Damocles

By: S. G. Redling

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

When Earth is rocked by evidence that extraterrestrials may have seeded human DNA throughout the universe, a one-way expedition into deep space is mounted to uncover the truth. What linguist Meg Dupris and her crewmates aboard the Earth ship Damocles discover on Didet - a planet bathed in the near-eternal daylight of seven suns - is a humanoid race with a different language, a different look, and a surprisingly similar society. But here, it’s the "Earthers" who are the extraterrestrial invaders, and it’s up to Meg - a woman haunted by tragedy and obsessed with the power of communication - to find the key to establishing trust between the natives and the newcomers. In Loul Pell, a young Dideto male thrust into the forefront of the historic event, Meg finds an unexpected kindred spirit, and undertakes an extraordinary journey of discovery, friendship, and life-altering knowledge.Told from both sides of a monumental encounter, Damocles is a compelling novel about man’s first contact with an extraterrestrial race.

©2013 S. G. Redling (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

A little above ho hum

I almost didn't listen to this book after the first 10 minutes because the narrator seemed so out of character with the characters…a sweet female voice using profanity…I didn't mind the profanity, it just grated because it was incongruous. The attempts to lower her voice to male timbres didn't work for me either. I had forgotten to download another book, so it's all I had and I slogged through. The story dragged, it seemed like there was a chapter missing in the end when we skipped from one character to another without any link. Wouldn't recommend it.

Another space exploration story…? Not really… :-)

It started out in a familiar SciFi Space scenario. Then, it slowly began to change on many levels, as a new world, peoples and culture were revealed. Only once, was I able to predict ahead.

We Don’t Even Have A Translation For Lunch

Great coupon purchase. I look for Angela Dawe, narrations, and she brings this sci-fi story to vivid life. Each of the characters can make you laugh, mad, and joyful. Sci-fi is not my genre, but this story is so colorfully written and imaginatively thought out. If you enjoyed the film, the planet of the apes years ago with Charlton Heston, this is for you. This is an uplifting story.
Were my comments of help?

interesting premises with unpleasant narration

The story is exclusively about first contact - Trials, tribulations and a large focus on language. Some interesting ideas presented though at times I felt things dragged on a touch. The narration was not great - when she wasn't doing voices (for which I ended up longing for) I felt like I was being talked at, sometimes even yelled at. Drove me insane and I ended up listening to the last half at 1.2 speed to get through it.

Glad I stuck with it

Started a little slow but then became a can't put down kind of book. Good character development, even with the Aliens.

Great story-Hard to get past narrator speech pattern.

The storyline was wonderful. Creative, well paced, believable. The narrator did a good job of giving each character a voice and personality of their own but she has a speech pattern that was hard for me to get past. She has a tendency to draw out her words. I tried to find the actual term for her speech pattern but couldn't find anything. Obviously I wasn't disturbed by it enough to stop listening but it very definitely reduced the enjoyment of the listening. I will be cautious about getting other books narrated by her.

3.5 stars

This is a very interesting story. Five research astronauts land on new planet and make contact. The author provides a unique perspective during the story of both human and alien experiences and perceptions. I give it about 3 1/2 stars. Characters and story line not always believable. The narrator had trouble with some of the male voices.

First Contact

A great "first contact" book between humans and another species with all the obvious (and a few very subtle) problems of establishing a common form of communication. It's told from the point of view of the two protagonists - the alien and the human. Excellent and thought provoking book

Loved it, but....

The story was an original one and I love the fact that we get to experience the events from two perspectives. But as the story draws to and end, it is like the author could not be bothered to tie up the loose ends. Feels like the author just wanted to end it as soon as possible. Really disappointing....

Just Ok

Had some interesting twists on first contact scenarios but I found large parts of it (translated dialogue) to be extremely tedious. Fairly anti-climactic overall.