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Century Rain
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
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When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!
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A human-focused SF classic
- By Ryan on 12-05-13
By: Frederik Pohl
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Pilot X
- Pilot X, Book 1
- By: Tom Merritt
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Pilot X is Ambassador of the Alendans, a race with the ability to move through space and time as guardians of the timeline. Locked in ongoing conflict with the Sensaurians, an organic hive mind that can send messages in thought throughout its own history, and the Progons, a machine race who can communicate backwards in time, Pilot X finally manages to create peace among the three races.
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Great Story - wish there was more
- By Howard on 03-29-17
By: Tom Merritt
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Running Blind
- By: Desmond Bagley
- Narrated by: Paul Tyreman
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The assignment begins with a simple errand - a parcel to deliver. But to Alan Stewart, standing on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. The desolate terrain is obstacle enough. But when Stewart realises he has been double-crossed and that the opposition is gaining ground, his simple mission seems impossible....
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Timeless
- By Jim on 01-17-23
By: Desmond Bagley
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Will Save the Galaxy for Food
- By: Yahtzee Croshaw
- Narrated by: Yahtzee Croshaw
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Space travel just isn't what it used to be. With the invention of quantum teleportation, space heroes aren't needed anymore. When one particularly unlucky ex-adventurer masquerades as famous pilot and hate figure Jacques McKeown, he's sucked into an ever-deepening corporate and political intrigue. Between space pirates, adorable deadly creatures, and a missing fortune in royalties, saving the universe was never this difficult!
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Great
- By K. F. on 03-09-17
By: Yahtzee Croshaw
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The Grand Dark
- By: Richard Kadrey
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best-selling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison - a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos. The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war’s horrifying despair.
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Kadrey does it again!
- By Lilah Quinn on 06-14-19
By: Richard Kadrey
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Braking Day
- By: Adam Oyebanji
- Narrated by: Ariyan Kassam
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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It's been over a century since three generation ships escaped an Earth dominated by artificial intelligence in pursuit of a life on a distant planet orbiting Tau Ceti. Now, it’s nearly Braking Day, when the ships will begin their long-awaited descent to their new home. Born on the lower decks of the Archimedes, Ravi Macleod is an engineer-in-training, set to be the first of his family to become an officer in the stratified hierarchy aboard the ship. While on a routine inspection, Ravi sees the impossible: a young woman floating, helmetless, out in space.
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Engaging and inventive sci-fi
- By Keith D. on 11-09-23
By: Adam Oyebanji
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Flashforward
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A scientific experiment begins, and as the button is pressed, the unexpected occurs: everyone in the world goes to sleep for a few moments while everyone's consciousness is catapulted more than twenty years into the future. At the end of those moments, when the world reawakens, all human life is transformed by foreknowledge.
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How would you digest the fruits of knowledge??
- By Phelix_da_Kat on 07-23-08
By: Robert J. Sawyer
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Embers of War
- By: Gareth L. Powell
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella, Amy Landon, Greg Tremblay, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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From BSFA award-winning author Gareth L. Powell comes the first in a new epic sci-fi trilogy exploring the legacies of war. The sentient warship Trouble Dog was built for violence, yet following a brutal war, she is disgusted by her role in a genocide. Stripped of her weaponry and seeking to atone, she joins the House of Reclamation, an organization dedicated to rescuing ships in distress. When a civilian ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, are sent on a rescue mission.
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Narrator has an annoying cadence
- By Hilmi S Alkindy on 09-20-20
By: Gareth L. Powell
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Black Phoenix
- By: Wayne Wightman, B. V. Larson
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Earth’s first colony ship finally reaches the target world. The excitement of planetfall is indescribable, but quickly transforms into sick disappointment when they find the atmosphere is a roiling mass of hydrochloric acid, carbon dioxide, and other deadly poisons. They fly onward, seeking better planets. They find them, but none are ideal. The search goes on for a century, then longer still. As they move farther from Earth, aliens discover the intruding ship, and they begin to investigate humanity. They find our species unacceptable.
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Uggggh
- By JonH on 09-20-19
By: Wayne Wightman, and others
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surprisingly dissappointing
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A great story ruined by narration.
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An entirely new level of science fiction
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A century from now, thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years, humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment, and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to the powerful North family - composed of successive generations of clones. Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone "brothers" have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family are now friendly rivals more than allies. Or maybe not so friendly....
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Get the Timeline and Cast of Characters
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A surprising and staisfying departure for Reynolds
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Walking to Aldebaran
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Gonzo giggleworthy geekitude
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Belisarius is a quantum man, an engineered Homo quantus who fled the powerful insight of dangerously addictive quantum senses. He found a precarious balance as a con man, but when a client offers him untold wealth to move a squadron of warships across an enemy wormhole, he must embrace his birthright to even try. In fact, the job is so big that he'll need a crew built from all the new sub-branches of humanity. If he succeeds, he might trigger an interstellar war, but success might also point the way to the next step of Homo quantus evolution.
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Just when I had given up.... jack pot!
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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.
