Archangel

By: William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith

Narrated by: Josh Hurley, Victor Bevine, Elizabeth Jasicki, Gabriel Vaughan, Inés del Castillo, Eric Yves Garcia, Graeme Malcolm, Jonathan Todd Ross, Neil Hellegers, Scott Aiello, Mark Boyett

Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

An original dramatic presentation, cowritten by William Gibson, national best-selling author of Neuromancer and other classics, and Michael St. John Smith. 

The year is 2016. Not our 2016. Theirs. Earth is dying, the result of a worldwide nuclear holocaust caused by America’s dictatorial President-for-Life Lewis Henderson, a man who will use any means necessary to maintain power and survive. 

Enter: The Splitter. A machine capable of splitting off an exact replica of Henderson’s world. A world where the cataclysmic events causing its destruction have yet to occur. 

That world is ours. 

In August of 1945, our postwar Europe becomes the battleground for Henderson’s operatives - led by his sociopathic son - as they engineer a complete redo of their history. By changing ours. Their mission is to take over our world and rule it absolutely - again. 

The only obstacles in their way are a disabled rebel colonel in an underground bunker; a Marine pilot who pursues Henderson’s men across time; and a British secret weapons analyst who must accept that the impossible is, in fact, possible. 

And that the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance.

The cast of Archangel includes: 

• Neil Hellegers as PROF. JACK DAVIS 
• Inés del Castillo as MAJ. GUADALUPE “LUPE” TORRES 
• Mark Boyett as VP JUNIOR HENDERSON/ALOYSIUS HENDERSON 
• Eric Yves Garcia as PILOT 
• Liz Jasicki as LT. NAOMI GIVENS 
• Josh Hurley as FRITZ 
• Jonathan Todd Ross as CAPT. VINCE MATTHEWS 
• Scott Aiello as PRES. LEWIS HENDERSON 
• Graeme Malcolm as AIR COMMODORE GORDON TULLY 
• Gabe Vaughan as MR. BABY 
• Victor Bevine as COL. YERMAKOV

©2018 William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

Great Performances All Around

I was about halfway through the book when I looked it up on Goodreads to find out that the original version was a graphic novel.  It makes sense to me (especially given the length of it) but I didn't once feel confused or feel like something was missing.  Quite the opposite.  Due to the "full-cast" performance with sound effects and everything - this book felt different than my average audiobook.  I don't listen to many dramatic presentations like this but it was just what I needed.

Short and full of grit - Archangel was a story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. Gibson and St. John Smith tell a story of a world where the President-For-Life is trying to find another world/realm to go back and "fix". We find out as the story progresses what happened to Baltimore (and then again later what really happened).  And we are introduced to some really cool and interesting tech that our characters are in charge or (or get help from).

The story itself jumped around a little bit, but it translated well to audio.  I thought that the cast did a wonderful job - along with the sound/audio editors.  Every sound effect felt like it belonged without being distracting or overwhelming.  The audio was easy to hear and the background noises made the scenes more realistic instead of stealing their thunder.

Overall, I found myself enjoying Archangel and as I said above - it was the perfect book for the mood that I was in. I requested a free copy of this audiobook - it has not affected my review in any way.

17 of 17 people found this review helpful

fun. kinda short.

Went by fast. Borrows from the Peripheral for it's main sci-fi concept so don't expect the usual William Gibson level of creativity and innovation. Fun, light short story. Not sure it's worth the money, but I'm a WG fan-boy so I had to try it. No regrets.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Cool reading with cast and music

Story was pretty good, took some leaps on imagination but that's ok for a sifi book. It was a little light on some details IMO. The reading with a full cast was really cool. Easy to tell what character was what, non eof the he said she said.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

OMG amazing book

Wished for a longer one. The author stirred so much emotion in me. And the ending my God. It feels like I am living the book right now.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

great listen

really like hearing a radio drama with actors and sound effects. and this was a good entertaining story. kept my attention through the whole book, which doesn't always happen

16 of 19 people found this review helpful

Good stuff!

Phenomenal story, and most of the voice acting was great. A few quirks here or there, but overall a fantastic experience. Would definitely recommend reading if you're into dystopian scifi.

18 of 22 people found this review helpful

Innovative Narrative

This was an action packed story with some serious ideas wrapped in the package. Given the current political climate it worked on multiple levels.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Scary implications.

As with all of Gibson's works,going all the way back to Neuromancer, the future is eerilly close to now. This one have me chills.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Quite fun!

My First audio book. Some of the voice acting was a little clichéd but otherwise it was loads of fun.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I wish they would make more audiobooks like this

this book was so much fun to listen to I wish they made more audio books like this. it was better than watching something on TV.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Shock to the System!

I haven't actually read a lot of Gibson's work but what I did read was books like Neuromancer; gritty, grim, hard cyberpunk novels that played with the mind and gave it a good workout. I had a go at this curious as to how such a thing would be dramatised. Turns out that there is another side to Gibson and if the gritty, grim, cyberpunk style is what you are seeking then this isn't the audio you were looking for!

What GIbson and Michael St John Smith have come up with is classic, good old-fashioned sci-fi cheese and if you take it on those terms you'll likely love it. Amazing technology such as plastic surgery capable of exactly replicating someone's face, even a machine that can replicate the entire world precisely at a given time and date, there's teleporting, the works! There are cliched accents, gunfights, stealth suits, corny lines and classic sci-fi ideas, in fact if you listen carefully I am sure at one point you can hear a kitchen sink making a crash landing!

I really enjoyed it, the acting is upbeat and being less than three hours long it simply barrels along. Good old fashioned sc-fi excitement that doesn't concern itself with much in the way of any kind of reality.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Substandard radio play

This cheesy radio play is so bad, I'm returning it. I've been a Gibson fan for a long time - but this was very disappointing. Hammy acting, tissue thin plot and little of interest. I couldn't finish it. (and it's under 3 hours long)

kept me hooked

great story, kept me hooked throughout. brilliant actors and superb writing. would recommend to anyone.