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Firstborn  By  cover art

Firstborn

By: Stephen Baxter, Arthur C. Clarke
Narrated by: John Lee
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Publisher's summary

The Firstborn, the mysterious race of aliens best known as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, have inhabited the writing of science fiction master Arthur C. Clarke for decades. In the first two books of his acclaimed Time Odyssey series, Clarke and co-author Stephen Baxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stop the advance of human civilization by employing a technology indistinguishable from magic. That fate was narrowly averted, at an inconceivable price. But now, 27 years later, the Firstborn are back. This time, they have sent a "quantum bomb" speeding toward Earth, a device that human scientists can barely comprehend, let alone stop or destroy. But when shocking new insights emerge about the nature of the Firstborn and their plans, an unexpected ally appears from light-years away.
©2007 Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Firstborn

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Is this the end of the series? (Potential Spoiler)

I enjoyed the first book and continued on to book 2 because I wanted to see what happened.

I didn't enjoy book 2 as much as I enjoyed the original, but the plot was still able to keepy attention.

I moved on to book 3 thinking, as the title suggests, this would be where mankind confronts the First Born, but what I got was a lot of pointless dialogue and slow storytelling. The writing has drifted far away from that of the first book. Unlike book 1 (and even book2), I struggled to get through to the end, and only did so for the payoff of having concluded the series.

If you're reading this you're probably too deep in the series to quit now (something about curiosity and cats), but if you're reading comments on the entire series before digging into book 1, be warned, book 3 is a let down.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Really 'meh' ending...

I was hoping for a little bit better ending than that. No real resolution to any of the plot archs in the book. Feels like they got tired of writing and just decided to stamp a "The End" in the middle of the page. A real let down.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The end to the Trilogy!

What did you love best about Firstborn?

The way the story all tied together. The three books are very different but the main message seemed to be the indomitable strength of the human spirit to never give up.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Give it a happier ending? Then it wouldn't be the same book though, right?

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

He is always wonderful, his nuances on different words and characters he portrays are certainly his greatest strengths.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending. Three women coming together, all I can say without being a spoiler.

Any additional comments?

Arthur C Clarke was able to take all of his works and tie them into this trilogy. The firstborn from 2001 and the space elevators from Fountains of Paradise and even a bit of Rama thrown in.
I am very happy I took the time to listen to this trilogy, it helps me to remember that maybe humans aren't the greatest things in the universe, but we may be the most tenacious!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Believable Time Travel and Aliens Great Books

The story starts with a reminiscing of 2001- A Space Odyssey and moves into a world of puzzles and paradoxes. Then folds neatly into a chronicle of mysterious aliens and an apocalypse threatening humankind. To comment on the story would give away the twists and turns of the plot, so I won’t, but all three books are worth owning. I encourage getting all three in the series.
One point of contention...as in most all space faring Sci-Fi books, Canada is conspicuous by its absence in this story. As a prominent space faring nation with long ties to NASA and the ESA, Canada contributes to the exploration in space as well as any other country and more. Canada is never really mentioned. Egypt, Sri Lanka and African nations are held up as more predominant in peaceful space exploration ...really? And Russia – always the “sort of” poor cousin that shows up family dinners. Maybe it’s a marketing decision for the U.S. audience.
Still a worthwhile series of audio books to have.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • cp
  • 04-05-22

Excellent!

The entire series was absolutely amazing. Only two caveats. One, that there was too much spent on the Alexander aspect. Secondly, the reader was somewhat tedious. The British accent was okay, but oddly like a sleep aid. Didn’t realize until the end that I had invested in three books only to be set up for a continuation. A non-ending. Like the power going out before the end of a movie.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Save your money

I read all three of the books in this series, hoping they would improve. They didn't. The plot moves along in a tedious, jerky fashion with long sections of flatulent dialogue that would be meaningful only if it were to be converted into a soap opera. Not porno, just pages and pages of meaningless, politically correct psychobabble. Clarke's science is weak, as it is in all his books. Lots of bashing of all his pet peeves, as he always does. I bought this last book out of desperation for something to read. Shame on me.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Satisfying End to the Trilogy

Firstborn was a satisfying ending to a pretty good series by two of my favorite hard science fiction writers. Despite being published fifteen years ago in 2007, the science didn't feel dated at all, and it was chock full of really cool near future technology. The authors included an Afterword in which they explained the then cutting-edge science they based their novel on. Great stuff. I'm guessing Stephen Baxter did most of the writing but I think the book's amazing but plausible technology came from Arthur C. Clarke's mind and the dark tone of the plot and human nature as a whole sure made it feel like a Baxter novel to me.

This novel takes place not long after the conclusion of Sunstorm and is set on the past Earth of Time's Eye, the future Earth of Sunstorm, and also on a future Mars with some space exploration thrown in for good measure. The plot involves a new threat to Earth and how the brightest minds on Earth, Mars, and on a space faring warship are going to deal with it. Basically, it appears that powerful, unseen aliens somewhere in the universe are targeting advanced civilizations once they reach spacefaring capabilities. The goal seems not to wipe them out, but knock them back a few centuries and keep them from infiltrating the rest of the galaxy and harnessing too much energy.

The book ends in a satisfying manner, and to my surprise a minor character we lost track of re- appeared at the end of the book with a message for the main protagonist which would appear to open the door for a possible sequel. Unfortunately, ACC died in early 2008 and Stephen Baxter never continued the series so we're left with a trilogy. I still enjoyed the open-ended final scene, I thought it was very though provoking.

What a fun series. I'm glad that the trilogy was completed before we lost the great ACC.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Firstborn

Agreat final chapter in the trilogy by Arthur C Clark and Stephen Baxter! Ir leaves you wondering what may have been written if there were another book in the series.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece

Reading is not varied enough to distinguish different characters.
Reading is not varied enough to distinguish different characters.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Snooze fest implies more action than actually in book

I wanted to like this and really tried. I liked the whole idea and waited...and waited. Slower than molasses, drug out forever, and promises there is a big mystery to be revealed around every corner which never is. I work nights and zoom through books like lighting. Cannot recall last time I kept checking the time counter to see how much more time I had to get through. Narrator was fantastic though, only reason I stuck it out. But had I known ending was practically a 60’s TV show predictable ending I’d have not wasted my time. Should of known when there were only 15 reviews when I started and seemed to be mostly just avid followers of the author I should have waited. Read the book or watch paint dry...same experience.

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1 person found this helpful