Revenger: Booktrack Edition

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Revenger: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience!

Winner of the 2017 Locus Award

Revenger is a rocket-fueled tale of space pirates, buried treasure, and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism...and of vengeance....

Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest crew members of the legendary Captain Rackamore's ship, using their mysterious powers as Bone Readers to find clues about their next score. But there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: the fabled and feared Bosa Sennen, in particular.

The galaxy is filled with treasures... if you have the courage to find them.

Booktrack is an immersive format that pairs traditional audiobook narration to complementary music. The tempo and rhythm of the score are in perfect harmony with the action and characters throughout the audiobook. Gently playing in the background, the music never overpowers or distracts from the narration, so listeners can enjoy every minute. When you purchase this Booktrack edition, you receive the exact narration as the traditional audiobook available, with the addition of music throughout.

©2016 Alastair Reynolds (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A blindingly clever imagining of our solar system in the far flung future." (The Sun)

"By far the most enjoyable book Reynolds has ever written." (SFX)

"Alastair Reynolds [is] one of the leading lights of the New Space Opera Movement.... Revenger is tremendous fun." (Locus)

*Really* wish there was a Ten Star rating

The one big problem the listener will have is deciding whether to listen at regular speed so story and performance last longer or to select a faster speed to find out what happens next just a bit sooner.
The added soundtrack is absolutely superb. It always enhances and supports story but never makes itself the focus. Genius orchestry (if that's not a word it should be).
Narration is top notch, stands being centerstage for the entire performance without ever becoming 'just the voice reading to me'.
(One very tiny quibble on a technical note..for about a ten minute stretch in about the first third of the story sound mixing is a smidge off so that younger sister's whispered voice is a bit hard to make out.)

Well written, Well performed, Poorly mixed.

This was a really interesting story with great worldbuilding and characters. Similarly, the performance was fantastic.

Conceptually I really enjoyed the added music, ambience and effects. They were well composed and definitely enhanced the mood well.

However this came at the expense of omnipresent mixing issues which made it very difficult to listen to. Music and effects frequently drown out the performance and there are aspects of the performance that are whispered and not audible.

Additionally, there is a tremendous amount of bass in the performance which made it nearly impossible to listen to on my Bluetooth speaker, it was too muddy to hear much and I ended up using my phone speaker and straining to hear it instead.

Overall the booktrack was a cool concept that was almost executed well, but in the end it just made this a chore to listen to.

Great story, great narration

The book tracks threw me at first, but ultimately I settled into it, and didn't mind it as much. Jury is still out on the concept overall, but it was bearable and has potential to grow on me.

As to the rest of the production, it's another great offering from Mr Reynolds. The voice acting is a good too. All in all, definitely recommend!

Absolutely Stellar Performance (with the exception

There are a few parts in the story when i couldn't make out what the (TRULY WONDERFUL) narrator says... She's whispering & the background music is too loud. :/

Also, this book doesn't get overly technical as Mr. Reynolds's other books do. But i really enjoyed this diversion from his norm.

Terrible mix, fun story

This sounds entirely unmastered, but I love the concept, and most of the music chosen works well with the tone of the story, ranging from tolerable to very enhancing.

Soundtrack in Audiobooks is my new favorite thing!

As a big fan of SF books, I really enjoyed listening to this book. The story is well written. The narrator also gave justice to the characters. But mostly, I enjoyed listening to it because of the soundtrack. The music really sets the mood and the sound effects made my imaginations more vivid. I'm excited to hear more of these books from now on.

Don't get the booktrack edition, but do get it!

While I normally enjoy a good soundtrack with a reader, this one has trouble balancing the two. Too many times I found myself distracted by the music or struggling to hear the narative through it.

Beyond that... Brilliant! Great story (As expected from Mr. Reynolds) and really enjoyed the reader, Clare Corbett. Looking very forward to starting the next one in about 5 minutes.

Compelling story, great narrator

Shivers at the onset, and shivers at the conclusion. Holds its own in regard to Alastair's works.

Great and dark

A great and dark sci-fi suspense horror. I wasn't expecting it, but I want to see where this ship is going 👍

Decent story, bad recording.

I'm pretty sure that I missed a good portion of the first 3 hours of the story. The narrator has, I think, a cockney English accent that is extremely difficult to follow and that's before you throw the in the music and sounds that walk all over the narration. I ended up setting the equalizer on my car radio to max treble and lower bass and mid-range so I could finish the story. The mixing of this performance is an epic fail. It's so bad that Audible should pull it from distribution and insist that the studio remix it.

As far as the story goes, it was ok. I am a huge Alastair Reynolds fan and this was probably my least favorite story. It wasn't really that bad, and I can't put my finger on it, but I walked away a little disappointed. I don't know; it might have been the mixing that just gave me prejudiced.