Get Most Popular Full Audiobooks in Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary Best Sellers

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Title: Resolute

Subtitle: Kris Longknife, Book 4

Author: Mike Shepherd

Narrator: Dina Pearlman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-28-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 753 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

Kris has been given her first independent command in the very remote system of Chance, an assignment that's as much exile as promotion. But Kris isn't on the job long when she captures pirates hiding the location of an uncharted and unpopulated planet of miraculous technology.

Members Reviews:

Engaging

This is book four in the Longknife series. In this book Kris Longknife is ordered to take command of a backward naval base in orbit around an independent planet on the frontier. She is responsible for the defense in this out of the way naval district. When replacing buoys Kris captures a pirate ship. Kris has to get help by rounding up a rag tag fleet of ships to fight off a Greenfelds four ships led by Hank Peterwald. She also must deal with the distrust of the planet inhabitants. I am fascinated with Nelly Kriss wearable super computer. In this story Nelly finds an anomaly in space which Kris and her crews investigate and discover an old warp point. They also find an undiscovered alien planet that was home to three lost alien civilization.

Kriss old nemesis Hank Smythe Peterwald shows up with the Greenfeld fleet and is trying to engender a crisis on the planet as a pretext to take over. Kris and crew take action. The book has lots of action, suspense and politics.

Shepherd has continued the competent banter by the characters making it fun to read. We learn more about her assistant Abby, the mysterious steamer trunk bearing maid in the story. The plot construction is improving with each book and the characters are worth following. I am looking forward to book five. Dina Pearlman narrates the book.

love this series

This is my favorite book of the series, though the series isn't complete yet so I reserve my right to change my mind later. :) I have read them all, and am now really enjoying listening to Dina Pearlmans' rendition of them. I highly recommend the series if you like military sci-fi!

not as much filler

The series had become real formalistic, and continues this trend in this book. However, the twists and turns in this were entertaining.

Good story, poor narration job.

Just about all of the Kris Longknife books are good, Resolute is no exception. In this exploit, Kris gets her first independent command, grabs her first prize ship, then goes off exploring new jump points that were built by "The Three" long before man was walking upright. Of course, this is just the beginning of the story so telling more will only spoil it for you. Needles to say, it gets better and better the deeper you get...

The only real problem with this Audio Book is in the narration. Dina Pearlman continues to do a fine job with character voices, but insists on adding pause and inflection where none exist. She sounds more and more like she's reading a children's book. I honestly don't understand what drives her to ignore the written punctuation, but she does it in every sentence so it's no accident. Her continuing practice destroys the flow of the narration and has become a major distraction to an otherwise great series.

I give Resolute 4 Stars as a great story and Pearlman 2 Stars for trying to make it into a "Children's Book."

What happened to Hank?

Was Resolute worth the listening time?

Yes - a fun listen.

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Title: Brightness Reef

Subtitle: The Uplift Trilogy, Book 1

Author: David Brin

Narrator: George Wilson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-29-09

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 316 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

Persecuted refugees from six separate alien races have migrated to the idyllic planet Jijo. And despite their incredible diversity, the inhabitants live together in blissful harmony. However, settlement on Jijo is illegal - and it's only a matter of time before the residents of this forbidden paradise are discovered by the galactic powers-that-be.

Critic Reviews:

"Immensely appealing, leaving readers hungry for more." (

Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Hard Core Sci-Fi at it's best!

I've seen a lot of bad reviews for this book, and frankly I don't understand why. Perhaps some readers are not used to hard-core, traditional sci-fi writing. So much of today's contemporary sci-fi writers are more into action and less into the classic philosophical aspects that began with epic writers like Herbert and Asimov.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and feel it is a masterpiece in classic sci-fi form. David Brin knows how to sink the hook in and keep you guessing until the very end. He is a master at storybuilding from various alien perspectives, which may throw some people off because of the change in thought process/focus from one alien race to another, but I found it captivating and ingenious.

I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys Frank Herbert, Peter F. Hamilton, Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card and other masters.

However, one caution to casual sci-fi readers that prefer straight forward stories full of action and special effects: you will get action, you will be thrilled, you will be surprised, but you will not be satisfied unless you are a fan of classic sci-fi writing techniques. This is not a shallow, no-brainer entertainment for the masses. This is a thought provoking work with complex plots/sub-plots that provide surprising twists and turns that are hard to predict compared to a lot of other literature in the genre these days.

I hope you enjoy!

