Century Rain

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Three hundred years from now, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to the technological catastrophe known as the Nanocaust. Archaeologist Verity Auger specializes in the exploration of its surviving landscape. Now, her expertise is required for a far greater purpose. Something astonishing has been discovered at the far end of a wormhole: mid-20th-century Earth, preserved like a fly in amber.

Somewhere on this alternate planet is a device capable of destroying both worlds at either end of the wormhole. And Verity must find the device, and the man who plans to activate it, before it's too late - for the past and the future of two worlds.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“ Century Rain fuses time travel, hard SF, alternate history, interstellar adventure, and noir romance to create a novel of blistering powers and style.” ( SFRevu)

Enjoyed John Lee's narrative of Century Rain.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Overall good audio book, but needed more depth

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was ordinary and to some degree predictable.

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

John Lee's delivery of the Century Rain and seamless charter transition was excellent as always. John lee can make listening to any Sci-fi worthwhile your time.

Was Century Rain worth the listening time?

Yes.

I love this story

I am in Paris currently on a week holiday. I found Rue du Dragon, near Luxemburg Jardins. we grabbed a burger from Pretty Damn Good. I shared my copy of the book with the owner. she said, that she probably not read it because she has no time for fun but it would be nice to have for their bar.

I wasn't able to find Rue du Papier. poor Mr. Blanchard.

it was generally a fun story. I would re-read.

Another great listen

Alistair Reynolds just doesn't disappoint. Like most of his books, you need patience to figure out what's going on, but by the end you've fallen in love with his characters and expanded your mind via Big Thinking sci-fi.

A great blend of mystery and science fiction

I am a big fan of this other and find this to be an interesting alternative to his typical books addition of a Mickey Spillane type mystery with science fiction is a great story

Another amazing performance by John Lee!

John Lee is incredibly talented! His voice for the detective was spot on, and he always does an excellent job of differentiating the characters.

fantastic Scifi

the way the story unfolds was different and unexpected for me. Gave it a very classic feel

Great mystery/sci-fi story

Another fantastic work by Reynolds, a perfect blend of mystery and sci-fi. And John Lee just brings all the characters to life. He's easily the best narrator I've ever heard.

One of John Lee's best performances

I'm an Alistair Reynolds fan, got this the same day it became available. The story is good, but not one of his best. I realy liked the steampunky 'Terminal World' much more. If Mr. Reynolds is going to veer from his standard hard SciFi space operas, he should continue in that direction, in my humble opinion. However, John Lee really nailed this one!. His voice for the American private eye was spot on. The only other review so far was negative due to the "1920 detective noir" style. The main character is a detective from 1959...go figure. I thought it was perfect for the character and story. Bravo Mr. Lee!

We'll always have Paris - but which one?

Paris in the 1950's, Wendell Floyd is an ex-pat American jazz musician forced to actually make a living as a private detective, although he and his partner, Andre Custin, still play occasionally. The pragmatic Floyd thinks he may solve his money troubles with the investigation of an apparent suicide. While in Paris of the distant future, Verity Auger, an archeologist, is digging into a ice-locked dead city searching for relics of the past. The listener understands early on that while Auger's Paris could be in our future, Floyd's Paris is definitely not in our past and Auger is tasked to understand what that means. Clearly these disparate tales must be linked and they do merge fairly early in the narrative and Auger and Floyd ultimately realize they are each the key for the other's mystery.

There are some flaws in this overall good story:
1. While I like the characters of Floyd and Auger, I just never "felt" the chemistry between them so the love story is a bit flat.
2. Erratic pacing. The setup is very good, with a gradual build up that generates a great deal of suspense, but the long and repetitive chase scenes and the muddled political conflict break the tension frequently in the later sections of the book.

Century Rain has some good things going for it as well:
1. Wonderful prose - I would argue that there is no Science Fiction writer who writes more elegantly than Alistair Reynolds. As always, he uses beautiful metaphors, sets vivid scenes, and employs such a wide vocabulary that my ears stay tuned even when the story slows.
2. Grand provocative ideas. We all know about The Law of the Unintended Consequences, but Century Rain takes that idea to the grandest scale and shows us a planet that has been made uninhabitable as a result of good intentions gone VERY bad and people who don't know how to quit digging when they get in a hole.
3. Gripping thriller type plot with some clever nods at Casablanca

John Lee was not at his best on this book, but was competent and did not detract. This isn't Reynolds best book, but I still found it entertaining and mind-expanding.

Average, decent story with very good narrator.

Would you try another book from Alastair Reynolds and/or John Lee?

I may try another by Reynolds and definitely would listen to another read by Lee if it was material I liked.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The story was relatively easy to follow, but I didn't feel there was much of a pay off in the end. This book was very highly rated so I was disappointed. Initially it grabbed me with the intrigue and antagonists in "Paris" but once the story moved away from Paris I felt it slowed considerably. I didn't find it credible that one of the main characters so easily swallowed the main premise of the plot with barely any shock or dismay. Sort of a SEMI -SPOILER (well, at least until you get a little ways into the book, I'm not giving away a major twist or anything) : I also had an issue with the female protagonist espousing views about the "humans" on earth not really being human so why should it matter if they are killed since they don't really "exist" anyway, and later in the book she has a problem with one of the antagonists stating the exact thing - ?? So I guess I would have heightened the suspense towards the ends and changed her views on what I just mentioned (totally contradictory). I really was interested through most of the book, but I just consider it light entertainment, not riveting (but did find it to be so for about the first 4 hours).

Have you listened to any of John Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no.