When Gravity Fails

Marid Audran Trilogy, Book 1

By: George Alec Effinger

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

In a decadent world of cheap pleasures and easy death, Marid Audrian has kept his independence the hard way. Still, like everything else in the Budayeen, he's available for a price.

For a new kind of killer roams the streets of the Arab ghetto, a madman whose bootlegged personality cartridges range from a sinister James Bond to a sadistic disemboweler named Khan. And Marid Audrian has been made an offer he can't refuse.The 200-year-old godfather of the Budayeen's underworld has enlisted Marid as his instrument of vengeance. But first Marid must undergo the most sophisticated of surgical implants before he dares to confront a killer who carries the power of every psychopath since the beginning of time.

Wry, savage, and unignorable, When Gravity Fails was hailed as a classic by Effinger's fellow SF writers on its original publication in 1987, and the sequence of Marid Audrian novels it begins were the culmination of his career.

©1987 George Alec Effinger (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Fast, cool, clever, beautifully written, absolutely authoritative. A kind of cyberpunk Raymond Chandler book with dashes of Roger Zelazny, Ian Fleming, and Scheherezade - but altogether original." (Robert Silverberg)

"Ingenious, layered, sophisticated, and consistently bloodcurdling, When Gravity Fails kept me awake long after I had finished reading it." (Spider Robinson)

"[Y]ou people are cheating yourselves if you don't forego food and rent to pick up on Effinger's work. Now, this time, will you for pete's sake listen to me and buy When Gravity Fails? It's as crazy as a spider on ice skates, plain old terrific; and if you don't pay attention I'll have to get tough with you!" (Harlan Ellison)

A fun read/listen

I really enjoyed the story. It pulled me in and had me caring about the characters.

Riveting story, incredible narrator!

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.

Enjoyable

If you could sum up When Gravity Fails in three words, what would they be?

Naughty sci-fi goodness

Who was your favorite character and why?

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

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not sure

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

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

Any additional comments?

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.

Great Cyberpunk

Would you listen to When Gravity Fails again? Why?

I was hesitant to listen based on some of the other reviews. Most of the negative reviews couldn't be more wrong, this is great science fiction that presents the gritty Cyberpunk noir world.

What did you like best about this story?

The plot unfolds quickly, and while perhaps not completely unpredictable, take place in a middle eastern ghetto. The cultural variations are a wonder nuance to the Cyberpunk world.

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I've never heard of this author before, but I'm going to listen to more of his books.

Any additional comments?

Do your self a favor - ignore the negative comments. Enjoy this book.

Extraordinary performance

I had read this book fifteen years ago and rediscovered it in audio.

First, the performance is plain amazing. Every accent is there ! It is a fantastic read.

Then, the story is truly good and deserved the awards it got. Small warning : this is not a cyber detective story like many other inspired by Hammet / Chandler. This is a Don story like Mario Puzo's Don. And it is really well implemented

Last, but not least, the oriental world is very well described, precise and documented. We are not used to read stories in this world, with more stories set up either in the US or oriental world. It's a welcome change :-)

have a look !