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Salvation
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In 2204, humanity is expanding into the wider galaxy in leaps and bounds. Cutting-edge technology of linked jump gates has rendered most forms of transportation - including starships - virtually obsolete. Every place on Earth, every distant planet humankind has settled, is now a step away from any other. And all seems wonderful - until a crashed alien spaceship of unknown origin is found on a newly located world 89 light-years from Earth, carrying a cargo as strange as it is horrifying. To assess the potential of the threat a high-powered team is dispatched to investigate. But one of them may not be all they seem....
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Wait For Book 2
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The Prefect
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Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus.
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Best yet of the Revelation Space series
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Beyond the Aquila Rift
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Overall
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Performance
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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
What listeners say about Century Rain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- DAVID
- 07-24-10
One of John Lee's best performances
I'm an Alistair Reynolds fan, got this the same day it became available. The story is good, but not one of his best. I realy liked the steampunky 'Terminal World' much more. If Mr. Reynolds is going to veer from his standard hard SciFi space operas, he should continue in that direction, in my humble opinion. However, John Lee really nailed this one!. His voice for the American private eye was spot on. The only other review so far was negative due to the "1920 detective noir" style. The main character is a detective from 1959...go figure. I thought it was perfect for the character and story. Bravo Mr. Lee!
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25 people found this helpful
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- Tango
- 11-30-13
We'll always have Paris - but which one?
Paris in the 1950's, Wendell Floyd is an ex-pat American jazz musician forced to actually make a living as a private detective, although he and his partner, Andre Custin, still play occasionally. The pragmatic Floyd thinks he may solve his money troubles with the investigation of an apparent suicide. While in Paris of the distant future, Verity Auger, an archeologist, is digging into a ice-locked dead city searching for relics of the past. The listener understands early on that while Auger's Paris could be in our future, Floyd's Paris is definitely not in our past and Auger is tasked to understand what that means. Clearly these disparate tales must be linked and they do merge fairly early in the narrative and Auger and Floyd ultimately realize they are each the key for the other's mystery.
There are some flaws in this overall good story:
1. While I like the characters of Floyd and Auger, I just never "felt" the chemistry between them so the love story is a bit flat.
2. Erratic pacing. The setup is very good, with a gradual build up that generates a great deal of suspense, but the long and repetitive chase scenes and the muddled political conflict break the tension frequently in the later sections of the book.
Century Rain has some good things going for it as well:
1. Wonderful prose - I would argue that there is no Science Fiction writer who writes more elegantly than Alistair Reynolds. As always, he uses beautiful metaphors, sets vivid scenes, and employs such a wide vocabulary that my ears stay tuned even when the story slows.
2. Grand provocative ideas. We all know about The Law of the Unintended Consequences, but Century Rain takes that idea to the grandest scale and shows us a planet that has been made uninhabitable as a result of good intentions gone VERY bad and people who don't know how to quit digging when they get in a hole.
3. Gripping thriller type plot with some clever nods at Casablanca
John Lee was not at his best on this book, but was competent and did not detract. This isn't Reynolds best book, but I still found it entertaining and mind-expanding.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall
- neonesf1
- 07-18-10
My ear's are bleeding.
I have never heard a book narrated so badly. John Lee reads science fiction as if it were 1920s detective noir. Which wouldnt be so bad if all of his character voices didnt sound almost exactly the same.
I do have to give Mr. Lee some credit, he's not working with a masterpiece of literary gold here.
I just finished the first part (6:32:10) and Im sitting here wondering if listening to the rest is a good idea. Having read or listened to all of Alastair Reynolds books this is by far the last on my list.
Because.
It starts in 1959 Paris, with no explanation of preceding events to put things in context. It almost feels like youve actually started with part 2. I actually had to stop and check.
The story jumps between characters so much you'll need Dramamine to keep from getting seasick, and when the characters change you don't realize it until a name is spoken BECAUSE THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME. (ARRRGGGGHHHH!!! )
Ok Im going to stop before my blood pressure go's up any more. Lol. Needless to say I wish I had purchased the e-book or actual paper version, maybe then it would be enjoyable, but I can not recommend the audible version.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the sample before you buy this book.
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- vrak
- 05-24-12
Reynolds and Lee deliver another fantastic read.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, as long as they like the genre.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Century Rain?
There's a great twist in the story when you realize what is going on for the first time. Reynolds didn't come out and say it, he just gave lots of little clues. Then all of a sudden it just tipped, and I had a great ah ha moment. Wonderfully done.
What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I could listen to John Lee read a book about dirt and would probably be captivated. He is one of my top two favorite readers. His voice was soothing and stayed out of the way of the action in the text, and he voiced the characters so that you knew who was talking without having to think about it.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
There was maybe two times when I teared up, but hey, I'm an emotional guy.
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- Heather
- 07-13-14
Good story - flat characters
This is my first Reynolds book. I was very impressed by the idea of this book and the science behind it. While during a few parts I felt like it was a little over my head, he mostly keeps it understandable for all readers. It was a very interesting plot and I enjoyed that it never felt boring even though it's a longer book.
While his idea and concept for the story were great, he lacked in several areas. The characters were fairly flat - which was tolerable in the older sci-fi books but I rather expect more now. I believe the problem lies in that Reynolds knows nothing about Americans.
