Mass Effect™ Andromeda: Annihilation

By: Catherynne M. Valente

Narrated by: Tom Taylorson

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

With a new game, Mass Effect Andromeda, set for release in 2017, the launch of a new series of Mass Effect novels is timely. The new game will take the story in a dramatic new direction and is set in a new region of space, with a new and deadly enemy.

Titan is publishing four unmissable Mass Effect novels. The novels will act as prequel and sequels to the events in the games and will become part of the overarching Mass Effect saga. These new stories, developed in close collaboration with the Bioware game team, weave directly into the action of the new game - and will reveal events kept secret over the course of game play - and will add to the canonical Mass Effect saga.

©2017 Catherynne M. Valente (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Enjoyable story for ME:A fans, but nothing super special.

<in my best Elcor> With indifference: I liked it, but I didn’t love it. It was interesting, and toward the end it touched on a lot of great topics which I wish would have been explored further. With disappointment: Since I expect this to be the final Mass Effect Andromeda novel, I don’t expect any sort of follow-up to these, which given this particular title, is par for the course. <end Elcor>

The story was good, but I’m not sure how it jives with that last scene from Mass Effect Andromeda. I would write that it was good to have a story with few humans, but they were ALL very human: Elcors and Quarians who love Shakespeare; Batarians who are basically just nasty humans; Quarians with (literal) jugulars... anyway. The characters were a little too human, and too many human elements creeped in, making it feel less alien, even by Mass Effect standards. Some interesting topics were broached, like the political/power structures in the new galaxy, but none of them were delved into. It was a golden opportunity that was pushed aside in lieu of a somewhat traditional whodunit. On the bright side, there were giant, floating jellyfish, so there’s that.

This is good (but not great) for anyone who loves Mass Effect, enjoyed Andromeda, and wants to see what happened to the Quarian (and Elcor, Hanar, Volus, Drell, etc) arc. I listened to it fairly quickly, so clearly I enjoyed it.

good adventure book

it had a good narrator and a good plotline overall a great read to have

Thoughtful and moving

This book was well written and interesting. It inspired thinking and was surprisingly moving. Highly recommended!!!

The second best book out of the 3 books.

Out of the 3 books from the Andromeda Series this book lands as the second best book. Behind book 2 which I feel had the best story out of the 3. but this book I think had the best voice actor's performance out of the 3. I felt like I was playing the game again.

Nostalgic

Story and performance was amazing. All the voices matched the races of the Mass Effect universe so well it was like inwas back playing the video games. Absolutely worth the read.

Just beautiful

The plot was mysterious, graphic, and real. I'd read it again, and I rarely do that.

My first Mass Effect book. Loved it.

Somebody told me that the ME: Andromeda Quarian Ark DLC that never happened, had been explained in a book. So I sought this out as my first audio book experience. I loved it

Didn't know what to expect from the book after playing the games... But I liked it. It's great to get more in touch with the other races outside of the Codex.

Good characters.
Good voices.
Good narration.


I'd recommend this to any Mass Effect fans

just good.

nothing else to say.... it was well written, performed and for in the universe perfectly. I wish I could've played this as a dlc for the game

Interesting AI Concept

The Grandmother AI. as an interactive recording
of a relative one grew up with. was interesting in concept.
but illegal to possess in this version of the future.

Please ignore other reviews!!!

In the Mass Effect "world" there are many races. This book pertains to the "lesser" ones.

Unlike the two previous book narrations this one is done well. Every race feels and sounds as they should. The characters are pretty believable and the story while simi predictable is still good. It definitely shows the issues that's many people have when trying to adapt to both other cultures and a different way of thinking. I'm not sure how well it ties into the main story of MEA as DLC wasn't added however I believe that it definitely could have been. The after effects of this story would have been both interesting and possibly disturbing with the addiction of "two" new races added via MEA.

Overall I'm pretty disappointed that a DLC or standalone game didn't come out of the conclusion of this book as I believe if nothing else it could have been both a change of pace for ME or an interesting addition to Andromeda.

Once again please give both the author and narrator a chance because after over 8000 hrs of audio book listening time I believe it's worth it.