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)

Great at times/not so great at others

The five stories as a whole really painted a great picture of this future world. The first story may have been a bit better if Colonel Tigh, read consistantly. At times he was whispering like he was out of breath at others he was animated where it didnt work.

The second story was the my personal favorite of the five, solid story and a very entertaining narrative.

The 3rd story was pretty horrible, not really sure how it fit in or for that matter what is was about, the narration also wasnt that great, I guess the BSG crew needs to stick to acting.

The 4th story would have been a lot better if the narrator left out half of the "he said, she saids" we could have easily followed along with out that bit of distraction and annoyance. Overall though a good listen

The fifth and final story was also outstanding with great narration. It was a good listen.

I will most likely purchase the sequel next.

Awesome sci-fi

So I actually listened to the 3rd in the series (green spaces) first which is set more into the future but I love how this, the first in the series sets up what is going to be used to even greater extents in later books in the series. I'm looking forward to reading the 2nd book now!

The world you know - sort of

METAtropolis is an interesting take on the future - financial collapse causes social reform among other changes. It makes one think about the future and our part in it. Be aware that this is an anthology of short stories - if you like one, you may not like the others. That having been said, the only bad thing I have to say about this book is that there isn't more of it. Its that good. I suggest you listen to it - if for no other reason than it will make you think. Oh, if you did like it - check out METAtropolis Cascadia - its as well written and arguably better performed.

Great set of short stories

Every story except the first was fantastic. Perhaps the first story just needed a different narrator because it was very hard to keep track of what was going on. Otherwise really cool! The last story reminded me of The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson. On to the next in this series!

good not great

like what they did, was fun, pretty easy to get through, 4th story really had me locked, but just wasnt one of those 5 star books you cant put down

Got better with time

I couldn't make ie through the first story. After 45 minutes (I tried to listen to it) I gave up. The ridiculous use of vocabulary really got under my skin so I skipped to story 2. The writing was better but by that time I had had enough. I bought this book on the daily deal. Even that was to much money for this book. I will try an listen a bit more tonight but will return it if it doesn't improve.
UPDATE:
My review went from 1 star to 3 stars. Story 1 was awful. Nothing redeeming about it as I stated above. Because of John Scalzi I decided to continue. Chapter 2 (story 2) was a big improvement over story 1. I am now on story 3 (by Scalzi) and enjoying it. They aren't the best stories I have listened to but they are a huge improvement over story one.

Future World fiction that is really out there

This is a tough one to review, as there are a few stories in this compilation that really stood out, and few that we so convoluted and odd that it detracted from the story line. In the end, I gave a middle of the road rating, as I think that reflects the sum total of the book.

There are some unique ideas in this book, and there are some ideas that are too complicated and/or odd. Narration, conducted by a variety of authors, is well executed and adds to the work.

In summary this is an odd book. I can recommend it if you like fiction that explores how our world will look in the not to distant future. If this isn't your thing, then you may just find this book a little too weird.

this is a book with some great stories

this book has some great stories inside it, some great ideas for social change and environment and scoicligical health.....even though alot or its solutions dont sound like they would really work in real life. I found it the first hopeful dystopian series I've ever read.

Well done.

Well done all the way through. I like the way it made me think about how things are now and how different they could be.
good writing including fascinating ideas of possible worlds and people.
good performance by all readers.

So good.

Just really, REALLY good. Hyper realistic, well written sci-fi. A joy to read. A tribute to community world building.