A Voice in the Wilderness

The Human Division, Episode 4

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Albert Birnbaum was once one of the biggest political talk show hosts around, but these days he’s watching his career enter a death spiral. A stranger offers a solution to his woes, promising to put him back on top. It’s everything Birnbaum wants, but is there a catch? And does Birnbaum actually care if there is?

"A Voice in the Wilderness" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Listen to the complete edition of The Human Division, the fifth full-length book by John Scalzi in the Old Man's War universe.

©2012 John Scalzi (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Surprising

For the first time, the series of short stories takes the reader to earth where a struggling radio show personality is encouraged to reverse his declining ratings by championing the program by which elderly earthlings are rejuvenated and sent to the stars to fight for the Colonial Union. It’s a controversial move—the Union is not popular on earth at this time—and the results are…surprising.

Should be able to use credit for multiple chapters

What did you like best about A Voice in the Wilderness? What did you like least?

I liked that the chapter introduces a new character. I'm disappointed that overall the cost of following the series is not worth it depending on how many chapters are involved.

Would you be willing to try another book from John Scalzi? Why or why not?

I liked "Red Shirts" by John Scalzi. I may buy another book by him, but I won't be buying more chapters of this book unless I can use a credit to buy all the chapters at once.

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I like the voices he uses especially for aliens speaking as described by the author.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Can't tell yet beause this is just a single chapter.

Any additional comments?

Refund my money and allow me to pre-purchase all chapters using a single credit.

Nice 'sidebar' story. Continuity flags.

(This follows my on-going review from Eps 1-3.) Okay. I've griped previously about the muted feel of the storyline in this serial "episodes" format as compared to the novels in the Old Man's War series. So am I feeling any better about it now that I've completed 4 episodes?

Nope. :-\

But, I am still a fan of author J. Scalzi and narrator Mr. Dufris. I just wish that we'd go back to the old novel format already.

The storyline (Dis-)continuity physics here is wreaking havoc with my sense of space-time.

Talk Radio Meets the 23d Century!. . . . . . 😱

5 stars is Great!
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IMHO this is one of Scalzi's best short stories and I'll say no more. Enjoy the listen . . . . . 😱

YOU GET WHAT YOU GOT COMING

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

NOT REALLY IT WAS VERY PREDICTABLE. MAN WANTS SUCCESS AND WILL DO ANYTHING FOR IT AND THEN IT GETS HIM

Any additional comments?

SOMETIMES THE USER BECOMES THE USED AND GETS A JUST END

Commentary on media

Would you listen to A Voice in the Wilderness again? Why?

Because its fun, its well written, and it makes fun of the likes of Alex Jones and similar wackos.

Would you recommend A Voice in the Wilderness to your friends? Why or why not?

It will entertain. Done.

What about William Dufris’s performance did you like?

Strong and fast paced. Good control of the different character voices and good flow.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Made me smile. That takes a lot.

Good side story

Episode 4 of The Human Division was not the direct sequel to Episode 3 that I had expected. Instead, this was a short, mostly humorous segment focusing on a broadcaster on Earth and the growing division between Earth and the Colonial Union. It was an interesting side story but did have too much harsh language for my tastes.

Thats the media for ya

Typical media personalities causing trouble for ratings or a buck. This time it is for ratings and do they ever go up! Decent story with a little twist at the end. Have to wait another week for it all to continue but, oh well, whatcha gonna do? Time to pre order episode 5.

Okay, but nothing special

This is Episode 4 of the Human Division series. Some reviewers say each episode is a short standalone story, others say Scalzi just divided what would have been one book into multiple separate episodes. I have heard four episodes now, and I am beginning to see that they will likely all combine together into one ending. I would not buy these as standalone books, as they are very short, the plot isn't strong enough and the endings either leave you hanging or, in the case of Episode 4, is just so-so.

The story is better written than much of Scalzi's work I've heard so far. It lacked the irritating transcript style of "he said," "she said" which has absolutely ruined some of his other stories, in my opinion. Reader did a good job, even though it was not a difficult narration to perform.

scalzi popcorn

if you're a scalzi fan you'll eat these up.

love the format of drip feeding snippets, i'll happily interrupt the book i'm listening to for a quick giggle and division catchup.