Spin

By: Robert Charles Wilson

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

One night when he was 10, Tyler stood in his backyard and watched the stars go out. They flared into brilliance, then disappeared, replaced by an empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives.

The "sun" is now a featureless disk - a heat source, rather than an astronomical object. The moon is gone, but tides remain. The world's artificial satellites have fallen out of orbit. Eventually, space probes reveal that the barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time passes faster outside the barrier - more than a hundred million years per day on Earth. At this rate, the death of the sun is only about forty years away.

Jason, now a promising young scientist, devotes his life to working against this slow-moving apocalypse. Diane throws herself into hedonism, marrying a sinister cult leader who's forged a religion out of the fears of the masses.

Earth sends terraforming machines, then humans, to Mars...and immediately an emissary returns with thousands of stories about the settling of Mars. Then an identical barrier appears around Mars.

Life on Earth is about to get much, much stranger.

©2005 Robert Charles Wilson (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2006

"Wilson continues to surprise and delight. I can't think of another science fiction writer who understands the strengths of the genre so well and who works with such confidence within its elastic boundaries." (The New York Times)
"The best science fiction novel so far this year." (Rocky Mountain News)

A wonderfully heady tale...

The three main characters of Robert Charles Wilson's intelligent tale are notable for their frustratingly realistic personal flaws and tender lifelong friendship. This cosmic character study is well paced and will compel the reader to a very satisfying ending.

Scott Brick's performance is noteworthy.

Thought provoking

Kept me entertained and engaged throughout. With little bits of explanation peppered throughout a very human story, this science fiction mind-bender exceeded my expectations.

Take it for a Spin

Wow. Simply wow. I'm a long-time lover of Science Fiction, though admittedly new to reading science fiction novels (both contemporary and classic). This took me for a wholly new journey, equally parts auto-biographical, dramatic, and science fiction. I loved every second of it. It's not as fantastical as say Ender's Game, or Childhood's End, but it is a book that perfectly explores many fundamental pillars of Sci-Fi and nearly all of the big questions of life, the universe.... and well... everything.

Original masterful story and narration

Creative, different, showing artful storytelling, undrstanding of human nature and politics. Excellent narrator. Bought the sequel!

Great character driven story

This was a real surprise of an audio book. Not the type of book I would usually go for, but I was pleasantly surprised. The narrator was excellent too. All in all, I would recommend giving this book a go.

Diverting but too long

I did not care for the way the story jumped around. Maybe the author needed that device to keep our interest. I seems like one of those novels that start out with a solid, exciting plot that is padded out by introducing extra characters that we don't end up caring a lot about.

Great Sci-Fi story!!

An excellent story, interesting concept of a threat to the planet, and characters with real depth. A great balance of intrigue, action, and character development. Recommended for Sci-Fi and Fiction fans! Very enjoyable.

One of the best!

It’s been a long time since I’ve read such a good sci fi book. I was beginning to think the likes of Foundation were done. Highly recommended!

Profound

Although at times slow moving, this is a beautifully written masterpiece that reminds me of Flowers for Algernon or A Canticle for Liebowitz.

great story, great narrator. interesting ending

very happy with this book. Will buy more by this narrator and author. interesting character development throughout