Logan's Run

By: William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

It's the 23rd Century and at age 21... your life is over! Logan-6 has been trained to kill; born and bred from conception to be the best of the best. But his time is short and before his life ends he's got one final mission: Find and destroy Sanctuary, a fabled haven for those that chose to defy the system. But when Logan meets and falls in love with Jessica, he begins to question the very system he swore to protect and soon they're both running for their lives. When Last Day comes, will you lie down and die... or run!

©1967 William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[T]he story of a reluctant rebel fighting back in a computer-run world in which people voluntarily submit to death at the age of 21 is a fascinating adventure. Narrator Oliver Wyman's excellent vocal performance guides listeners into this harsh world where children rule. He does a credible job imitating children's and women's voices. When he speaks as Jenny, Logan's running mate, one can clearly see the character in one’s mind. The book differs from the popular film of the same name—and has a far superior ending." ( AudioFile)

Short 'n sweet 'n crazy.

In the end, I was quite pleasantly surprised by this book! I didn't come into it with any preconceptions as I've not seen the movie and I only know that the book is "a classic" so I didn't have anything to be disappointed or surprised about. The only thing I really knew was that it was rather short.

This is one of those stories that just throws you in the deep end and doesn't waste time explaining what's going on or why. I didn't expect it to bother with explanations at all and I was quite pleasantly surprised when the author delved into some of the history that shaped the world that Logan lives in. I have a sneaking suspicion that the real reason for this is because Mr Nolan was trying to justify, or at least vaguely explain, the crazy shennanigans near the end of the book but hey, it was nice to get the backstory!

Given the length of the book, the character development (for the major characters at least) was quite good. In the end I really wasn't sure what Logan was actually going to do (in fact, to be honest, I'm still not really sure what happened at the end there).

Gripes? The book almost reads like a screenplay (I wonder if that's more the effect of George Clayton Johnson than William Nolan?). It's action-heavy and moves very fast (I was put in mind of Mathew Reilly's Contest in fact.) This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the authors seem to get soooo excited about one-upping themselves for the dire straits that they can navigate Logan into that, about three-fifths of the way through, they just give up on explaining how he gets out of them again and we start the next chapter with everyone safely ready to face the next round of crazy.

Overall, a quick, fun, sneakily-thought-provoking story. I might even check out the sequels!

Logan's Run

I've been a long time fan of Logan's Run the movie. I saw it as a kid in the movies but I hate to say it but this is one of those instances where the movie is better then the book. I admit my view could be slanted because of the movie but the world from the movie was a lot better then the one presented in the book. Also usually books delve more about the charters and their stories but that was not the case here. The author spent more time going from point-to-point-to-point but with little description of how or the surroundings. My perception may have been different had I read this first...

Not the movie.

It was fun correlating references from the movie versus the book. Box is extra scary.

Not the movie but didn’t expect that

It’s not the movie with Michael York, but I wasn’t expecting that. Movies and books are two completely different animals even if they do eat the same grass. I still enjoyed this story & look forward to delving further into Logan’s World!

interesting

Another case of the book being so much better than the movie. Definitely getting the rest of the series.

Good. Not my favorite

Not too bad. Beginning and end are good. The middle of the story drifts a little bit for my taste.

A different Logan's Run

What did you like best about Logan's Run? What did you like least?

This would be a good book to read, I think. The narration was done poorly. Mr. Wyman did a great job voicing the different characters. When it came to the narrative, however, he couldn't have been any more boring. Slow, sleepy, monotone. Even the action parts had no emotion whatsoever!

Would you be willing to try another one of Oliver Wyman’s performances?

No

Not as good as I expected.

Not quite as good as I had thought it would be but still a good read! 4 stars overall. I’d still recommend it. There are plenty more “newer” stories out with a similar story line (maze runner being one) that I’m sure will get read before this one.

Disappointed

I guess I expected it to be more like the move. This is one of the few books where the movie is better than the book.

Grat movie. Fun listen

What did you love best about Logan's Run?

It is always fun to listen to or read the book that inspired the movie. Visualizing the movie as I listen to the book it was interesting to see the change in characters and scenes. You could almost hear the writers. say well we can't do it the way they did it in the book but we can do it this way. This is a case where at this point in time the movie is definitely better than the book. The plot loses its way considerably And the ending is a letdown. But the author indulges himself in some fantastically described scenes that make up for that loss. All in all, a fun listen.