Don

This story is showing it's age in attitudes toward women, and in it's science. The characters, even the scientists, expect aliens to have have the same motivations and concerns as humans. It is distracting.

The alien race is very original and the story is epic in scale. If you have an interest in older sci-fi, it is worth listening to.

Skip this unless you want a book with all the depth and characterization of a Saturday Morning sci-fi animated cartoon. I suppose young listener could like it.

I am 2 hrs in and I don't understand a thing that has happened or what is going on. Humans, at least I think they are humans, can move into other people. I think. Too much for me. I wish Bear would give me something to relate to. Every paragraph introduces new jargon. Greg Bear is a favorite author but I don't have the patience for this one. I gave up. Maybe this works better on paper.

Moss interviews food scientists and corporate leaders to detail exactly how our American diet has been manipulated by the processed food creators. Human response to food additives has been so well studied and understood that I became convinced we are all being duped. Without full knowledge of how each product is made, we are defenseless against the subtle emotional and physiological responses that the food companies use to sell their products.

I am not a fan of Scott Brick's narration. The diction is perfect, but his tone of bleak resignation and condescension detracts from a great listen. He is easy to follow but I think the book sounds more even-handed than his tone implies.

I'm only a couple of hours in and I'm hooked. It's everything I expect from Peter F. Hamilton. A note for listeners: The print copy has a map, a timeline and a very helpful cast of characters. If you have a Kindle you can download the free sample and, since these are in the front of the book, they are included. The cast is large and I find it helpful to have a printed list.

This didn't appeal to me. The tension in the book is mostly in political and bureaucratic maneuvering.

No.

The space battles were compelling enough to keep me listening, but even they were cool, all about positioning of fleets of ships. This is a book for people interested in maneuvering.

The reader has an impressive number of voices. Though some were cartoonish, I appreciated the variety. It was easy to keep up the large cast of characters.

The story is incomplete with a very unsatisfying ending.

Thanks to Audible for commissioning this translation by Bill Johnston. With crisp clear language, it reads like a contemporary novel. The first half is downright frightening with ghosts aboard a 3 man space station. The Narrator, Alessandro Juliani, has a way with voices. Very expressive and spooky.

The alien lifeform is completely unique. I didn't see it coming. I loved this book. I don't know how I missed this sci-fi classic before, but I'm glad to have waited for this new and powerful edition.

The performance was lively and fun. The only flaw are the special effect thoughts where the volume drops dramatically. I had to rewind to understand it. Other than that one problem this book is delightful. A great mix of the romance and mystery genres. And very funny!

The narrator uses a storybook tone of voice more suitable for Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but I found the contrast with the violence of the book interesting in an ironic way.

This is ripping good adventure story, but it ends abruptly and is clearly only part of a story. As it is, the message is horrible: there is no point in resisting oppressive evil authority. Be aware there are 2 more books. It's just a set up for the next two installments. I have no idea why this short book ends here.

You would expect Waters to have some depraved role models and you would be right. Entertaining.

The writing is amateurish: repeated words and unnecessary dialog tags. Lots of the character pretending to be shocked by sex to include lots of sex. I suppose this could be fun for someone wanting a light vampire romance. The reader would be well suited for children's books. Be sure this is what you want before you buy.