METAtropolis

By: Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder

Narrated by: Michael Hogan, Scott Brick, Kandyse McClure, Alessandro Juliani, Stefan Rudnicki, John Scalzi

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to a world where big cities are dying, dead - or transformed into technological megastructures. Where once-thriving suburbs are now treacherous Wilds. Where those who live for technology battle those who would die rather than embrace it. It is a world of zero-footprint cities, virtual nations, and armed camps of eco-survivalists.

Welcome to the dawn of uncivilization.

METAtropolis is an intelligent and stunning creation of five of today's cutting-edge science-fiction writers: 2008 Hugo Award winners John Scalzi and Elizabeth Bear; Campbell Award winner Jay Lake; plus fan favorites Tobias Buckell and Karl Schroeder. Together they set the ground rules and developed the parameters of this "shared universe", then wrote five original novellas - all linked, but each a separate tale.

Bringing this audiobook to life is a dream team of performers: Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan ("Saul Tigh"); Alessandro Juliani ("Felix Gaeta"); and Kandyse McClure ("Anastasia 'Dee' Dualla"); plus legendary audiobook narrators Scott Brick (Dune) and Stefan Rudnicki (Ender's Game).

John Scalzi, who served as Project Editor, introduces each story, offering insight into how the METAtropolis team created this unique project exclusively for digital audio.

©2008 Joseph E. Lake, Jr., Tobias S. Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2009 Hugo Award nominee, Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• 2009 Audie Award nominee, Original Work

“Each story shines on its own; as a group they reinforce one another, building a multifaceted view of a realistic and hopeful urban future.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Scalzi and his contributors/collaborators have created a fascinating shared urban future that each of them evokes with his or her particular strengths.... This stellar collection is a fascinating example of shared world-building.” (Booklist)
"This impressive group of writers imagines what happens when the world moves beyond cities as a locus of human civilization. The range of narrators...brings a unique narrative style to the production. Of the five narrators, all well chosen for the stories, Allessandro Juliani proves to be the best with his rendering of Scalzi's piece." (AudioFile)

Good enough that I listened to it a second time...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The variety and the voice quality of the five narrators suited each of the five novellas perfectly. I absolutely love Stefan Rudnicki's and Scott Brick's work, which I know from Orson Scott Card's books. The raspy voice of Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh, Battlestar Galactica) gave just the right tone of cynicism to the opening story, and provided a perfect audible contrast to its myth-making quality.

What was one of the most memorable moments of METAtropolis?

While I don't have any particular "memorable moments" from the collection, I found the story arc in each of the novellas satisfying. The settings of Cascadia, Detroit, New St Louis, and cyberspace were realised in just enough detail, and the characters well drawn.
I enjoyed the whole thing enough that I went back to it almost immediately and listened to the whole thing again--something I have only done with one other audiobook: War and Peace!

Which character ??? as performed by the narrators ??? was your favorite?

Again, I can't put a finger on one particular character as a favourite. After the first listening I thought I liked the immature 20-year old in the fourth novella least, but after the second time through I understood better John Scalzi's (the author) depiction of someone who grows up because of the environment in which he is placed.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I suspect that this collection of five novellas wouldn't easily lend itself to movie treatment.

Any additional comments?

On the strength of this audiobook, I'm going to listen to the sequel, METAtropolis: Cascadia.

great near future science fiction

loved it, I really hope they continue the series or use the same multi author process

Painful

The narrator was like listening to hours of Bernie
Sanders voice. Some of the stories were good and some just too far out there for me .

Stories 2, 3, 4 were my favorite

The first story almost made me quit. I restarted listening twice. Glad that I stuck with it, as 2, 3, and 4 were an enjoyable listen. Story 5 was pretty good.

Well-written, but politicized.

The stories were interesting and well-thought out. They would have still been interesting and thought - provoking without the political agenda.

worth continuing

Didn't enjoy all of them equally, but love the concept and the stories enough to buy the second one.

it grew on me.

Was not a fan of the first story but they get better as they go and they build on the knowledge of the world we get. Last stories remind me of the City and the City.

😉

loved it .each story pulled me in. wished they where longer. maybe a sequel 🤔

Keep going

The first story was a bit of a drag, but the rest of the stories made this worth listening to, IMO. Well done!

Excellent concepts

Excellent concepts from this group
Very much along the vein of such books as “The wind up girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi
They have created a believable near future world that is dystopian only because change must occur for human civilization to survive and people are very resistant to change.