Europa

De: Greig Beck

Narrado por: Sean Mangan

The first mission to Europa – Jupiter's enigmatic moon – has landed, and humanity’s darkest fears are about to awaken.

For years, mankind has speculated that this frozen world harbours a hidden ocean twice the size of all Earth’s oceans combined – an ocean potentially teeming with life.

Driven by this tantalising mystery, they venture forth to unlock its secrets. But what they discover in the abyssal depths is far beyond anything they could have imagined.

Nearly 400 million miles from Earth, their search for life has succeeded. But in their triumph, they overlook the most terrifying truth: what they have found is something far older and more horrifying than they ever could have conceived. Something has been trapped in the dark for eons – watching, and waiting, for them.

Now, the crew stands at the threshold of unimaginable terror, realising too late that Hell, in its purest form, is cold.

©2025 Greig Beck (P)2025 Bolinda Publishing

I prefer Arcadian stories!

This was mildly suspenseful and interesting and was somewhat saved by the ending. But then the epilog was dumb beyond words. I will have to read any future Beck books as this narrator drove me crazy with his pronunciations. Laaaaugh. Craaaaft. Shaaaaft. I found it very distracting. Others might not notice or care. Anyway, I look forward to the next Alex Hunter novel.

Fast paced and believable

Story was good, interesting complex environment. Characters well developed, and believable. A couple of small errors in the “hard science” but not significant to hurt the plot line. Hardest part for me was the narration which was “over the top” in stentorian tones and slowness…but after a while I could mostly ignore that part of the presentation. Overall, a very good (if chilling) story of near future space exploration and first contact. I like this author and would recommend his works. Well done!

Is the narrator using AI?

The story is entertaining, even though the twist at the end is predictable from very early on.
My main issue is with the narration. Sean Mangan is fine and I've listened to many books narrated by him in the past. This one bothered me, though. He mispronounces common words like "skeletal" and often reads number in a non-realistic way (Two Forty degrees instead of Two Hundred Forty or Two Hundred and Forty).
It makes me wonder if the narrator is utilizing AI voice technology to generate the narration in a synthesized version of his voice.
It's not an accusation. Just a concern as I assume that he is a native English speaker and has heard other humans speak before.

Outstanding

Loved the whole story. It started good and ended good. Love the narrator, as usual he bought the story to life.

It was...interesting.

The story was pretty good. It kept me coming back and listening because I wanted to know what happened. I became invested in the characters. I think the narration threw me off. I was okay with the sound of his voice, but he he was just reading. Sometimes it was difficult to keep track with who was talking.

Gripping story.

Loved the threat the enemy of all planetary life posed in this gripping horror sci-fi. Reader could've picked up the pace some and learned how to correctly enunciate the Army motivational cry " whoah".

Totally unexpected turns!

First, I’m so glad I found Greig Beck. I’ve listened to all of the Arcadian books & want more. I’m now trying any and everything he’s written. I love the narrator, Shawn Mangum also. (Spelling?). This book is SO different! I highly recommend it.

Another epic journey

The journey keeps you wondering what is possible and next, so many more books could come from just a few branches of this story. H g wells style of a journey with the Beck spice.

Sub-par Beck

This has all the elements of a Beck story: crazy and absurd plot, strange and sometimes scary creatures, whacky narration by Sean Mangan. This differs from his usual because Beck has outdone himself by creating some of the stupidest characters I have ever read. These scientists who are entrusted with completing an almost impossible mission are about as mature and knowledgeable as a seventh grade science project team. It also liberally takes inspiration from a variety of popular sci fi books and movies. I don't mind that because almost all writers stand on the shoulders of those who already wrote these themes. But holy cow. Please give the characters some common sense.

Fun sci-fi monster story bad narration

The story was your standard sci-fi space monster tale but that’s what I wanted and it was fairly well written. Awkward in spots but not too bad. The narration was just plain weird. He spoke like he literally had a couple marbles in his mouth. It was grating until I came upon the idea of speeding it up to 1.2. That made it tolerable.