The two main characters are American but it feels very like he watched, say, Columbo, then wrote his characters from the stereotypes on screen. Our main male character is a very typical gumshoe. And our female is a somewhat abrasive archeologist turned spy. The falling in love bit felt unfounded as well. But back to the American issue - Reynolds appears to not know about America. For example, the Americans call a flashlight a torch, which everyone knows is what Brits say. And he acts as if we have regional accents like in England, which we don't. E.g. -continually has Americans doubting she is from Nebraska because they don't recognize her accent. Well, Reynolds, no one would recognize a Nebraska accent. It's not that distinct at all. So, I felt like someone with the internet at their fingertips could easily find out more about Americans if they were going to write about them.
In all, I enjoyed the story, but only in the way I enjoy the older sci-fi books which tend to have good science but not so great with the character development. I think it's worth reading. I plan to read another book of his to see if it was writing about Americans that tripped him up or if he just has issues with characters.
The narration is fairly good. He gets a little confused on the accents early on but gets better.
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- Alex Levine
- 05-01-13
Very successful fusion of noir and hard SF
This is my favorite Reynolds novel so far--though I still have quite a few more to read. The plotting is very tight, including a satisfying joint resolution, toward the end, of several seemingly unrelated subplots. The characters are distinctive, and mesh nicely. As for the high concept, I don't want to risk spoilers by saying too much about it here. I found it very appealing. As a student of 20th Century history, I was particularly fascinated by the very subtly-crafted wrongness of Reynolds's 1959 Paris.
I can't decide whether the occasional references to "Casablanca" are fun or just a little too cute. I'm also not hugely enthusiastic about Mr. Lee's narration, especially the character voice for the main American character, with accent and phrasing just far enough off to be occasionally irritating. On the other hand, a supporting character with a Danish surname sounds pretty credible to my admittedly non-Danish ear. The defects are all minor, though. I'd give this one a strong recommendation.
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- Palo Alto Resident
- 09-05-12
Brilliant on All Levels
I've listened to many of Reynolds' novels. This is the winner. Reynolds had me believing in his new and exciting SF inventions, but beyond that the novel is a fine mixture of mystery and terror.
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- Bob
- 04-27-14
Got caught up in story once it got moving
If you could sum up Century Rain in three words, what would they be?
Grows on you, When you start to listen it has many threads that you wonder how it all fits but soon you start to understand what is happening and get captivated with the story line. If you like a single audio book without having to listen to a series then this is for you
Which scene was your favorite?
When the investigator realized that his earth was not alone it set the stage for fast action and rapid understanding of what needed to be done
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The last 20 minutes is great but cannot say more
Any additional comments?
Great listen, would highly recommend to anyone who likes to become part of what they are listening to.
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- SciFi Kindle
- 06-05-13
Alternate histories collide
In this standalone story, Alastair Reynolds manages to squeeze multiple SF sub-genres together harmoniously, ensuring something entertaining for all readers. The premise is that a dormant snapshot 'backup' copy of the earth, accurately duplicating the 1936 moment when it was mysteriously created by aliens down to the last atom, has been discovered in deep space and it has been activated by one of the warring factions from the 24th century. Now, history progresses there under the subtle influence of hostile agents who prevent WW2 as a means of stifling the technological developments that might allow the inhabitants to resist the greater holocaust they have planned for them, in the pursuit of pristine real estate. The unlikely heroes are a 24th-century archeologist who specializes in pre-apocalypse excavations, and a down-on-his-luck private investigator who begins to see that something isn't quite right in his 1959.
Sound confusing yet? It actually settles in fairly gradually, and the two Earth timelines are well delineated. The primary three or four characters are also very rounded, and a lot more believable and flawed than commonly seen in such busy plots; The private investigator Wendell Floyd, for example, sees himself primarily as a struggling musician who takes on PI work between gigs, and sees the world in a very musical way. Verity Auger, the archeologist intervening in his world, consistently and stubbornly acts in a much braver manner than she herself asserts. I was surprised to read so little about the children she left behind for her mission, but which she claims are central to her motivations.
The miracle and threat of nanotechnology are central themes explored, and in nearly every scene in which it is employed, we see unique applications that I've not seen elsewhere, and I appreciated the expanding implications of its use. Notably absent are the expected frictions and misunderstandings of characters from such disparate cultures interacting, but a technological 'hand wave' introduced early on may explain this. The pacing picked up considerably in the final third of the story, when the setting shifts dramatically, but this corresponded nicely to the rising stakes in the conflict. All in all, an exciting and thought provoking novel that lives up to expectations from this excellent author.
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- Kenton
- 02-25-13
WRONG narrator.
Good story. Alastair Reynolds can tell a good yarn, and in this one, he does really well.
John Lee as narrator, though, just drives me up the wall. He's fantastic for fantasy - I LOVED him for Perdido Street Station, but I just can't get my head around him for sci-fi. Too proper, too tweed, too academic. Not enough Asimov, not enough tech, not enough laser.
But then, I'm probably too American.
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