For the First Time, Again

A Take Them to the Stars Novel

By: Sylvain Neuvel

Narrated by: Imogen Wilde, Kevin Shen, Kristin Atherton, Lance C. Fuller, Rory Alexander

Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

This program features multicast narration.

“Exciting, thought-provoking, and ultimately shocking...I’m in for the ride to the very end!”—James Rollins on A History of What Comes Next

Against the backdrop of authentic historical events, Sylvain Neuvel concludes his acclaimed Take Them to the Stars series with a biting satire on the role of authority in all its guises, bringing us a truly breathtaking science fiction trilogy that spans the ages.

When you don’t know The Rules it’s hard to stay safe.

After a traumatic incident, Aster's blood work comes back with some unusual readings. Unsurprising, as she’s the last of an alien race called the Kibsu, though she doesn’t know it.

She becomes the focus of a hunt, with her mortal enemies, the Trackers, on one side, and the American government on the other. But help has come from a most unexpected quarter.

Whoever finds her first, it won’t be good news for Aster.

Or for the world!

Also Available by Sylvain Neuvel:

Take Them to the Stars series:

1. A History of What Comes Next

2. Until the Last of Me

The Test

A Macmillan Audio Production from Tor.com.

©2023 Sylvain Neuvel (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

A fine ending, but not a perfect audiobook

This is for sure the weakest book in this series, but the ending elevates it to 5 stars for me.

However, I do have some beef with the audiobook production. Namely with the casting choice for the main female character. I think it is the same woman who did the Kipsu daughters in the other books, but I think she was the wrong choice this time. We have a character raised in Mississippi, yet she doesn't have a southern accent. In fact, her accent shifts between neutral "newscaster" American to New York to British, sometimes in the same sentence. Her performance was great besides the accent issue, but it's weird considering something similar was done in the 3rd book of the same author's Themis Files book. A character was recast but given the entirely wrong accent. It can take you out of it a bit.

absolutely spectacular conclusion

what a powerful and delightful way to end this trilogy. frankly there were so many twists that were all inspiring that I was captivated to the very end. and I mean the very end. what a delightful ending. I love stories told in restaurants by equally interesting men.

A struggle

The character development left a lot to be desired in this book. It may be due to the overuse of tropes and stereotypes of Americans in creating the voice, tone, and interests of the main character. The word choices were inauthentic for the character and their backstory. It pulled you out of the story, wondering why they were speaking that way. The narration exacerbated the poorly written voice of the main character. I understand wanting consistency across the three books, but the narrator was unable to maintain a single accent for the character. It was distracting.

Surprising ending

Well that’s a twist I didn’t think about. I love where he took the story and the final episode is a fan service but a nice one. Overall great trilogy. And both of his trilogies are worth reading.

Fantastic conclusion to the trilogy

I love this series! This was a fantastic conclusion to the trilogy. And the performances by the multiple narrators really brings the story to life!

Good not great

I like the other books from this author more, but still a good story and the performance is good

Strange Narration

The young woman who reads Aster has a not quite fully suppressed accent of her own. Aster is clearly supposed to have a Southern (US) accent, which the narrator does not even attempt. Add in the “ain’ts” and dropped G’s, written in the book, and the dropped R’s from the narrator’s mysterious, suppressed accent, and it makes for a fairly strange reading.

I would love to hear this narrator read Podkayne of Mars, entirely in her own, actual, natural accent. I think she would make a wonderful Poddy Friese. Please let me know if this happens.

As for the story, I dearly wish that I did not have to wait for the next one. I was lucky that I started reading this series just prior to the release of the second book. So, I did not have to wait long, at first. I’ve waited a long time for this one, and I dearly hope that the next one is already being written. What a wonderful string of stories. Take ME to the stars, please! :-)

Fun conclusion, but not as good as a previous two.

The story was certainly fun and entertaining, but it wasn’t as interesting as the first two books in the series. I kind of wish I had read it instead of listening, though. The woman who did the voice for the main character drove me crazy half the time. I imagine she’s British in real life, but she was supposed to be doing a southern accent. Not only was it not a southern accent, it wasn’t even an American accent. The character speaks with incorrect grammar, but to hear someone with a British/New York, accent, speaking with improper grammar, was just a bit jarring for me. It often took me out of the story because I was more annoyed than listening.

Not as good as the previous two

While I enjoyed listening to the conclusion of the trilogy, I did not particularly like the direction the story went. Beginning with the conclusion of the previous volume and continuing throughout this installment I found character choices strange and straining belief. There was also much less historical fiction in this work than the last two, perhaps due to the more contemporary setting. This is more of a thriller than a historical sci-fi and I just didn’t connect with Aster the way I did with Mia and Lola. I don’t regret listening, but this was my least favorite book in the series.