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Islands of Space  By  cover art

Islands of Space

By: John W. Campbell
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
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Editorial reviews

Science fiction author John W. Campbell was by most accounts an unpleasant man, but at least his enthusiasm for space travel is infectious. In Islands of Space, the listener enters a 22nd-century world of eccentric physicists, faster-than-light spaceships, interplanetary war, and weaponized heat beams.

Oliver Wyman has won numerous Best Voice awards in different genres, but he professes to a love for performing science fiction titles. He can vocalize the byzantine explanations of a mad scientist and the telepathic communications of aliens with the same aplomb. This versatile actor will take listeners to Venus and back, kinetically evoking the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

Publisher's summary

As Earth's faster-than-light spaceship hung in the void between galaxies, Arcot, Wade, Morey, and Fuller could see below them, like a vast shining horizon, the mass of stars that formed their own island universe. Morey worked a moment with his slide rule, then said, "We made good time! Twenty-nine light years in ten seconds! Yet you had it on at only half power...."

Arcot pushed the control lever all the way to full power. The ship filled with the strain of flowing energy, and sparks snapped in the air of the control room as they raced at an inconceivable speed through the darkness of intergalactic space. But suddenly, far off to their left and far to their right, they saw two shining ships paralleling their course! They held grimly to the course of the Earth ship, bracketing it like an official guard. The Earth scientists stared at them in wonder. "Lord," muttered Morey, "where can they have come from?"

Public Domain (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Islands of Space

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thumbs down

The narrator tried hard but didn't have anything to work with. Techno gibberish that sounded like a textbook gone wrong. No plot, no story, bland uninteresting characters. Don't waste your time.

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6 people found this helpful

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It's good just a little dated

Good book. I think the build up and story were good. The narrator is great.

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5 people found this helpful

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Laughably Ridiculous

I only made it through a couple of chapters at the very beginning because what was taking place was so bizarre. In just a few minutes these completely undeveloped characters manage to create completely new metal compounds, discover faster than light space travel, AND telepathy. It's all as simple as deciding what the main course and side dishes are for dinner. And I'm supposed to accept all this because of a few brief comments at the beginning where someone is described as a genius? I just couldn't go on! I mean, I'm completely willing to accept all those concepts if the author develops them. Describe the progression, show the struggle, provide a description of how this affects the characters and their relationships. Not the story you want to tell? OK, no problem. Set your story in a future time when you can claim that these concepts have long since been developed and established, not something that some frat boys just thought of during an afternoon of lounging and created by snapping their fingers.

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3 people found this helpful

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Classic Early SciFi

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I could easily recommend this book to anyone used to scifi from from the pre-80's. Islands of Space being written in the 1950's is quite different and may not be for everyone.

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

Couldn't change it much since it is what it is, a bit of high adventure the way it was perceived in the years before man actually got into space.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was quite acceptable for the material.

Do you think Islands of Space needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not really.

Any additional comments?

Islands of Space was a satisfying read but being from the same era of other books like the Lensman Series and the Skylark Series by E.E. "Doc" Smith it fell quite a bit short of the quality of the Doc Smith stories which are all available from Audible and which I HIGHLY recommend.

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Not a bad listen

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Starts off a bit technical and boring, but it gets better

If you’ve listened to books by John W. Campbell before, how does this one compare?

Not as good as some of the others.

What three words best describe Oliver Wyman’s performance?

He is the best, I wish he read more books in Audible.

Did Islands of Space inspire you to do anything?

Nope

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Very very old school sci fi

Fine narration. Super clunky plot structure- BUT if you take it in the context of its era it's kind of thrilling. No one but a tiny handful of sci fi writers even imagined space travel when this was written and the idea that there was more than our single galaxy was literally a brand new concept. From that perspective, this was an incredible leap of imagination and an exciting beginning to imagining cosmic vistas and other star systems with other civilizations.

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This book is for…

…physicists! There’s lots, LOTS of math and slide rules. You know what there isn’t? No plot. No character development. Stilted dialogue. I got this for free. If you’re not hardcore into physics, give this a hard skip. Narrator was great.

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Slooooow

Not worth the listen , it’s painfully boring and the reader tries but fails to make it interesting

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But first...

You may not realize this, but this book is part of a series. The reason why this book starts off making little sense is because it's - not - the first book. That said, you are looking at reviews for a HARD SCI-FI genre. You can't just pop the book open and casually listen to the story with little to no knowledge of science(especially physics). The concepts are not easily explainable. For those that complain there is no plot? It spans across the series and is best described as humanities ascendancy to galactic dominance(albeit a bit fast). That said, the main characters do get fleshed out throughout the series.


Long story short? It's an interesting read... just read the whole series. Look up the author and you'll see what I mean.

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Boring

This is one of the most boring books I have ever listened to. I do not recommend it.

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