Director/Sound Engineer is a real job

Most people like certain NARRATORS and certain AUTHORS but they never think about the Directors or Sound Engineers. This audiobook is an example of a GREAT AUTHOR with fantastic characters, a TERRIFIC NARRATOR who can distinquish alien creature voices and make them so believable and a crappy Director and/or Sound Engineer. Apparently she thought her job was just to press the record button and go home. I have a recording studio and I was saddened by the lack of professionalism. You can hear Mr. Wilson gulping after readng difficult passages as an alien voice and even getting some words incorrect "Revered Mother" and "windy road". This is not his fault but should have been caught by the Director, Abigal McCue and the sound engineer. Despite that, it is a WONDERFUL story and amazingly told. GEORGE K. WILSON NEEDS AN OSCAR for these cast of characters he is able to bring to life. It definately left me with a desire to read the rest of the trilogy and to read some of the prequel books.

Not for the novice sci-fi reader

This is a great story that takes time to develop. The patient reader is rewarded.

Book Four labeled as Book One.

This is book 1 of the Uplift Trilogy and book 4 of the Uplift Saga. I read the first three books of the Uplift Saga when I was in high school uncountable unmentionables ago.

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Title: WWW

Subtitle: Wake

Author: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrator: Jessica Almasy, Jennifer Van Dyck, A. C. Fellner, Marc Vietor, Robert J. Sawyer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-07-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2202 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

But Caitlin's brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes.

While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something - some other - lurking in the background. And it's getting more and more intelligent with each passing day.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction written and read by author Robert J. Sawyer.

Critic Reviews:

"The thematic diversity - and profundity - makes this one of Sawyer's strongest works to date." (Publishers Weekly)

"Unforgettable. Impossible to put down." (Jack McDevitt)

"Thoughtful and engaging, and a great beginning to a fascinating trilogy." (Robert Charles Wilson)

Members Reviews:

A Great, if Incomplete, Concept

Wake marks my first encounter with Robert J. Sawyer, ad I've come away from the novel thoroughly impressed. I'm legally blind myself, though I do have some residual vision, so I immediately identified with protagonist Caitlin Decter, and I felt that she was a pretty believable blind character. The concept of visualizing the web was also intriguing, as was the premise that the web has some sort of underlying consciousness.

My only complaint about the book is that, even for the first novel in a trilogy it feels incomplete. One of the plotlines is simply dropped midway through the book. I understand that these plotlines will be picked up in the sequel, but an adept author should be able to bring about at least smaller resolutions within the overarching story at the end of each book, and I don't feel like Sawyer accomplished this.

To end on a positive note, the Audible Frontiers production is fantastic, with strong voice acting from all the narrators.

Fantastic.

Robert J. Sawyer is my favorite science fiction author, hands down. He delivers a kind of science fiction I've always enjoyed - one that breaks past the science in to psychology, sociology or morality, but is still grounded in excellent characters with whom the reader can easily connect.

In WAKE, we meet Caitlin, a young woman with a congenital blindness and a gift for mathematics. Her voice rings true, and when she is given a chance at sight via a new technology, she finds herself capable of "seeing" the internet. At the same time, other events conspire to bring a glimmer of consciousness to the net itself, and the two stories - Caitlin's sight, and the nascent entity's growth - parallel in a marvelously paced story that kept me going.

As the first book in a trilogy, there's ground work being built, and I was definitely left satisfied with the individual novel, but looking forward to where the story will head in the next installment, WATCH.

If you do enjoy listening to books, this one just bumped "Memoirs of a Geisha" from my #1 Listening Experience position. The multiple reading voices really added a performance depth to the reading that took something already great and made it all the more enjoyable. Bravo to the whole cast!

Minute Audience

At first I thought this was going to be a YA book, then I thought it was a YA book for Girl Math Geeks.

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Title: Engaging the Enemy

Subtitle: Vatta's War, Book 3

Author: Elizabeth Moon

Narrator: Cynthia Holloway

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-22-08

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 663 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

There is a time for grief and a time for revenge. This is decidedly the latter. Placing her cousin Stella in command of the trading vessel Gary Tobai, Ky embarks aboard the captured pirate ship Fair Kaleen on a twofold mission: to salvage the family business and to punish those responsible for the killings...before they strike again. Since the network providing instantaneous communication between star systems has been sabotaged, news is hard to come by and available information impossible to trust. But as she travels from system to system, with Stella a step behind, Ky pieces together the clues and discovers a conspiracy of terrifying scope, breathtaking audacity, and utter ruthlessness.

