-
Idlewild
- Narrated by: Clayton Barclay Jones
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Not knowing who, if anyone, he can trust, he reacquaints himself with eight companions, all of whom are being trained (for what?) at an esoteric academy run by a cryptic superintendent named Maestro. As he tries to discover the identity of the person who wants him dead, he quickly begins to unravel a series of sinister truths, which make it clear that the ramifications of his search are far greater than he could ever have imagined. Much more than his own life is at stake.
Idlewild takes the best of its genre and transcends it, creating a story that will appeal to readers far beyond the traditional science fiction fan base.
Critic reviews
"Sagan may have more imagination than he knows what to do with a wonderful thing in a new author." (Kirkus Reviews)
Related to this topic
-
Robot Uprisings
- By: Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford, Tamara Marston, A.T. Chandler, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives.
-
-
Has some bright spots
- By ChrisM. on 10-22-15
By: Daniel H. Wilson, and others
-
Unwind
- Unwind Dystology, Book 1
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After America’s Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement. According to their Bill of Life, human life may not be terminated from the moment of conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the child may be gotten rid of by their parent through a process called “unwinding.”
-
-
Chilling, Scary, Difficult to Read
- By Joe on 11-11-20
By: Neal Shusterman
-
WebMage
- Ravirn, Book 1
- By: Kelly McCullough
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ravirn is not your average computer geek. A child of the Fates - literally - he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can zero in on the fatal flaw in any program. Now that 21st-century magic has gone digital that makes him a very talented sorcerer. But a world of problems is about to be downloaded on Ravirn - who’s just trying to pass his college midterms. Great Aunt Atropos, one of the three Fates, decides that humans having free will is really overrated and plans to rid herself of the annoyance....
-
-
not what i was expecting
- By n.brumm 4 on 02-09-15
By: Kelly McCullough
-
The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination
- Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius
- By: John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Mary Robinette Kowal, Justine Eyre
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mad scientists have never had it so tough. In super-hero comics, graphic novels, films, TV series, video games, and even works of what may be fiction, they are besieged by those who stand against them, devoid of sympathy for their irrational, megalomaniacal impulses to rule, destroy, or otherwise dominate the world as we know it. It’s just not fair. So those of us who are so twisted and sick that we love mad scientists have created this guide.
-
-
HAND DANCING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-30-15
-
The Eternal World
- A Novel
- By: Christopher Farnsworth
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 500 years ago. A group of Spanish conquistadors searching for gold, led by a young and brilliant commander named Simon De Oliveras, land in the New World. What they find in this uncharted land is a treasure far more valuable: the Fountain of Youth. The Spaniards slaughter the Uzita, the Native American tribe who guard the precious waters that will keep the conquistadors young for centuries. But one escapes: Shako, the chief's fierce and beautiful daughter, who swears to avenge her people - a blood oath that spans more than five centuries.
-
-
Not what I expected
- By cristina on 09-10-15
-
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
- By: F. C. Yee
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle to get into a top-tier college consumes 16-year-old Genie's every waking thought. But when she discovers she's a celestial spirit who's powerful enough to bash through the gates of heaven with her fists, her perfectionist existence is shattered. Enter Quentin, a transfer student from China whose tone-deaf assertiveness beguiles Genie to the brink of madness. Quentin nurtures Genie's bodacious transformation - sometimes gently, sometimes aggressively - as her sleepy suburb in the Bay Area comes under siege from hell spawn.
-
-
Enjoyed it more than I expected.
- By kevin on 07-27-21
By: F. C. Yee
-
Robot Uprisings
- By: Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford, Tamara Marston, A.T. Chandler, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives.
-
-
Has some bright spots
- By ChrisM. on 10-22-15
By: Daniel H. Wilson, and others
-
Unwind
- Unwind Dystology, Book 1
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After America’s Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement. According to their Bill of Life, human life may not be terminated from the moment of conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the child may be gotten rid of by their parent through a process called “unwinding.”
-
-
Chilling, Scary, Difficult to Read
- By Joe on 11-11-20
By: Neal Shusterman
-
WebMage
- Ravirn, Book 1
- By: Kelly McCullough
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ravirn is not your average computer geek. A child of the Fates - literally - he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can zero in on the fatal flaw in any program. Now that 21st-century magic has gone digital that makes him a very talented sorcerer. But a world of problems is about to be downloaded on Ravirn - who’s just trying to pass his college midterms. Great Aunt Atropos, one of the three Fates, decides that humans having free will is really overrated and plans to rid herself of the annoyance....
-
-
not what i was expecting
- By n.brumm 4 on 02-09-15
By: Kelly McCullough
-
The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination
- Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius
- By: John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Mary Robinette Kowal, Justine Eyre
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mad scientists have never had it so tough. In super-hero comics, graphic novels, films, TV series, video games, and even works of what may be fiction, they are besieged by those who stand against them, devoid of sympathy for their irrational, megalomaniacal impulses to rule, destroy, or otherwise dominate the world as we know it. It’s just not fair. So those of us who are so twisted and sick that we love mad scientists have created this guide.
-
-
HAND DANCING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-30-15
-
The Eternal World
- A Novel
- By: Christopher Farnsworth
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 500 years ago. A group of Spanish conquistadors searching for gold, led by a young and brilliant commander named Simon De Oliveras, land in the New World. What they find in this uncharted land is a treasure far more valuable: the Fountain of Youth. The Spaniards slaughter the Uzita, the Native American tribe who guard the precious waters that will keep the conquistadors young for centuries. But one escapes: Shako, the chief's fierce and beautiful daughter, who swears to avenge her people - a blood oath that spans more than five centuries.
-
-
Not what I expected
- By cristina on 09-10-15
-
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
- By: F. C. Yee
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle to get into a top-tier college consumes 16-year-old Genie's every waking thought. But when she discovers she's a celestial spirit who's powerful enough to bash through the gates of heaven with her fists, her perfectionist existence is shattered. Enter Quentin, a transfer student from China whose tone-deaf assertiveness beguiles Genie to the brink of madness. Quentin nurtures Genie's bodacious transformation - sometimes gently, sometimes aggressively - as her sleepy suburb in the Bay Area comes under siege from hell spawn.
-
-
Enjoyed it more than I expected.
- By kevin on 07-27-21
By: F. C. Yee
-
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
- Mara Dyer, Book 1
- By: Michelle Hodkin
- Narrated by: Christy Romano
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is. She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.
-
-
Not Sure About Mara Dyer
- By C. Betts on 07-30-14
By: Michelle Hodkin
-
Necropolis
- By: Michael Dempsey
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
NYPD detective Paul Donner and his wife Elise were killed in a hold-up gone wrong. Fifty years later, Donner is back: revived courtesy of the Shift. Supposedly the unintended side-effect of a botched biological terrorist attack and carried by a ubiquitous retrovirus, the Shift jump-starts dead DNA and throws the life cycle into reverse, so reborns like Donner must cope with the fact that they are not only slowly youthing toward a new childhood, but have become New York's most hated minority.
-
-
'Necropolis' Rocked My World
- By HEIDI on 01-19-12
By: Michael Dempsey
-
The Collectors' Society
- The Collectors' Society, Book 1
- By: Heather Lyons
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence. Soon, she's whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors' Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth.
-
-
A true adventure full of the classics!
- By evelyn torres on 06-17-17
By: Heather Lyons
-
Discount Armageddon
- InCryptid, Book 1
- By: Seanan McGuire
- Narrated by: Emily Bauer
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity - and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right?
-
-
I love this book!
- By a on 11-21-12
By: Seanan McGuire
-
The Punch Escrow
- By: Tal M. Klein
- Narrated by: Matthew Mercer
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joel Byram is an everyday 22nd century guy. He spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human, jamming out to 1980s new wave - an extremely obscure genre - and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. Joel is pretty much an everyday guy with everyday problems - until he's accidentally duplicated while teleporting. Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves.
-
-
Great Premise, terrible execution
- By Perfect Tommy on 09-25-17
By: Tal M. Klein
-
Omens
- By: Kelley Armstrong
- Narrated by: Carine Montbertrand, Mozhan Marnò
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions. But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence.
-
-
Great start to a new series, but... CRINGE!
- By BookMama on 12-22-13
By: Kelley Armstrong
-
A Thousand Pieces of You
- Firebird, Book 1
- By: Claudia Gray
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marguerite Caine grew up surrounded by cutting-edge scientific theories, thanks to her brilliant physicist parents. Yet nothing is more astounding than her mother's latest invention - a device called the Firebird, which allows people to leap into alternate dimensions.
-
-
Not Sci-Fi. Mostly Rory Gilmore introspection.
- By Peter Hudson on 01-25-17
By: Claudia Gray
-
Libriomancer
- Magic ex Libris, Book 1
- By: Jim C. Hines
- Narrated by: David DeVries
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.
-
-
A reasonable start
- By Simon on 04-08-13
By: Jim C. Hines
-
Indexing
- Indexing, Book 1
- By: Seanan McGuire
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected - perhaps infected is a better word - by memetic incursion: where fairy tale narratives become reality, often with disastrous results.
-
-
Boring
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 01-23-18
By: Seanan McGuire
-
The Becoming of Noah Shaw
- By: Michelle Hodkin
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times best-selling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after. Everyone thinks 17-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string. They're wrong. Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future. He shouldn't. And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart. They're right.
-
-
Fans will be torn on this one
- By kimbacaffeinate on 12-08-17
By: Michelle Hodkin
-
The Lucidites Boxed Set
- By: Sarah Noffke
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Klett
- Length: 35 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Roya Stark. She drowns every night in her dreams, spends her hours reading classic literature to avoid her family's ridicule, and is prone to premonitions - which are becoming more frequent. And now her dreams are filled with strangers offering to reveal what she has always wanted to know: Who is she? That's the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. But will Roya live to regret learning the truth?
-
-
it was ok
- By Michael klemm on 02-07-21
By: Sarah Noffke
-
Impulse
- By: Ellen Hopkins
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan, