! To a wonderful series

I have really enjoyed the commonwealth series books, Peter Hamilton is one of the best writers I know and this is a really strong series in his writing.

The only complaint is that we heard a lot of Eddieard in this story, I really enjoyed the Sci Fi, but not so much the goings on in Macathran. But the way it all tied up at the end was amazing, and defiantly worth the listen.

The voice acting as well was top notch!

I would recommend this to all Sci Fi fans as he is a very good writer!!

Defiantly a five star book, performance and story!

stunning sci-fi saga

This series of five books takes a huge investment of time to get through but it is absolutely worth it. This is a breathtakingly good story, with well developed characters and such a solid and believable setting you'd think the author lives there (which in a way I suppose he does!). I had no issues with John Lee's narration, finding him very engaging to listen to. It's taken me some months to get through the whole sequence but I feel much richer for it. For me this is one of those stories that will never leave me, it's up there with the likes of Dune, The Culture novels and Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series.

What makes the Void series stand out is the double storyline, one high-tech sci-fi and one fantasy, working together perfectly. Anyway, I could go on piling on superlatives but you get the picture.

I have a collection of 150 audiobooks now and this is the first I've felt I had to review!

Highly recommended...

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Alchemy of Stone

Author: Ekaterina Sedia

Narrator: Eileen Stevens

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-07-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 71 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Mattie, an intelligent automaton skilled in the use of alchemy, finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict between gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. With the old order quickly giving way to the new, Mattie discovers powerful and dangerous secrets - secrets that can completely alter the balance of power in the city of Ayona. This doesn't sit well with Loharri, the Mechanic who created Mattie and still has the key to her heart - literally.

Critic Reviews:

"Sedia's evocative third novel, a steampunk fable about the price of industrial development, follows Mattie, an emancipated automaton, as her home city is rent by conflict between alchemists and the mechanics whose clanking, steaming inventions are changing society....Sedia's exquisitely bleak vision deliberately skewers familiar ideas from know-it-all computers to talking statues desperate for souls, leaving readers to reach their own conclusions about the proper balance of tradition and progress and what it means to be alive." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Steam Punk with a fizzle

The title drew me to this book more than anything else. There is something magical and promising about it.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Eileen Stevens. I enjoyed the voices she gave to Mattie (the automaton), Nairobi (spelling could be off here), and the stone gargoyles, but her male voices left something to be desired. When she was narrating, her voice was a bit flat and monotonous. I almost gave up part way through, but managed to perservere to the end.

I liked the concept of the protagonist - a machine that can reason, feel physical pain and pleasure, as well as identify to a specific gender and emote enough to fall in love. The only thing lacking is a soul. The themes throughout the book were that of political power, subservience, and oppression of caste.

I was intrigued by the characters Mattie, Nairobi, and the Soul Smoker.

A few things were confusing to me. It seemed incongruous to have a sophisticated automaton in a technically backwards society. At the end of the civil unrest, I was still uncertain as to what it was all about. Character development seemed to be lacking in some of the characters that would have helped in making the story cohesive. Perhaps these things were lost in interpretation by the narrator.

Supernatural Prose Creates Haunting World

Great listen. Eileen Stevens is one of the best narrators I've ever heard. Her portrayal of the characters was fresh and charismatic. Ekaterina Sedia has created a world so different and wonderful, she could write a series of novels set in its passages. Alas, it is refreshing to know she isn't one of 'those' writers. If you like other worldly and urban fantasy come no further, this book is for you. I couldn't wait to hear more.

just not quite there

This book seemed to have lots of things going for it. Interesting premise, variety of different and intriguing characters, individual problems and civil unrest, a mix of fantasy and steam punk. But for some reason I still didn't really like it. I still have trouble pinpointing exactly what I didn't like.

Maybe it was that the political background wasn't really explained that fully, and so it's hard to get emotionally invested in the conflict which drives the main plot.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Hope's Folly

Subtitle: The Dock Five Universe Series, Book 3

Author: Linnea Sinclair

Narrator: Christian Rummel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-29-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 85 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Admiral Philip Guthrie is in an unprecedented position: on the wrong end of the law, leading a ragtag band of rebels against the oppressive Imperial forces. Or he would be if he could get his command ship, the derelict cruiser called Hope's Folly, functioning. Not much can rattle Philips legendary cool, but the woman who helps him foil an assassination attempt on Kirro Station will. She's the daughter of his best friend and first commander, a man who died while under Philips command and whose death is on Philips conscience.

Rya Bennton has been in love with Philip Guthrie since she was a girl. But can her childhood fantasies survive an encounter with the hardened man, and newly minted rebel leader, once she learns the truth about her fathers death? Or will her passion for revenge put not only their hearts but their lives at risk?

Its an impossible mission: A man who feels he can't love. A woman who believes she's unlovable. And an enemy who will stop at nothing to crush them both.

Members Reviews:

Great Series - 3rd in the Dock Five

Well written, a LOT of action, surprises and twists, and just the right amount of romance and pathos are the hallmarks of this excellent Dock Five series. I greatly enjoyed each book - especially the last two which dealt much more with the sci fi and a little less with the mysticism.