The City and the Stars

By: Arthur C. Clarke

Narrated by: Geoffrey T. Williams

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

A journey of discovery that will shake the foundations of everything the people of Earth have ever believed...

Diaspar is Earth's last city - surrounded by deserts, on a world where the oceans have long since dried up. It is a domed, isolated, technological marvel run by the Central Computer. Diaspar has conquered death. People are called forth from the Hall of Creation; they live for 1,000 years and then are recalled, stored in the Central Computer's memory, to be born thousands of years later, over and over again, with memories of earlier lives intact.

No one has entered or left Diaspar since anyone can remember. Its people have an unreasoning dread of the unknown, of the world outside the city. And no child has been born for at least 10 million years.

Until Alvin. He is unique. He has no past lives, no past memories. He also has no fear of the outside world. In fact he has an overwhelming curiosity, a drive to explore, to see what lies beyond the sterile boundaries of the city.

When he finally escapes, he discovers a place he could hardly have imagined: a country called Lys. Its people are telepathic. They know life and death. In Lys, Alvin finds friendship and love. And he begins his fateful journey to the stars and back. On his return he brings with him something so strange, so alien and powerful, that it will change the world forever. But for better or worse, not even Alvin can guess.

©1956 Arthur C. Clarke/Scovil Chichak Galen (P)2009 Geoffrey T.Williams

Pretty Good

I finished it so there is a positive. I tried to let myself go and just enjoy Clarke's creativity and for the most part that worked. I did not hate it and I did not love it. Overall, I liked the voice actors. One of them gave me a strong sense of Kevin Conway, the narrator to the remade The Outer Limits. The problem, as others have noted, was in the sound production. I also did not mind the background music, but at one point I had to stop the performance since the music made me think I had an issue with my car.

The best sci-fi audiobook

OK I may be biased. This was the first book of science fiction that I read when I was about 13 years old. You can't make it through the story without thinking big ideas, big thoughts and big dreams. What made it even more fun is the multiple actors they used for the different voices as well as a great background music track that complemented the story. Highest recommendation for one of the true visionary writers of the 20 century.

My Kind of Science Fiction

In this book Arthur C. Clarke creates a fascinating world of the far future. As I listened I was seeing images of it in my mind. I felt I was exploring this world.

The story is captivating and entertaining. This is the type of book that I couldn't put down when I read it as a youngster in the 1950's. It was a delight to find it had the same effect on me now.

The joy of my childhood, my “rocket summers” recaptured anew!

How had I never read this one as a boy, in the 1970s? What a wonderful story and a fabulous recording. I will doubtless read this one again and again, as I read and view the Martian Chronicles, and read Rendezvous with Rama and all of the Heinlein Juveniles, and remember frightening myself with watching In Search Of…

I so wish I could go back to then, like the commuter train passenger on that Twilight Zone episode, spending his afternoon in Willoughbe (?).

An Old Favorite

What did you love best about The City and the Stars?

This was one of the first science fiction novels I'd ever read ever so many years back. For that reason it was the first Audible book I downloaded. It was and remains a favorite. Some have said it is not one of Clarke's best, but I tend to disagree. Perhaps that's just the memories bound up around the story, but there you go.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The City and the Stars?

I enjoyed the sense of discovery as Alvin explored his universe; first the outskirts of Diaspar, then Lys, then the stars. The sense of physical exploration and discovery of new landscapes is something I miss in more recent works.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The performance was mildly uneven. The different voices were obviously recorded at different times, using different equipment, different EQ settings and different levels of compression. This created a slightly uneven flow to the dialog, something which could have been avoided by bringing the voice actors in to record at the same time.

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

No. I used it to pass the time on a long daily commute. It lasted better than a week and served its purpose well in keeping me entertained in traffic.

Audible done this well written story proud

The book is full of twists and unexpected momentum obsorbed in each part so much that i was sad to leave each relavation behind, but the next giant step gripped me again and i was amazed how vast the story was in doing so great leaps where made that in them selfs would take volumes to have known. Overall a brillant book written by a Brit saddly no longer with us, I am a Brit who spent more time reading Jack Vance than Clarke my treat in finding more , This is the best audio book i have herd several different voices subtel sound effects i think compared to other books from audibe i have herd the boat was pushed out in other words Awesome as my cousins would say.

Masterful

It was good to find a work of the old masters that I had not read. The supreme story and incredible full cast performance make me recommend this above most anything else you can get. It will be hard for me to go back to more modern and less accomplished authors and then Clark. It is great adventure and like most Clark deals with the great existential questions of life. If you like that kind of thing you can't do better than this. There is no great romance or love affair, or space battle, no villain who needs to be concocted to create drama. Instead we have an incredible civilization, fully imagined and entirely reasonable though completely alien. Enjoy.

Classic sci-fi, pretentious and wonderful

City and the Stars is an example of over-stylized world-building overpowering simplistic, under-developed characters and narrative. A compelling sci-fi read if you're willing to endure the imbalance.

Wonderful story, Awesome voice work!

I thoroughly loved this book, and have now listened to it twice. The storytelling is fantastic, and the imagery is amazing.

Over produced

This is honestly one of my favorite books by Clarke. The story is amazing. Unfortunately this version is heavily over produced and poorly acted.