In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns

Sub-Inspector Ferron Mysteries, Book 1

De: Elizabeth Bear

Narrado por: Zehra Jane Naqvi

A science fiction mystery set in the India of the future by two-time Hugo Award winner Elizabeth Bear.

A man has been turned inside-out. Literally.

Fifty years hence, in the sleek modern city of Bangalore, a scientist working on revolutionary bioengineering techniques has been discovered inside his own locked home, his body converted into a neat toroidal package of meat. It's up to Police Sub-Inspector Ferron to unearth the victim's complicated past and solve the crime, despite the best efforts of the mastermind behind the murder, aliens beaming signals from the Andromeda Galaxy, her overbearing mother, and the intricacies of dealing with the only witness - an adorable parrot-cat.

©2012 Sarah Wishnevsky-Lynch (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

loved it. loved the narrator.

this is a fun romp through a really engaging world. if you're put off by the narrator, you're doing yourself a disservice. I mean, blue kitties that talk! it's a good mystery with likeable characters.

Good

Interesting world, I suspect it's in the same universe as Ancestral Night but so far removed in space/time to not make any difference to the reader.

I like the reader, it's good to have a range of accents and voices. And no I did not find her difficult to understand at all, I hear thicker accents every day just going about my business. Maybe people should get out more, go have a curry, it's good for the soul.

Good short story

Good listen that is fast paced but descriptive. I look forward to more from series.

Entertaining Police Procedural In 21st Cent India

I found myself engrossed in a future India which is a combination of current society and a future society that came ino being after an apocalyptic event. i admit I want a parrotcat like Chairman Meow.

I'm here for the parrot-cats

This one was included in my Audible subscription, and I appear to have given it a spin out of order – I listened to book 2 not so long ago. This is book 1. In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns by Elizabeth Bear is part of the Sub-Inspector Ferron Mysteries and offers listeners a somewhat quirky dive into an India of the future, where virtual and augmented reality blend seamlessly with real life, and humanity deals with the challenges of climate change in a technologically driven society.

Genetic manipulation is par for the course in this setting, and designer pets are de rigueur – so if you want to meet a talkative parrot-cat called Chairman Meow, who is the only witness to what at face value appears to be an utterly bizarre murder, then step right this way. Actually, I was sold by the fact that this story has a talking cat.

Narrated by Zehra Jane Naqvi, this is a short escapade of two hours (unlike the 20+ hour beasts I tend to download) which I admit took me ten or so minutes to get used to Zehra's voice. I don't know why, but I seem to inadvertently mostly listen to audiobooks narrated by British men, so hitting a woman-narrated work was a bit of an adjustment – especially with her accent being on point in terms of the setting. But once I was used to her voice, I was fine, and Zehra oozes quirk in abundance.

There's much to be unpacked in this setting, and my only real complaint is that it's too short! I'm definitely going to keep a lookout for further titles, should these be rolled out. It's great to have a story that's not the usual western-centric fare. If fun, light mysteries, with unexpected twists are your jam, then this one is the cat's whiskers. Oh dog, I shouldn't mix so many metaphors.