Mammoth

By: John Varley

Narrated by: Alex Boyles

Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Not content with investing his fortune and watching it grow, multibillionaire Howard Christian buys rare cars that he actually drives, acquires collectible toys that he actually plays with, and builds buildings that defy the imagination. But now his restless mind has turned to a new obsession: cloning a mammoth.

In a barren province of Canada, a mammoth hunter financed by Christian has made the discovery of a lifetime: an intact frozen woolly mammoth. But what he finds during the painstaking process of excavating the huge creature baffles the mind. Huddled next to the mammoth is the mummified body of a Stone Age man around 12,000 years old. And he is wearing a wristwatch.

It looks like Howard Christian is going to get his wish - and more.

©2006 John Varley (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Is it chilly in here or what?

This one is abit messy, abit fun, and abit overly long. That said, it is entertaining, somewhat unique, and educational to boot!
There is a lot going on here for both alternative history fans, time travel enthusiasts, and action addicts. It has all of this in abundance, and they all work relatively well together. Boyles brings all he has to the table to keep the characters alive and moving along, and given the complexity of the story, this is not easy.
Notwithstanding, the overall tone of this one is somewhat simplistic, with the notable exception of the resolution, which is the highlight of the book ( for me at least ). Indeed, if the team brought the last few chapters back into the middle ( pun intended ) I would give it higher marks.
Overall, a solid outing, even with all the bumps along the way. Recommended to all!

As good as I remember

I read this book years ago in paperback and enjoyed it and it still holds up. There are still things that bug me about it (as then) like, if you’re working on a time machine found with an ice age frozen man, would you not keep some survival equipment on you at all times?! I don’t know, that seemed logical to me but apparently not to the genius-level math wizard protagonist. There were other points where people had moments of plot-induced stupidity, but for the most part I think this book is a lot of fun, really creative, and I liked the twist at the end.
Alex Boyles does a great job of performing this book.

Interesting Concepts

Kind of a neat book. Narrator did a good job, too.
Review is requiring more words, but I don't have anymore to say

Good story, excellent ending

This was my first John Varley novel and it was good enough that I’ll probably try another. As a rule I avoid time travel stories because of potential issues of causality, but reviews of Mammoth were reassuring enough to get me to try it. As it turned out, there were other issues that detracted some from the story. About half way through (no spoilers here), Varley took the story where he could write what seemed like a lengthy mockery of modern America. It did seem like an attempt at humor, and I share some of his apparent contempt for some traits of our highly developed capitalism, but I still found it tedious. A shorter sidetrack into religion and philosophy was also distracting. However, each time, the story recovered its originality and in the end was overall a good read (or listen). And it helped that the narrator was very good.

Meh. It's ok

It was just ok. I finished it and can say that I would not really recommend it. Kind of contrived, kind of strange. Maybe some of the author's other works are better. Narration was ok.

Riveting with a great plot twist

Couldn't stop listening once I started. Gets a little deep at times but has that great plot twist that I find so wonderful in many of his books.

Unwinding at end of day.

I enjoyed this listen on my way to and from work. I didn't have to think too hard to follow along, and yet I was never bored or distracted from the storyline. It was a good book to unwind to after a long day in the classroom.

loved the story

I went into reading the book open minded, by the time I was about a quarter of the way in I realized I was hooked the story was great and I couldn't put it down

juvenile

The story was written in such way as to seem written by a teen with no finesse. The reader tried to give it some variation and character, but missed the point in most of his deliveries of points of interest and punch lines. In the end, it was sleep inducing

Enjoyed this story

Synopsis sounded intriguing and I’m glad I took a chance and listened to this, wasn’t expecting the ending