Meru

The Alloy Era, Book 1

By: S.B. Divya

Narrated by: Deepa Samuel

Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

One woman and her pilot are about to change the future of the species in an epic space opera about aspiration, compassion, and redemption by Hugo and Nebula Award finalist S. B. Divya.

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations.

For Jayanthi, the adopted human child of alloy parents, it’s an opportunity to rectify the ancient reputation of her species as avaricious and destructive, and to give humanity a new place in the universe. For Vaha, Jayanthi’s alloy pilot, it’s a daunting yet irresistible adventure to find success as an individual.

As the journey challenges their resolve in unexpected ways, the two form a bond that only deepens with their time alone on Meru. But how can Jayanthi succeed at freeing humanity from its past when she and Vaha have been set up to fail?

Against all odds, hope is human, too.

©2023 Divya Srinivasan Breed. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“With the printed novel having been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula Awards, Deepa Samuel has a high bar to reach as narrator of this audiobook, and she fills it. Samuel's youthful timbre and clear pronunciation help to bring this complex space opera to life.… Samuel's character voices clearly delineate the different species and characters, allowing the listener to become immersed in the story's world-building.”—AudioFile Magazine

“Deepa Samuel narrates, giving a robotic, unemotional narration of alloys, which captures their inability to comprehend human emotions; alternately, she gives inflection and emotion to Jayanthi, enhancing her tenderness and grit. This book will appeal to science fiction readers who appreciate meticulous worldbuilding and learning about societies that are governed by a set of axioms. This impressive audio is a must-add for any science fiction collection.”—Library Journal

“Empathy convincingly overcomes anxiety in this thoughtful, inventive, and impressively understated space opera from Divya, [who] filters the immensity of outer space through the lens of close personal relationships, crafting compassionate and responsible characters (whatever their physical forms may be) that will surely win over readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Interesting premise

I liked the premise enough to finish the book, but the plot was very spare and took a long time to unfold. The narration for the Alloy characters was very robotic and monotone, which may be appropriate, but isn't very compelling to listen to. Although the author goes to great pains to tell us the main characters are in love and their choices reflect that, they don't generate a lot of heat.

Brilliant!!!!

Travel not only through space but to new ways of thinking and fundamental assumptions! I found this journey through scientific, anthropological, and psychological realms fascinating and original. I am eagerly anticipating the next book for the scope of Divya’s vision and the delight of the voyage.

unusually diffrent

I really enjoyed the story I'm sad the next bk in the we r series isn't available yet. there were a few parts were it's like the written decided to just skip over them like when Callie gives Jayda a ride back to Meru to help her find Baha. I would like to have seen how they interacted during the trip. and there are other examples it was almost like the book was in a hurry to get to a certain part. don't get me wrong this book was still worth it great listen the concepts make you think. I don't like saying a narrator was bad but the narrator really was. I understand she was trying to get into diffrent characters but I t was all very monotone I'd been better off listening via a screen reader their were parts were pieces of the story just a few seconds were missing and it was as if you had bad signal or something and your phone call kept cutting out this was extreamly annoying. the story although towards the end a bit predictable was still worth the listen I enjoyed it

Read the book instead of listening

The woman who narrated this book was horrible. She delivered the story in a staccato tempo that drove me crazy. It was like listening to a mechanical robot who was glitching.

A different approach and great success

I was a little concerned about the cadence, superficially, but I was drawn in. Once I was in the world, I couldn’t stop listening. Many reviews hate on the wokeness and odd cadence, but I feel like those reviewers missed the whole point of the story and the performance.

This was a novel approach to the often repeated “caretaker becomes slave master” trope.

A recombinant love story

A beautiful vision of the future bright with possibility full of hope and human passion and frailty.

Bad Narration Choices, Good story

What a cool take on human evolution. I loved the big transhuman space Mechas and the worlds SB Dibya paints around them.

I kept seeing anime in my mind.

The book is great in i several areas. There was the woo woo hard science. There were social inequalities. There was political gamesmanship. But the weaving in of a literal star-crossed romance made this story stand out.

This will make fans of Andre Norton or Anne Mccaffery happy.


Now the narration of the audiobook. Every time the narrator switches into the “Alloy” voice, she. speaks. with. a. pause. between each word.

It must have been exhausting to read like that; it sure was hard to listen to. Good choices for the rest of the narration though. The narrator has a pleasant voice and delivery.

Overall, I enjoyed the book.

A love story set among the stars

Meru by S.B. Divya was so beautiful. Narration was bananas - all done by one person, Deepa Samuel, who covers a staggering range of genders, constructs, and other varied beings. This story falls into the oddly specific category of sci-fi where the main character falls in love with a sentient spaceship, or in this case, a large space faring being that voluntarily acts as a spaceship for humans. The story is wonderful and long and twisted, I could not guess where it was going to go at times. An intense character study with the POV changing from chapter to chapter. Full of political intrigue, philosophy, morality and ethics, discrimination, parallels to colonialism and racism. I was surprised at how quickly I got through it, considering it is almost 18 hours long - I didn't once get bored or consider putting it down. A beautiful love story set among the stars. Highly recommended. A+++

not worth it

So The story line in this book isn't half bad. If you can put aside the authors Uncontrollable need to show everyone How woke they are, the underlying story isn't terrible. What is terrible is the narration. It is completely unbearable. I'm about halfway through and I will not be able to finish. I get what she is trying to do but it does not work.

Snooze fest

Could not get into this. Taking too long to develop.
My two cents, don’t waste your time.