The only hope the independent systems and merchants have against this powerful enemy is to band together. Unfortunately, because she commands a ship known to belong to a notorious pirate - her own relative Osman Vatta, whom she killed for his part in her parents' deaths - Ky is met with suspicion, if not outright hostility. Rumors swirl about her intent and even her very identity. Soon, even Stella begins to question her cousin's decisions and her authority to make them.

Meanwhile, the conspiracy Ky hunts is hunting her in turn, with agents insinuated into every space station, every planetary government, every arm of the military, and every merchant house - including her own. Before she can take the fight to the enemy, Kylara must survive a deadly minefield of deception and betrayal.

Members Reviews:

More Grace, Less Stella

The Vatta's War quintet continues with volume three in the series. The reader, Cynthia Holloway is never a pleasure to listen to, and the reading is less than inspired. But the real problem is that this space opera just hasn't stood the test of time as well as one might have hoped. It's not _bad_, just not as good as it could be. WAY too much angst and anguish and just plain stupidity, and too little decisiveness from the main characters. The one good story arc, that of Grace and Mac Roberts, is too peripheral to carry the weakness of Stella and even Ky. Overall, I'll finish the books, since I bought them. But I can't imagine re-reading them, ever.

Unfortunate narrator

I really enjoy Elizabeth Moon's books but the narrator makes it very difficult to appreciate this one. The narration is flat, poorly paced, and the little variation in tone that exists makes every character (as well as the rest of the text) sound arrogant, angry, or snide. I hope that I can get past the narration to finish the book. This is one of the few audiobooks that I regret having bought.

forming a fleet

I enjoyed the first two books in this series and I thought this book would be the battles but that only happened at the end of the book. The book goes back and forth between Kylara, Sara and Grace. Lots of suspense, legal trial, Ky had to prove she is Ky and the communication to her home planet is still out. Some one is trying to Kill Grace. This book sets up for the next book that looks like it will have the battles. The narrator is poor.

Ouch My Ears

I have downloaded approx 130 audible books, I have seldom felt compelled to write a review. However, this narrator is so hard to listen to, this is the first book I cannot get past 1/2 hour.

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Title: Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show

Author: Orson Scott Card, David Farland, Tim Pratt, James Maxey, David Lubar, Eric James Stone, Ty Franck, Scott M. Roberts, Peter Orullian, Rachel Ann Dryden

Narrator: J. Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, Emily Janice Card, Mark Deakins, Don Leslie, Rosalyn Landor, Stefan Rudnicki

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-25-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 297 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

Best-selling writer Orson Scott Card founded the online magazine Intergalactic Medicine Show in 2006. It has been a big success, drawing submissions from well-known science-fiction and fantasy writers, as well as fostering some amazing new talents. This collection contains some of the best of those stories.

There is fiction from David Farber, Tim Pratt, and David Lubar among others, also four new Ender's Game universe stories by Card himself. This collection is sure to appeal to Card's fans and be a great ambassador to them for these other talented writers.

Critic Reviews:

"The first collection of short stories from [the] online magazine...features noteworthy SF and fantasy stories from a bumper crop of talented new authors....[and] the stories from lesser-known writers are the compilation's real driving force....If the quality of these stories is any indication, IGMS has as much promise as the newcomers it showcases." (Publishers Weekly)

"Card has taken the venerable SF concepts of a superman and an interstellar war against aliens, and superb characterization, pacing, and language, combined them into a seamless story of compelling power." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Do Angels have nipples and belly buttons?

YOU TRY TO HURT ME, BUT I WILL NOT BE HURT

This has 20 stories, of which I loved seven. Most of the rest I did not like. With the exception of Card and Farland, most of these are writers, just getting started in their writing careers and some of them may not have a future as writers. Each story has an afterword, in which the author explains why he/she wrote the previous story. Most of the time, the answer is that it was an assignment for their writing class. My favorites in no particular order were The Moon Calf (David Farland), Cheaters and A Young Man With Prospects (Card), Hats Off (David Luber), To Know All Things That Are In The Earth (James Maxey), Respite (Rachel Ann Dryden) and Taint of Treason (Eric James Stone).

Dryden's story is reminiscent of McCaffrey's' Pern Novels. I believe it was Lubar who wrote in his afterword that short stories should have plots. This would be good advice for many of the other writers. Many did not have plots and a lot were just conversations. I am on record saying that Ender's Game is the best Science Fiction Novel of all time, but I most admit I am getting tired of Card writing about nothing but Ender Game.

