Marsbound Audiobook By Joe Haldeman cover art

Marsbound

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Marsbound

By: Joe Haldeman
Narrated by: Liza Kaplan
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A novel of the red planet from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of The Accidental Time Machine and Old Twentieth.

Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime - they're going to Mars. Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebel against.

And when she ventures out into the bleak Mars landscape alone one night, a simple accident leads her to the edge of death, until she is saved by an angel - an angel with too many arms and legs, a head that looks like a potato gone bad, and a message for the newly arrived human inhabitants of Mars: We were here first.

©2008 Joe Haldeman (P)2008 Audible, Inc. Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Solar System Mars Adventure

Critic reviews

"If there was a Fort Knox for the science fiction writers who really matter, we'd have to lock Haldeman up there." (Stephen King)
"Grade: A-. A solid piece of science fiction." (scifi.com)
"Top 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2008" (Kansas City Star)
All stars
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Great book. Halve an has really outdone himself. Can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

A masterpiece

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If you could sum up Marsbound in three words, what would they be?

I love Joe Haldeman. The Forever War is one of my favorite sci-fi books ever. I listened to Starbound first, not realizing it was part of a trilogy. After finishing it, I HAD to start at the beginning of the trilogy,so got Marsbound. It is another excellent Haldeman story!

What does Liza Kaplan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She does a really great job of bringing Carmen to life. She sounds just the way I figured she'd sound at the age she is in this book.

Any additional comments?

Get the entire trilogy. It's an excellent read!

Excellent story AND narration

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this audiobook start out with a child announcing "audible kids".the story contains sex, profanity, alcohol and drugs. marsbound is a light space opera, quite enjoyable (if you like the genre),but not for the easily offended or children. obviously classified by someone who only read the synopsis.

NOT FOR CHILDREN

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I have previously enjoyed Haldeman's Forever Peace audio book, and recommend that one as well. There is the perfect mix of science, plot, and character to blend a really good listen.
I was a little leery about purchasing this one on account, that the narrator of the story is a young woman. However Haldeman pulled it off well. And I was able to suspend my usual penchant for macho characters, to relate to her story.

Bound for Listening

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"Marsbound" initially impressed me as a better than average YA sci-fi story; Carmen seemed at first an interesting character to get to know, and the structure of the story recalled many of the Heinlein YA stories that I cut my teeth on, many years ago. Around the time that Carmen was getting acclimated to Mars and Solingen kept getting nastier, I started to chafe at the lack of pace and coherence. I eventually persevered to the end, but by the time I finished it was more of a chore than a pleasure.

Perhaps had I read this book instead of listening to it, I'd have enjoyed it more. Kaplan's narration was just bad. I know I've been spoiled by narrators such as John Lee and the late, lamented Patrick Tull, but I had expected someone who is, after all, a voice actress to do a better job. Her "voice" for Carmen and the overall narration sounded like a child in elementary school reading a book in a sing-song (truly jarring when she was narrating a sex scene) and her voices for other females reminded me more of some anime characters I've heard. Really, really bad anime characters.

I don't recommend this book. For good YA titles, try John Marsden's "Tomorrow" series, or the YA books by Charles de Lint. For good YA sci-fi, Heinlein is dated, but still good. John Scalzi's "Zoe's Tale" is great. Take the money you would have spent on this book, and look for one of those instead.

Meh.

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