Colonization: Second Contact

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 28 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the extraordinary World War tetralogy, set against the backdrop of World War II, Harry Turtledove, whom Publishers Weekly has called the "Hugo-winning master of alternate SF," wove an explosive saga of world powers locked in conflict against an enemy from the stars. Now he expands his magnificent epic into the volatile 1960s, when the space race is in its infancy and humanity must face its greatest challenge: alien colonization of planet Earth.

Yet even in the shadow of this inexorable foe, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany are unable to relinquish their hostilities and unite against a massive new wave of extraterrestrials. For all the countries of the world, this is the greatest threat of all. This time, the terrible price of defeat will be the conquest of our world and perhaps the extinction of the human race itself.

©2009 Harry Turtledove (P)2010 Tantor

Critic Reviews

“[Turtledove] develops an exciting, often surprising, story that will not only delight his fans but will probably send newcomers back to the Worldwar saga to fill in the backstory.” ( Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

A great title poorly presented

Having already read this the entire worldwar and colonization series some years back, I have really enjoyed listening to them again in audiobook form up to this point. The narrator of the worldwar tetralogy, Todd McLaren, was an excellent narrator who really brought the books to life. I was therefore bitterly disappointed when I was met with the lackluster narrating of Patrick Lawlor.
On the one hand I had gotten used to Todd McLaren, but sometimes narrators change and if they are good you can get used to them. This was certainly not the case here. Not only was the pronunciation different in many cases, but the narrator simply does not have the skill Todd McLaren possesses in speaking different dialects and making characters feel individual. More annoying still however is the way it feels as if he is forcing the words out, too slowly and too weighted. There is little dynamic and this is at times quite off-putting. It's as if he is trying to make everything sound important and dramatic when it rarely needs to be. I can with ease say I will avoid any books narrated by Patrick Lawlor in the future.

The story is still as interesting as I remember it, but with the narrator ruining much of the experience it technically doesn't even deserve 3 stars. Only my personal love of the book saves it from the left half of the scale.

My advice; read it instead.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

I was so excited

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I think I would recommend this only because you'll want to continue thru the story. I was so looking forward to a greater amount of new content. I have to say that I was disappointed by the lack of any "moving along". I felt just about like we left off about where we wound up at the end of the first series of books. I didn't hate it. I just felt a little cheated. I also didn't like the narration nearly as well as Todd McLaren's. When you pick up where another narrator leaves off you really ought to work on the pronunciations of the names of major characters. For instance if you were familiar with a lizard named Strayhaw you may need a couple of chapters to figure out that Strawhaw is the same lizard. Also the hissing speak the narrator added was less than necessary. I'll be continuing on with the series because 1. I'm dying of curiosity and 2. I've already purchased the rest of the books. Ha. I sure hope Harry doesn't let me down. He had all my confidence going in.

If you’ve listened to books by Harry Turtledove before, how does this one compare?

Usually the story get's told a little more completely than in this particular novel.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Patrick Lawlor?

Todd McLaren

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

The story continues to be interesting

Where does Colonization: Second Contact rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Got this primarily because I had read the previous titles. I like the story, this title is a bit slower than the others but not bad. The biggest problem is the performance, as stated in other reviews, would it be to much to ask a performer to go back and listen to the pronunciations of names from the previous performer? Some of them were so far off it took me a few minutes to figure out it wasn't a new character.

What did you like best about this story?

The continuation of the story

Would you be willing to try another one of Patrick Lawlor’s performances?

hopefully not, only if it is in a continued strory.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

don't know

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Decent Performance, Still a Great Story

While no one can deny Patrick Lawlor does not live up to the bar Todd McLaren set, he does a really solid job and is far better than some performers I’ve listened to. The issue I think many people have is that we’ve been spoiled by Todd’s ridiculous acting skills that when faced with a still solid performance we feel we might have been cheated.

As far as story goes, it’s classic Turtledove and any self-respecting sci fi fan will enjoy. Though I do recommend you begin with the Worldwar saga first

Narrator is not good

What’s with the narrative, did they get him from a Junior high school. I mean wth

Decent overall story, but the narrator makes it unbearable.

I’ve read the print version of the book before and am a big Turtledove fan, but sadly the reader does such a bad job that I couldn’t finish the book.

Good Read!

Although a little outrageous, it's extremely interesting. I hate books, but Harry Turtledove is always good. The sex scenes (I'm on book 3 I can't possibly remember if there are any in book 1, but this goes for Harry in general) sound like they were written by someone who is a virgin and just come across as forced and unnecessary. It's a book. There's no sex appeal in that.

narrator ruined it

i listened to all the other worldwar series here on audible and starting to listen to the new narrator immediatly made me turn it off. terrible

Narrator Makes a Difference

Great sequel to Worldwar but why did they have to change the narrator. Todd McLaren has a great range to his voice and brought to life the the characters from the various cultures, and the Race, quite well. Patrick Lawlor, on the other hand, makes it sound like Casey Kasem is narrating on American Top 40. Not able to engage the characters as well.

A much needed continuation of great series.

While I really enjoyed the world war series I lamented what seemed to be a premature ending. Then I descovered this series. A precise completion of my worries and questions. Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

Very Race Like

Just like an invention by The Race this book is not heart stoppingly fast, even paced and methodical with the odd burst of speed Mr Turtledove is so precise and accurate with his writing you find this orderly pace interesting enough as to be enjoyable. He is a genius at building up tension in the reader of his tale slowly but surely. He's equally as good at creating fictional characters personalities to be realistic enough to interact smoothly with known historical figures whom you'd believe Harry had met in person. I loved this book it follows on brilliantly from the original series that I read years ago. Patrick Lawlors narration has you picturing yourself witnessing events and believing that's how the Lizards would sound. I can't wait to download the next in the series. I will be hearing a lot more of Mr Turtledove in the near future.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great book

First of all: the bad: Todd McLarren who narrated the World War books (which give the story before the Colonization series) is so good at it that Patrick Lawlor seems lackluster. Patrick Lawlor cant/doesnt do as many different voices and accents so at first it was sometimes (not often) difficult to follow which character is actually talking Now: the good: It was written by Harry Turtledove and that says all you need to know.