The narrators are all professionals and do a good job.

Varied collection, but overall enjoyable

As to be expected with a collection of short stories by numerous authors, the quality of the stories varied. The stories by Orson Scott Card, especially "Pretty Boy" and "Cheater" were standouts. However be warned that the last two Card stories, "A Young Man with Prospects" and "Ender's Homecoming," are essentially excerpts from "Ender in Exile." Among the non-Card stories, "Respite" and "To Know All Things That are in the Earth" were standouts that made me look for excuses to get more listening time.

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Title: A Talent for War

Subtitle: An Alex Benedict Novel

Author: Jack McDevitt

Narrator: Gregory Abbey, Jack McDevitt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-20-08

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 415 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

For his own sake, for the sake of history, Alex Benedict must follow the dark track of a legend, into the very heart of the alien galaxy - where he will confront a truth far stranger than any fiction imaginable.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Jack McDevitt.

Critic Reviews:

"In his ability to absolutely rivet the reader, it seems to me that McDevitt is the logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke." (Stephen King)

Members Reviews:

The Book is Good, But...

I enjoyed the story, but the narrator detracted from it due to many mispronunciations. I don't know how many times I yelled NUCLEAR NOT NUCULAR and DE-MOS-THE-NES NOT DE-MOS-THENES! It became very annoying.

Very good - but the cover and title are deceptive

This is NOT a book about war, or fighting in space, or action of any kind. You should NOT judge the book by it's cover or title or you will be disappointed (as several reviewers were), but if you know going in that it is more of a detective story (where the detective is a librarian type) you will like it. I would actually compare it to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" or the other George Smiley spy books - there is very little action currently happening (but past action is discovered and discussed by the protagonist). That is not a bad thing (John La Carrie sold millions of those books, and they are great), but if you are expecting the protagonist to have a "talent for war" (he doesn't) or men in spacesuits (the cover depicts a man dead for a hundred years) you will be disappointed. If you want an interesting future mystery with some science fiction (it is the future, but that future is 90% like the present) and several very interesting "twists", give this a try.

Good but rest of series is better!

I had listened to the 2nd-4th books of this series (which can be read in pretty much any order) and came to this one last mostly because it did not have the same reader. This book is OK- a good mystery with interesting back story. The subsequent books, however, are much better. They are told from the perspective of Chase (the "sidekick") and the reader of those is great. They all involve search for historical artifacts, adventures, and a bit of sleuthing so there is a lot of information on the fictional history of their (future) society as they go about their investigations. Fun SF.

Very enjoyable mystery

Interesting characters and setting. I admit that I'm a sucker for science-fiction mystery stories. The space battles for opera fans are all accomplished in a simulation. I enjoyed the introduction of Alex and Chase but readers should be reassured the pair will be better developed in the next volume of the series. And I don't know that I fully understood all the motivations of some characters.

A note: I was put off by the terrible pronunciation of Greek and other foreign names and terms. Even ordinary words. This really is a problem with the producers. Shameful.

A masterpiece by a grandmaster

This is probably my most favored science fiction novel and the first in the series starring an intergalactic antiquarian. For students of history, this book will evoke parallels with ancient Greece and its empire, and the threat from an alien race.

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Title: Winterfair Gifts

Subtitle: A Vorkosigan Adventure

Author: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-18-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1355 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

In the festive season of Winterfair on the planet Barrayar, Lord Miles Vorkosigan is making elaborate preparations for his wedding. The long-awaited event stirs up romance and intrigue among his eccentric family and friends, particularly for bioengineered space mercenary Sergeant Taura and shy, diffident Armsman Roic. But Miles also has an enemy who is plotting to turn the romantic ceremony into a festival of death.

Winterfair Gifts offers another of Bujold's witty, character-centered science-fiction plots with a twist of romance.

Critic Reviews:

"Miles is one of the most enjoyable characters in science fiction." (School Library Journal)

Members Reviews:

Really Enjoyed

I had read two of Lois McMaster Bujold books over the years but nothing containing Miles himself. I have really enjoyed these audio books they make the miles fly. I found the narator easy to listen to, he changed for each character but not to such an extreme as to be unplesant to listen to. The reading was nice and smooth, without putting you to sleep.

Read before Cryoburn!

A short story about Miles and Ekaterin's wedding. It's told from Armsman Roic's view and was kind of refreshing to see things from his prospective. . Very sweet episode with Taura, too! If you read the series, I would definitely recommend adding this short story to your collection. It also give you better understanding of Roic before you read Cryoburn!

