Saturn Run

By: John Sandford, Ctein

Narrated by: Eric Conger

“Fans of Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers will eat this up.” --Stephen King

For fans of THE MARTIAN, an extraordinary new thriller of the future from #1 New York Times–bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author John Sandford and internationally known photo-artist and science fiction aficionado Ctein.

Over the course of thirty-seven books, John Sandford has proven time and again his unmatchable talents for electrifying plots, rich characters, sly wit, and razor-sharp dialogue. Now, in collaboration with Ctein, he proves it all once more, in a stunning new thriller, a story as audacious as it is deeply satisfying.

The year is 2066. A Caltech intern inadvertently notices an anomaly from a space telescope—something is approaching Saturn, and decelerating. Space objects don’t decelerate. Spaceships do.

A flurry of top-level government meetings produces the inescapable conclusion: Whatever built that ship is at least one hundred years ahead in hard and soft technology, and whoever can get their hands on it exclusively and bring it back will have an advantage so large, no other nation can compete. A conclusion the Chinese definitely agree with when they find out.

The race is on, and an remarkable adventure begins—an epic tale of courage, treachery, resourcefulness, secrets, surprises, and astonishing human and technological discovery, as the members of a hastily thrown-together crew find their strength and wits tested against adversaries both of this earth and beyond. What happens is nothing like you expect—and everything you could want from one of the world’s greatest masters of suspense.

Can we all just get along?

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

If I had friends that were interested in China versus US racing to meet the aliens, then..yes, I would. This is pretty much classic Sandford sci fi ( albeit well researched ) . Nothing ground shaking, but certainly well representative of this specific genre ( Saturn/space race/first contact/space politics ) .

Would you recommend Saturn Run to your friends? Why or why not?

Whoops. Repeat question. See above.

Which scene was your favorite?

The first contact scene is well crafted and holds the listeners interest.

Did Saturn Run inspire you to do anything?

Download some more audiobooks for those LONG interplanetary journeys.

Any additional comments?

Without giving too much, the afterword is outstanding. Gives clarity for many of the scientific creations in the story, and is very well crafted and discussed. I really enjoyed it.

On balance, this is a reasonably well put together offering, within the category, and I can recommend it with limited reservations. ( It does need some editing! ) The performance is very good and professional.

Shoulda invested in a different narrator...

Ill start off by saying the story was pretty good. It had the potential to be a great book if theyd just have gotten someone like Ray Porter or R. C. Bray to do it. This guy Eric Conger read like he was in a big hurry to get through with it. I felt like he had to take a piss or something the whole time and was tryna hurry and read everything so he could go😆. Seemed like he had trouble conveying punctuation the way he jus plowed through whole paragraphs. He also didnt have much variety to his voices so the distinction of characters was kina hard to puzzle out at times, he had a few he did but thinking of all the many great narrators iv heard over the years this was amateur hour and it made it hard to get lost in. Its a shame he didnt do it justice cus it coulda been really enjoyable. Had some fun characters and an okay plot. Not a 5 star story but with the right narrator it definitely coulda been a 4 star.

Great narrator. Story just so-so

Eric Conger is one of audibles best narrators. He adds inflection and naturalness to his reading. This story could have been better if they had cut down significantly on all the technical detail and instead, add more character development. They needed one central character with more depth, which they didn't have. The story idea was interesting. The execution was a slog-fest.

TOO HACKNEYED A STORY PHONED IN

Hard to get through. An alien encounter at a kindergarten level. A surfer war hero who saves the treasure. Not very interesting or exciting

Amazingly well done

I have been reading Sandford novels for years and have thoroughly enjoyed his Minnesota Earth-bound characters. I was a tad skeptical that this book could work as well as his other efforts, but I was very pleasantly ssurprised. Very good character development, entertaining story and solid science principles. An easy and absolutely delightful read. I recommend it to those who enjoy a smooth sailing book that keeps you engaged.