The Day of the Triffids

De: John Wyndham

Narrado por: Kingsley Ben-Adir

In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science-fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having 'all the reality of a vividly realised nightmare'.

Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere 24 hours before is gone forever.

But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, 50 years before their realisation, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.

About the author: John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903, the son of a barrister. He tried a number of careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories of various kinds under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. In 1946 he went back to writing stories for publication in the USA and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'.

©1951 John Wyndham (P)2021 Audible, Ltd

Great story!

I enjoy dystopian stories and I loved reading about something other than zombies or an EMP. Even though the story was written in 1951, it’s written in a way that doesn’t feel old, it seems relevant in 2025. The story is well thought through, you’re never left questioning anything.

Narrator does a great job as well.

a zombie story without zombies

my title said all that needed to be said.
i absolutely loved it and would encourage anyone who likes thrillers to read it.

Surprisingly relevant

Creepy story about societal collapse. I think it hits different post COVID and I mean that in a good way.

Classic Excellent

It has been decades since I’ve found such a fine example of my old, favorite sub-genre of apocalypse fiction. It ranks with Alas, Babylon and Earth Abides, Lucifer’s Hammer, Canticle for Leibowitz, and other classics. I wonder if much of this zombie nonsense was ripped off from this excellent source. I suppose it is all Greener than You Think, Albert Wiener! ;-)

Captivating

I truly and deeply enjoyed this listen, looking forward to more from the author. Narrator did a wonderful job on voicing all the characters in the story

For a 75 yr old book (or so) it’s pretty good.

Fast pace, few plot holes, and some very well thought arguments about society that are relevant today

Better Than the Movie

I thoroughly enjoyed this book which was different from the movie. In my opinion, even though I love the movie, I enjoyed this book more. The narrator was perfect and conveyed the right voice for each character.

Eerie

Scary to think that life is so easily destroyed. There were some parts that were a bit dull, however the book overall was great.

Awesome

Awesome story, really enjoyed it. The narrator was outstanding! Paced well, would recommend this book to anyone interested in science fiction.

Great story - shame about the narration.

A brilliant novel of an apocalyptic future that is, by now, very well known. So many have taken inspiration from Wyndham. I’d never read it before and am very pleased to have listened to the thrilling journey of Bill Mason.

The narration, however, was really lazy. Having heard numerous great performances I was so surprised that this one was so unrehearsed. Kingsley frequently reads voices in the wrong accent before realising and correcting himself. He has little ability to predict punctuation and sentence structure and almost no library of dialects at his command. You either get a bad Michael Caine impersonation for about 10 different characters or a standard middle class English accent for everyone else.
I realise that Wyndhams writing is rather ‘Jolly good old boy’, so making it more contemporary in performance is a good idea - but this feels like amateur work. Not in the same league as so many great readers on audible. Such a shame - fortunately the story is good enough to survive it.