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Matter
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has changed almost beyond recognition to become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilisations throughout the greater galaxy.
Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy, however. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.
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What listeners say about Matter
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jim Sabshin
- 05-06-12
Don't Buy this Abominable Abridgement
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
Someone who hasn't read the book or doesn't realize how bad the abridgement is and what a chopped up terrible version they're listening to.
Has Matter turned you off from other books in this genre?
Only so far as I will never listen to another abridged version of an Iain M. Banks book from audible (US).
What didn’t you like about Toby Longworth’s performance?
He was fine.
What character would you cut from Matter?
None.
Any additional comments?
This is a terrible abridgement of a wonderful Culture book. It made me wish it was a cassette so I could break it. I wonder if Mr. Banks approved this horrible massacre of his book. Audible.co.uk (owner by Amazon) has an unabridged version but of course we in the states can't get that one. Go figure.
53 people found this helpful
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- P
- 03-05-13
Tragedy done to the Culture
The editing/abridging done to this book for all intents and purposes has removed any "real" elements of Mr. Banks' Culture- my apologies to himself if he was involved, but no excuses. This book was 600 pages of text and edited down to 5 1/2 hours. A tragedy.
On the plus side, I will never be suckered again by purchasing anything "abridged." I read the original novel in hardcover when it first came out, and this was like the "made-for-television" version of a bad paperback.
Not worth the time or money in the abridged version. I wish I could not even give it one star overall.
[Reviewer's note: "Please note: Audible posts reviews at its discretion"]
15 people found this helpful
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- JustDoIt
- 09-03-13
Beware! This is the ABRIDGED version
What would have made Matter better?
If this review were a Culture spaceship it would be called the "GSV Not What I Was Expecting". I should've looked before I bought. I've been on an Iain Banks binge lately. I bought this just because of his name. The abridgment of the story takes a lot of Banks' great writing away. I left completely disappointed. It would've been better if I skipped purchasing this recording.
What three words best describe Toby Longworth’s performance?
Not Peter Kenny [but not a bad performance]
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Matter?
The problem is that too much was cut.
Any additional comments?
Don't buy this. If you're a fan of Iain Banks you'll most likely walk away as disappointed as I was. If you're new to Banks and the Culture series this isn't a good introduction at all. Try one of the unabridged novels. Consider Phlebas is a great place to start.
9 people found this helpful
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- James
- 09-29-13
Didn't realize this was an abridged performance
What would have made Matter better?
The book was great; it's just that most of it wasn't in the audible recording.
5 people found this helpful
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- Lamont D
- 03-05-20
Abridged version? Just say no!
So I didn’t realize that this was the abridged version of the story - however, the fact that it was a 5.5 hour Culture book should’ve clued me in instantly. And the description doesn’t make it clear that it was abridged, or I likely wouldn’t have purchased it.
I haven’t read the actual book, but the story and performance are both solid...however, it’s somewhat clear that they have cut something out of the book. It’s not as clear what is missing, but certain of the types of world-building that normally occur are missing, and the story seems to suddenly leap into high gear out of nowhere.
The ending is completely and obviously sliced to death - in a way that actually makes it difficult to follow. I actually went back and listened to it two other times to make sure I didn’t miss something...but nope, it’s just not there.
(And there’s no epilogue.)
This was an extremely disappointing entry.
3 people found this helpful
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- Adam Bridge
- 10-11-17
Bad abridgment of a very good book
Don't buy this book. It's a feeble imitation of the real novel that only hints at the complexity Banks created. I didn't notice it was abridged. Don't make the same mistake.
3 people found this helpful
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- DJbackward
- 03-19-22
Horribly Abridged
Cut to the point of uselessness. Great story destroyed by abridgment. When I discovered I could get my money back I tried but alas it had been rotting in my library for over a year. Avoid this title. No excuse for this kind of literature abuse.
2 people found this helpful
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- Viet-tam Luu
- 06-08-23
Chunks of the story missing
By "abridged" did they mean parts of the audio would be cut off mid-sentence and resume after some indeterminate chunk of the book had been elided? Because that's what I'm getting.
Absolute trash, I wish I'd read the reviews first. DO NOT BUY.
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By: Iain M. Banks
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The Algebraist
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Geoff Annis
- Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For short-lived races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets - the rest is debris. Fassin Taak is a Slow Seer privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron. His work consists of rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance.
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A masterpiece.
- By M. Lambert on 08-16-18
By: Iain M. Banks
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The Quarry
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Eighteen-year-old Kit is weird: big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from "highly gifted" at one end, to "nutter" at the other. At least Kit knows who his father is; he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry. His mother's identity is another matter. Now, though, his father's dying, and old friends are gathering for one last time.
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By Iain Banks, not Iain M. Banks
- By Reader X on 05-19-18
By: Iain M. Banks
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The State of the Art
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From New York Times bestselling and modern master of science fiction Iain M. Banks, The State of the Art is the acclaimed collection of Banks's short fiction. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering talent.
By: Iain M. Banks
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The Algebraist
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars.Â
By: Iain M. Banks
Related to this topic
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The Galactic Mage (Volume 1)
- By: John Daulton
- Narrated by: David Bodtcher
- Length: 17 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Altin Meade is a sorcerer with a curse. Seeking to avoid a looming doom, he sets his magical sights on the stars--a quest that will likely bring about the very consequence he's seeking to escape. Far across the galaxy, Ensign Orli Pewter of planet Earth has a looming doom of her own--one of loneliness, depression and, worse, a race of genocidal aliens known as Hostiles seeking to destroy humanity.
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Interesting mix of fantasy & sci fi
- By lum on 02-14-14
By: John Daulton
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The Vagrant
- By: Peter Newman
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Vagrant is his name. He has no other. Years have passed since humanity's destruction emerged from the Breach. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape. A s each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.
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It was the concept and the prose that kept me goin
- By Alexandra on 08-18-15
By: Peter Newman
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Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
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Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
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The Dreaming Void
- Void Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. A powerful navy protects it from any hostile species that may lurk among the stars. For Commonwealth citizens, even death has been overcome.
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What can I say
- By Randall on 05-08-18
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Legacy
- A Prequel to Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown.
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Barely related to Eon and Eternity
- By David A. Kingston on 02-21-15
By: Greg Bear
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Mech Zero: The Dominant
- By: B. V. Larson
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Death awaits the curious! Out along the rim of the galaxy hangs a loose configuration of some 60 stars known as the Faustian Chain. This whorl of sparkling suns is rich in planets and occupies an irregular volume of space some 20 light years in diameter. From an external viewpoint, the Chain presents a colorful display of plasma-streams, luminous nebulae and sparkling pinpoints of light.
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Nice Pre to the Mech saga
- By Dennis on 11-20-12
By: B. V. Larson
-
The Galactic Mage (Volume 1)
- By: John Daulton
- Narrated by: David Bodtcher
- Length: 17 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Altin Meade is a sorcerer with a curse. Seeking to avoid a looming doom, he sets his magical sights on the stars--a quest that will likely bring about the very consequence he's seeking to escape. Far across the galaxy, Ensign Orli Pewter of planet Earth has a looming doom of her own--one of loneliness, depression and, worse, a race of genocidal aliens known as Hostiles seeking to destroy humanity.
-
-
Interesting mix of fantasy & sci fi
- By lum on 02-14-14
By: John Daulton
-
The Vagrant
- By: Peter Newman
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Vagrant is his name. He has no other. Years have passed since humanity's destruction emerged from the Breach. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape. A s each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.
-
-
It was the concept and the prose that kept me goin
- By Alexandra on 08-18-15
By: Peter Newman
-
Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
-
-
Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
-
The Dreaming Void
- Void Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. A powerful navy protects it from any hostile species that may lurk among the stars. For Commonwealth citizens, even death has been overcome.
-
-
What can I say
- By Randall on 05-08-18
-
Legacy
- A Prequel to Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown.
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Barely related to Eon and Eternity
- By David A. Kingston on 02-21-15
By: Greg Bear