I laughed & cried all in the same breath

This book was truly a delight. In addition to the wonderful wedding saga of the lead characters, Miles & Ekaterin, you get a lot of insight into the characters of TAURA and Mile's new armsman, ROIC. I found myself laughing & crying almost at the same time while reading & re-reading the sections between Taura & Roic.

Kudos to Bujold & Gardner for this off-the-normal Vorkosigan Adventure.

This Is How A Novella Should Be

This was an excellently made novella. Considering I am not a huge fan of short stories that is a big compliment. This a telling of Miles life through the perspective of Armsman Roic. After having read the last 9 books from Miles viewpoint having a short side track for a few hours from another characters perspective was interesting. This is a great treat for a fan of the series.

how the garden grew

What did you love best about Winterfair Gifts?

meeting Roic (fully dressed)

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardners other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. He's always good, and has corrected some mispronunciations from the earlier books in the series

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Title: The Ashes of Worlds

Subtitle: The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 7

Author: Kevin J. Anderson

Narrator: David Colacci

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-01-08

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1225 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

The Saga of Seven Suns is one of the most colorful and spectacular science-fiction epics of the past decade.

Members Reviews:

WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, BUT

BY WHOM

I liked this a little less then the other books in the series. Mostly it got to the point of ridiculous. Trees that uproot and become spaceships, a water spaceship, etc. I can take the two dimensional characters, I have read plenty of KJA to expect that, but the fantasy just became too much. I would love Anderson to write more in depth about the Ildirans or Klikiss or the Roamers and forget all the silly stuff.

If you are new to the series you of course must start at the beginning. The ratings for this series are similar to the ratings for a short story collection. Anderson has so many elements, that some appeal to some and some do not. Each book is like about five different books.

Here is how I rated the series.

Prequel---Veiled Alliances B

1. Hidden Empire= B+

2. A Forrest of Stars= A-

3. Horizon Storms=C+

4.Scatter Suns= B-

5. Of Fire and Night= B

6. Metal Swarm= B

7. The Ashes of Worlds= B-

My favorite character was Patrick Fitzpatrick the 3rd. In the first two or three books, I hated him, but he grew as a character and by the end, I liked him. The Roamers were pretty cool, they were the McGuyvers of space. They could take anything and make a working space ship out of it. They mined the gas giants for ekti star drive fuel. The Ildirans were a human like race that breed different breeds of people for different jobs. They were also all connected telepathically. The Klikiss was a race of giant insects and the Klikiss Robots rebelled against them and formed their own group. The green priest were telepathic with the world forest. If they could touch a World Forest Tree on one planet they could communicate with other priest on other planets who were connected to a World Forest Tree. So, there was plenty that I liked about the series.

The Hydrogues were an alien race that lived in the cores of gas giants. They were okay.

What was stupid were Wentals and Faeros. Wentals were sentient water based creatures and Faerous were sentient fire entitites living in stars. Bento becoming part of a tree was stupid, Jess Tamblyn becoming a Wental super being was stupid and there was an Ildiran that became a Faeros.

So, each book had something to hate and something to like. I did listen to all seven books and it is very rare for me to have the patience to go that far in any series. I suggest you start with Hidden Empire and go from there.

I loved it!!!

For those who read the previous 6 books this was a great final book! Exciting with great narration.

Satisfying Conclusion to a Great Series

There are several aspects about this book and series that I don't love. For instance, the Basil Wenceslas character (Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League) behaves too much like a spoiled 12-year old brat rather than the cruel-yet-sophisticated man that the author describes him as. But, points of complaint such as that ought to be set aside with consideration to the series as a whole. And as a whole the Saga of Seven Suns is wonderful and Ashes of Worlds is its fitting end.

Colacci's narration is, on the whole, excellent.

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Title: Hardwired

Author: Walter Jon Williams

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-18-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 227 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

Ex-fighter pilot Cowboy, "hardwired" via skull sockets directly to his lethal electronic hardware, teams up with Sarah, an equally cyborized gun-for-hire, to make a last stab at independence from the rapacious Orbitals.

©2006 Night Shade Books; (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"Hardwired is a tough, sleek juggernaut of a story, punctuated by strobe light movements, coursing to the wail of jets and the twang of steel guitars." (Roger Zelazny)

Members Reviews:

Good Listen

Very good narrator, story is from 2 points of view and takes a little bit to get used to but works great. I have listened to this book twice already.

The Best Cyberpunk I Have Read

What did you like best about this story?

I generally don't like cyberpunk. Gibson's Neuromancer left me cold. But Williams, in my opinion, is a better and more versatile writer. I listened to this book because he wrote it.

I was not disappointed. The cyberpunk aspects of the story serve to enhance the characterization and the setting and do not dominate.

The story is told from the perspectives of Cowboy and Sarah. Both are interesting characters and I never found myself wanting to finish one POV so I could get to the other, which sometimes happens when the story is told from multiple viewpoints.

The conflict with the orbitals is resolved in a way that flows naturally from the story and does not feel forced. A poor resolution could have wrecked my view of the book no matter how good the rest of the story.

Finally, Stefan Rudnicki does an excellent job of making the various characters distinct. I have not read the print version, buit I suspect the audio version is a better experience because of Runicki's narration.

Very enjoyable Cyberpunk tale

I'm a big fan of Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs stories and this is an obvious precursor. The story is a little complex, but nowhere near as hard to follow as any of Morgan's. Williams writes well and avoids sentimentality. I especially enjoyed the character whose brain is absorbed into cyberspace.

A well told story set in a depressing future

A hard boiled, cyberpunk styled tale of two very different people just getting by, in a very depressing, but scary believable and essentially balkanized, former United States. The world is now run by various corporations that don't even reside on the planet. They hover above it and manipulate life below without being part of it. There are social classes built around them and a whole slew of other things that the author builds in his vision of earth's future.

Through a series of events in the story, the two main character's, Cowboy, an ex-fighter pilot turned bootlegger and Sarah, a sometimes body guard, thug and killer for hire, find that their lives have become intertwined. The pace of the story became a little slow for me in the middle, but on the whole, this was an excellent story and I think worth your credit. If you are a fan of the cyberpunk genre and or Richard K. Morgan, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson and their like, then Hardwired should be an satisfying choice for you.

Also, veteran narrator, Stefan Rudnicki was definitely on top of his game reading this one. He has, for me, the kind of voice that can sometimes distract me from the story that I'm trying to listen to.

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Title: Firstborn

Subtitle: A Time Odyssey, Book 3

Author: Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter

Narrator: John Lee

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-04-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 426 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

The Firstborn, the mysterious race of aliens best known as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, have inhabited the writing of science fiction master Arthur C. Clarke for decades. In the first two books of his acclaimed Time Odyssey series, Clarke and co-author Stephen Baxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stop the advance of human civilization by employing a technology indistinguishable from magic. That fate was narrowly averted, at an inconceivable price. But now, 27 years later, the Firstborn are back. This time, they have sent a "quantum bomb" speeding toward Earth, a device that human scientists can barely comprehend, let alone stop or destroy. But when shocking new insights emerge about the nature of the Firstborn and their plans, an unexpected ally appears from light-years away.

©2007 Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter; (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Members Reviews:

The end to the Trilogy!

What did you love best about Firstborn?

The way the story all tied together. The three books are very different but the main message seemed to be the indomitable strength of the human spirit to never give up.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Give it a happier ending? Then it wouldn't be the same book though, right?

What about John Lees performance did you like?

He is always wonderful, his nuances on different words and characters he portrays are certainly his greatest strengths.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending. Three women coming together, all I can say without being a spoiler.

Any additional comments?

Arthur C Clarke was able to take all of his works and tie them into this trilogy. The firstborn from 2001 and the space elevators from Fountains of Paradise and even a bit of Rama thrown in.

I am very happy I took the time to listen to this trilogy, it helps me to remember that maybe humans aren't the greatest things in the universe, but we may be the most tenacious!

Believable Time Travel and Aliens Great Books

The story starts with a reminiscing of 2001- A Space Odyssey and moves into a world of puzzles and paradoxes. Then folds neatly into a chronicle of mysterious aliens and an apocalypse threatening humankind. To comment on the story would give away the twists and turns of the plot, so I wont, but all three books are worth owning. I encourage getting all three in the series.

One point of contention...as in most all space faring Sci-Fi books, Canada is conspicuous by its absence in this story. As a prominent space faring nation with long ties to NASA and the ESA, Canada contributes to the exploration in space as well as any other country and more. Canada is never really mentioned. Egypt, Sri Lanka and African nations are held up as more predominant in peaceful space exploration ...really? And Russia always the sort of poor cousin that shows up family dinners. Maybe its a marketing decision for the U.S.