Angelmass

De: Timothy Zahn

Narrado por: Eric Jason Martin

"Fast-paced action . . . first-rate sf space adventure" (Library Journal) from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Star Wars: Thrawn.

Deep in space lies the black hole known as Angelmass, so called because it emits enigmatic particles with the unusual ability to render humans calm, reasonable, and incapable of lying—which would normally be seen as a good thing.

But not by everyone.

For while Empyrean human colonies on the edge of the galaxy utilize the power of the "angels," the Earth-based Pax empire views the emissions as a threat that could be used to subvert humanity.

Academic Jereko Kosta is pressed into service by the Pax to spy on the Empyrean, joining the crew of a ship actively hunting the particles. But what he learns turns out to be both scientifically fascinating and morally frightening.

When the Pax make an aggressive move that may lead to all-out war with the Empyrean, Kosta is the only one who can stop the conflict between the human powers and force them to see that the angels they're about to fight over are far from holy....

©2002 Timothy Zahn (P)2002 Tantor Media

about time!

I've been waiting on this book for ever. read the book over 20 years ago and loved it.

Preachy Book and Poorly Narrated

Admittedly I’m still reading the book but I can already tell where this is going. Will update review when I’m finished.

Angelmass is built on a pretty old sci-fi gimmick, and the book acts like it invented fire. The whole “forced compliance / engineered behavior” thing has been done to death, and Vonnegut covered this ground with way more bite and a lot less self-importance. We get it. Forced virtue isn’t virtue. “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

What killed it for me is how preachy it is. It keeps stopping to explain the point, like it doesn’t trust you to connect two damn dots. Instead of the idea creating pressure through characters and consequences, you get this stiff, thesis-first delivery. The prose is weak too, more “here’s what you should think” than “here’s an interesting story.”

Also, every main character and their primary acts of subterfuge are hilariously flawed. There’s just no imagination in the plot.

And the audiobook narration makes all of that worse. It’s halting and choppy, which murders momentum and turns scenes into a weird, stop-start lecture.

3/5