Hidden Realms and Far Away Places

By: D.V. Nobles

Narrated by: D.V. Nobles

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Hidden Realms and Far Away Places transports the listener to other worlds with short stories written in the classic sci-fi style.

Inside, you will:

• Hear the adventures of a detective as he struggles with a case aboard a ship on a no-return voyage to the stars
• Witness the near genocide of the human race by androids that have their own agenda - or do they?
• Get conformed with a race of people who receive answers and instructions to every question as they are guided on their path
• Join the search for the only genetically perfect woman in the world
• Tumble into a land dominated by large winged creatures who claim your people are trespassing on their timeline
• And much, much more!

©2016 D.V. Nobles (P)2018 D.V. Nobles

A trip through past Authors

The stories all have the feel of Asimov, Verne, Harrison, and Huxley.
Rich in the age old varieties of Science and wonder from days gone by. Unfortunately it also comes with some of the unfavorable tropes as well. But if you look past those and view it as a period piece you will see the stories as small trips to all of the greats.

A Good Collection of Sci-fi Shorts

It is not always a good thing when the author is also the narrator, however, this time it works very well, especially with the little extra author notes at the end of each chapter. The Sci-Fi shorts like most collections have some standouts and other just okay stories, but as a whole, it works very well and was a fun listen. One thing that would make this audiobook better would be the story names listed for the Chapters, right now its just Chapter 1, 2, 3., etc. for example I enjoyed the story in Chapter 7 as I love stories about multi-generational ships and would like to return to it but will never remember Ohh! chapter 7 was good.

Note this title was provided free for review however the thoughts and opinions of this review are entirely my own.

Overall enjoyable.

Some of the stories were really interesting and got me to think about them for awhile, some weren't as interesting, but overall an enjoyable experience.

Generic science fiction with mediocre narration

Hidden Realms and Far Away Places by D. V. Nobles, is a collection of 8 short science fiction stories. We have a wide selection of themes, from alien worlds, to advanced AIs, and even a murder mystery on a generational space ship.

The titles of the short stories are as follows, as it isn’t contained in the blurb:
Story 1 - All My Toys.
Story 2 - The Serpent of Time.
Story 3 - Jenna’s Needle.
Story 4 - The Hole.
Story 5 - An Influence of Paradox.
Story 6 - The Lizard’s Stare.
Story 7 - Sacred Heart.
Story 8 - In A Perfect World.

It is okay written, but while the stories themselves were quite varied, I was always left with a feeling of the stories not being pushed far enough. They mostly appear as stories built around a singular idea, and then everything around it was sculpted to fit, with the underlying philosophical ideas not being pushed nearly enough. It was either a science fiction concept, a character, or a unique idea behind each of them, and in several cases it were just minor rehashes of stories we’ve heard before. Mind you, they weren’t bad, they just weren’t spectacular either, and if you are new to science fiction then you will most likely enjoy them.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author himself. He had an acceptably clear voice, but I found it quite dull to listen to. He also had this thing were he dragged out the pronunciation of the last word in each senteeeence. Which I found REALLY annoyiiiing. I hope he gets a professional to do his narration for the next book he wriiiiiiites. Also, he’s a really slow reader, so this was the first time I ended up listening to an audiobook at 1.4x times normal speed, so if you listen to the audiobook you might finish faster than anticipated.

Overall it is a nice collection of stories, and you can enjoy them as long as you don’t expect to be blown away. For fans of science fiction, you will likely be satisfied with the stories here.

I received this audiobook for free in return for a review. I have no affiliation with the author/narrator, the publisher, or their pets (Although I am sure the latter are quite nice!).