Queen of Angels

By: Greg Bear

Narrated by: George Guidall

Emanuel Goldsmith, a famous poet, murdered eight people, then disappeared. Three people want to find him: an aspiring writer, an embittered scientist who wants to use him, and a policewoman who needs to put him in custody before the Selectors, a vigilante organization, get to him first.

©1990 Greg Bear (P)1991 Recorded Books

Near future perspectives on mass killings

Greg Bear’s Queen of Angels follows multiple perspectives related to a mass killing. There’s the police detective assigned to the case who ends up navigating an international dust-up. There’s the father of one of the victims who captures the killer and has a psychiatrist / psychologist go inside his head to at-tempt to understand the motives. And then there’s a close friend who struggles to comprehend the atypical behavior. The killer is never officially apprehended, but the basis for the behavior is gradually revealed. At the same time, an AI space probe sending back information on a nearby star, becomes self-aware and compromises the mission.

Bear packs quite a bit of baggage into this tale. The significance on the binary millennium (2048) seems a bit geeky. Much of the verbiage is introspective, while the international diplomatic kerfuffle seemed forced. The space probe looks like a concept that was never fully fleshed out for a standalone story.

The narration is very well done with excellent character distinction. Pacing is on the slow side.

Excellent story

I read Queen Of Angels shortly after it was published and found it sneakily compelling. I think it was maybe the fifth Bear novel I had read at that time. Revisiting this story on audible today it is, if anything, even more powerful.

The primary protagonist being a "transform" is remarkably prescient. I found all of the characters well drawn and compelling, including the AI.

The journey into the Country of the Mind of Goldsmith was astonishing.

Not to give away anything (I hope), it is well worth the listen, and /or read.

A trove of great ideas

Interesting ideas, not great synthesis- - - - - - - - - - - .

fantastic, a whole new experience on audio

read this when it came out and found it very dense, but listening to it 20 years later on audio I am just blown away. great all around.

Excellent SF that has aged well

Where does Queen of Angels rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Among fiction, very high. The narrator was excellent and the story was engrossing.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the complexity of the story and the way the author managed to make interesting characters while also introducing fascinating scientific topics (of varied fields).

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

It was easy to tell by his intonation which character he was portraying. He got across emotion without ever seeming tawdry.

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

Not in one sitting (it is 19 hours long), but it was definitely a book I was always excited to get back to.