Stephen

I like this one quite a bit. There were a couple of spots I found hard to follow. This might have been because of the abridged nature of the story but I could figure it out easily enough.

Well, I did like the story concept but for me the "big reveal" just did not satisfy me. Also, it seemed to drag on the last fourth of the book. Having said that, I have no plans to read he second one.

This one was ok, not nearly as good as the first two. Big area in the middle about multiculteral groups learning to work together etc, blah! I guess I am glad to have finished the series, but this is the weakest by far.

The basic premise of the book, that the word slave is somewhat mistranslated as servant is nothing new. But it does present a good background and explanation of what slave and slavery meant back in the day the bible was written.

The book also is used as a platform for MacArthur to make the case for Calvinism and it does present the case for the concept of Calvin???s TULIP very well and is backed up with appropriate bible verses etc. The argument for/against Calvinism is old and interesting and certainly one that Christians can have without coming to blows. I can appreciate this books presentation on the idea.

I for one have always like the Foundation Trilogy. I consider it simple and easy reading that does not require you to get a score card or journal in order to follow everything. For its' day it was a very cool idea.

No, not really. Mostly because it does not resolve central question.

A bigger bone thrown to this old dog concerning the central mystery would have been nice. I am trying not to spoil anything and I know that the journey is half the enjoyment in addition to the destination but we never get to the destination of knowing who the mysterious race is.

For the most part, I enjoyed the time listening the the book. The narration was good enough but there was many times the story itself seemed to drag on much more than necessary. I did however enjoy the story, it was very fun and exciting, just very verbose.

The ending was exactly what I expected, not a bad thing but no surprises.

Some of the in game scenes were very good.

If it was edited to be shorter, yes.

This is really is a rehash of everything that has gone before. The series really needs a new storyline. Not recommended.

I have read Stross before (Singularity Sky) and really enjoyed it. This book, while interesting did not seem worthy of all the hype and awards that have been lavished upon it. I was most interested in the back story of what happened and what the future is for humanity than the story of the robots that was presented. Even the adult content that has been talked about in other forums I found rather pointless. As for narration, that was very good. Just wish story was better. My recommendation is to save the credit.

First the bad. There was more product placement in this book than in anything else I have ever read. It was distracting and not really necessary. In ten years it will greatly out date the book. Second, the few places of sexual innuendo or puns made me groan. Again, distracting, unrealistic and unnecessary.

The good, the characters were very interesting as was the story. The wakening was well done I thought and the character interactions were very believable. As for audio quality, it was great. Multiple voices, well executed! I was pleasantly surprised by the use of original material near the end about which I will say nothing more.

Yes the premise is far-fetched but then isn't all SF that way? I think that it takes place in this day and age is what amplifies this. I will be downloading the next one very soon.

For fans of the series, it is fairly good. I would have to say that this got me to get and listen to the rest of the series.
Narration is wonderful.