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)

Pretty good

The first and last stories are not the best, but I really liked the three in the middle.

first audiobook and the most memorable

If you could sum up METAtropolis in three words, what would they be?

"buy" "this" and "book".

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked them all.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The different narrators really fleshed out the characters, gave them each their own personality.

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

Something along the lines of "Tomorrowland". I know that's already a movie title, but I think it's very appropriate given the plot of the story.

Fascinating

Any additional comments?

Terrific set of short stories about the near future and new ways of sustainable living in a world where the current system has collapsed.

An entertaining story of a possible future.

Where does METAtropolis rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

METAtropolis ranks in the upper percent of the audio books that I've purchased from Audible.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Although many of the characters were well written and filled out, I believe my favorite amongst them was Reggie Stratton. Reggie was near to giving up on the state of the world and was awakened to a new purpose and a new fight in a world he thought was beyond him really caring about.

Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?

Many of the narrators were very good in their performance although the first narrator was very difficult to listen to due to his gravelly voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Due to the limitations on my time, I cannot listen to any book in one sitting. Hence my turning to audio books. They allow me to still immerse myself in a story yet not be held in one place and limited to one activity while I'm experiencing the story.

Any additional comments?

I liked METAtroplis and if you did, try METAtroplis: Cascadia.

Stick to the middle three.

What did you love best about METAtropolis?

The three stories in the middle were captivating and well-narrated.

Any additional comments?

It was difficult for me to get into the first story and the last story. My advice is to power through the first one and skip the last story.

Awesomely entertaining!

Omg. I’m glad I subscribe to the audible plus catalog! This was included. I woulda paid for this book. It’s 5 stories into one like Epic futuristic possibility.. great authors. Thank you audible.

Missing story section

Fifteen minutes of Elizabeth Bears’s story was missing. This made the story very unsatisfactory. I’m quite disappointed.

Skip the first story!!!!

The first story is a dreary, pointless slog. There are no interesting characters. There's no interesting scenery. There's not real point. There's no payoff. It is boring as hell. Just skip it! If that is typical of the author, I hope he finds something else to do with his life--maybe something he's actually good at.
After that, the next two stories are OK, but not great. There are some good bits and entertaining moments, but most of the characters are pretty flat and unmemorable.
Then we get Scalzi's story, which is clearly the prize. It is the only one that is truly memorable in any way.
Finally, we get a generic but at least entertaining cyberpunk story.
As an exercise at shared world building, I would rank it as an utter failure.
As entertainment, minus the first piece, I would rank is a moderate.

great although maybe missing something

I enjoyed this. if your fiddling with the cli fi trend, jump on it its great. I did however not feel very connected with any of the protagonists. I wasn't excited to see them succeed or fail, just kind of enjoyed being walked through this verse as interesting things happened all around. still it was a pretty fun listen.

Blew My Mind

The narrations and the stories are top-notch. never losing a single step of momentum. there is somehow a seamless transition from Eco Punk to gritty shadow running, jumping nose first into clever hilarity and then using that same nose, diving straight into reality-bending meta science fiction. I Can't Get Enough and I really hope there are many more books of this vein.