When Gravity Fails: Marid Audran Trilogy, Book 1

Loved it!! I have been waiting for any electronic versions of these, for me, definitive Effinger works. The story I already knew but Jonathan Davis did a wonderful job adding life to the characters. Actually Davis delivered voices very close to what was in my head each time I read the novels. If you like pulpy detective fiction, a taste of cyberpunk and the story taking place in an exotic (to us in the US anyway) part of the world you should enjoy this one a lot.

It's not an ordinary story there is drug use, mature subjects though tame dialog so know it's probably best to listen before deciding if it's for your kids. Depends on the kids. But the story is fun if let yourself get into things. And also it's a nice light read or listen, so I consider it sort of escapist material for those days when I just want to get away from news and the world. ;)

It is also refreshing to read a non-negative story with Muslim society as a plot mechanism. Granted these were written several decades ago. But it's nice none the less.

I can't wait until next month when I can burn a credit on the next book.

I'm enjoying every word of this interesting story and it is narrated so well by Jonathan Davis. I am looking forward to listening to books 2 and 3.

I was very nervous that the reader wouldn't handle the Arabic well , but I was amazed and pleased with the reading , everything was handled with a fluidity that made me happy. Mr Davis kicked ass on this read , and I look forward to hearing the rest of the series. The book itself is a classic of the genre and it is wonderful to go to a non-splatterpunk cyberpunk millieu.

Naughty sci-fi goodness

Marid Audran. Honestly not to much was written about to many of the other characters.

Not sure

When Marid was confronted with the life changing decision to modify his brain.

I read these books when I was in my teens in the late 80's. I really enjoyed these books then. I enjoyed them even more now. I was so glad to see them come to audio-book format. Some 20 plus years later.

One has to keep an open mind with reading. This is very different then what most are used to reading.

I could so see this being something not to far off in the distant future. We are already doing body augmentation. Imagine would it will be like in 200 years. Personality chips why not there is already work on rats using brain tissues and processors.

I listen to a lot of SciFi and I had high hopes for this one, but I can't get interested. I've made 2 attempts and find myself actively disliking the story, characters and narration and giving up after a few hours.

All the elements are there, and I can see how it could recover and even become compelling, but I just don't care.

I read several reviews and the book seemed a little controversial, but in a contradictory way... it is set in a Muslim culture, which is atypical and could be interesting... it is an uber gritty quasi cyber punk story that has some of the most unconventional views on sex and gender that I've ever seen, which is unusual but also potentially interesting... blending the two with no explanation just doesn't work.

I just can't piece together the logic behind a city that is based on strict cultural norms that also ignores the fact that seemingly EVERYONE has had a sex change operation, a wide collection of sexual partners and pretty much any other vice you can think of.

There were several reviews I saw that talked about the transsexual characters in the story being a problem, but I ignored most of this as personal bias, but it is really odd. It isn't just the fact that the overwhelming majority of the characters have had a casual sex change, but it appears to be the norm in the entire city, but... what??? Mind you, this is not a virtual reality or a simple body swap (Matrix or Altered Carbon) but actual surgery. And nobody seems to have any compelling reason for it. So the majority of people go through incredibly expensive, painful, and time consuming surgeries but do so casually and with no obvious rational... and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the story, it's just a part of the background setting, but that'd be like adding systematic euthanasia, mandatory birth control or common plural marriages in a story and then not addressing them... I don't get it.

I could not figure out if the main character was a private dick or a pimp or both. The only thing I did know was that he was a drug addict and the only one in a city who has not had a sex change and enhancements.

I have no problem with a Muslim culture dominating in the future. Like most Americans I know very little about the culture. What I do know makes it hard to believe that such a culture would be accepting of the life style portrayed in this book.

There is a sort of William Gibson feel to the book and it seems the writer had the knowledge to have taken the book in another direction. The direction he took it was not the direction I wanted to go.

I am usually not a fan of this narrator, but he did an excellent job in this and it was not his fault this book was a failure.

So get this: everybody in this book appears to be a transsexual. Why? How useless to describe a beautiful woman character only to reveal, "she used to be a dude." How does it add to the story? Even the local evil war-lord (a male), used to be a chick! How does this make the story better? The story is a ½ decent mystery, but it's ever more annoying that everyone appears to have had a sex change. {satire- The main character has a reasonable personality, and heroically stands up for goodness and justice (when he isn't getting high), which is even more remarkable because HE USED TO BE A WOMAN!!! }

i give up.