Hull Zero Three

By: Greg Bear

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination - unknown. Its purpose - a mystery. 

Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home - a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms - he finds himself wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger. 

All he has are questions - who is he? Where are they going? What happened to the dream of a new life? What happened to Hull Zero Three? 

All will be answered, if he can survive the ship. 

Hull Zero Three is an edge-of-your-seat thriller set in the darkest reaches of space.

©2010 Greg Bear (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

very good sci fi thriller

I read a sample of Hull Zero Three on a gaming site the author contributes. I found that sample of writing much to my liking. So I waited patiently for Audible to release the book. As soon as it came out I used my credit point. I am not disappointed for my purchase. The writing style is very good. Very fluid.

The story is is narrated on first person by an awakened crew member of a large colonizing space ship. Early on we know that the ship is in a chaotic state. The crewman has been awakened before reaching final destination apparently and he has to quickly adapt to survive and discover what has gone wrong. So the narration of first person works very well as the reader, or listener, discovers clues of what is happening or has happened at the same time as the crewman. I felt the resolution was good, even though not everything is answered, and some answers were speculation of the crewman. But that should be the case as the crewman has limitations to what he can discover due to events.

The narrator is very good. I listened to the sample and liked his voice and style of narration. I cant complain there. Very good audio experience.

This is my first Greg Bear book and liked it very much. I will probably look for more of his books.

Happy With Purchase

Classic Bear. Was kept interested throughout. The genetic theme was well thought out and written, and the characters fit the story, although as always for me the narration is key. Dan John Miller did a fine job.

Original take on the Generation Ship Concept

Would you try another book from Greg Bear and/or Dan John Miller?

I have enjoyed several of Greg Bear's books.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Greg Bear does a strange thing with the ending of this book, jumping to the conclusion before going back and finishing the tale of how the characters get there, effectively draining the tension out of an otherwise well-put-together story right at the end.

Have you listened to any of Dan John Miller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I'm pretty new to audiobooks. This seemed like a good performance. Sometimes the narrator's "woman's voices" grated on me a bit, but I'm not sure how that could be improved.

Do you think Hull Zero Three needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I think the concepts Bear introduced were covered thoroughly here.

Not a Compelling Sci Fi

Any additional comments?

I was mostly looking for a scifi horror which is nearly impossible to find since it doesn't have it's own genre so you have to scum through books lists and recommendations. This one was not scary at all, nor a very good sci fi. Story was kinda like the movie Pandorum without the menace and atmosphere. It's rather confusing is many parts and understanding the goals of the characters was difficult and nobody gets really fleshed out during the story.

A truly daring attempt..

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

While I was reading this book I was aware of and glad of being smart enough to figure out what was going on...that is to say, it took some thought and close reading. I can imagine people just putting this down and not picking it up again. I stuck it out to the end and was not entirely satisfied because in some ways the end did not justify the means. I think the ideas could have been presented in a more lucid fashion and that would have given the reader more opportunity to think about them whereas in this book it was even less than implied until the end and then one was left to infer rather than know. I know this is a vapid sounding review but I assure you, it fits the book. That being said, I will probably listen to it again sometime just to make sure it said what I think it said.....ye gads..I'll just stop talking!

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

OK story, horrible performance.

Don't have a problem with Greg Bear, his stories have been solid. This is the first audiobook if his that I have gotten. Unfortunately I would have to review a Dan Miller book before I purchase another of his readings. His interpretation is overly dramatic and it skews the entire book. Might work for YA's but for SciFi is it way over the top. He seems to want to find a dramatic flair in almost every paragraph. Get over it dude! If you had a director or producer for this, they should be fired. If you didn't, get one. I'm at the three hour mark, and will likely abort the rest and use Audible return-book feature. Sorry I'm trying, we'll see.

Believable sci-fi story from a master

The story starts slow but builds to an interesting climax. Not quite as good as other works but worth the cost.

Awful, terrible, implausible and disappointing!

By its nature, you usually have to suspend disbelief some to appreciate science fiction. But that's no help at all with this one. Same old worn-out storyline about coming to in a big and dangerous space ship and trying to figure out what went wrong, where you are going, and what's with the crazy aliens you run into. And a few monsters. As the story goes on, it just gets harder and harder to swallow. Reads more like a bad role-playing video game than serious writing. Avoid like the plague.

Brilliant.

This was a challenging read, layered and beautifully complex. Bear keeps things moving, and writes with clarity of a situation horrifically confused. I'm glad I made the effort to come along; it was worth it.

it's very ok

so I don't blame the narrator for this, but man the way that the character talks in this is just about the most annoying thing you can possibly imagine. it's hard to describe without giving anything away, but a large part of the book is about the main character remembering basic things about just being alive, and having that character then describe why he's sleepy to me is very annoying. Again it's hard to describe, but basically, the way the main character narrates the story is incredibly annoying.

that's my main gripe I guess, but my other issue is just how many things get quickly wrapped up at the end or just don't get explained at all. I guess there's some implications at the end that can explain some plot events, but instead the author choose to use 8 paragraphs to describe in excruciating detail how the main character gets thirsty.

I really want to like this book, as derelict spaceship horror is kinda my favorite trope, but I just can't recommend investing any time into this one.

Wildly imaginative but a little inaccessible

This is a book with vivid imagery and ever shifting ground. Things are seldom what they seem and we discover the world in tandem with the main protagonist. There are genuinely new concepts and there is a twisted but valid logic running through the story. It took a few chapters for this to draw me in but it was well worth the time and I will listen to it again. The performance is strong and the book well written. I would recommend persevering with it.

Wait, what just happened?

What did you like best about Hull Zero Three? What did you like least?

Try as I might, I still cant seem to get along with hard sci-fi. I liked a lot of the ideas in this novel, just not how they were executed. The story is quite unforgiving of any laps in concentration, maybe not the best book for in-car listening. On paper (not the best metaphor for a book I know but bear with me) its a sci-fi horror story set on a vast space ship adrift in space, people get carried away by monsters and minced up but its all a bit un-engaging, some guys from the Star Wars cantenna turn up very early on too.

What was most disappointing about Greg Bear’s story?

I wanted this to be a creepy sci fi horror mystery, and it is, quite disturbing in places, but in a sort of, weird way. The horror things get explained away quite quickly, and the mysteries are sadly old news to anyone who has spent more than five minutes in the genre. cool creepy ending though if a bit anti-climactic.

Which character – as performed by Dan John Miller – was your favourite?

I have no idea, none of them were particularly memorable, but that's down to the characters not the performance. Teacher, the central character is played well and as his story unfolds it becomes quite poignant.

Could you see Hull Zero Three being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

If anything it reminded me of Pandorum, with a few twists to make it not look like outright robbery. It does differ a bit, but not by very much and give away far more too quickly than that movie.

Any additional comments?

I'm weary of reading any more novels by this author.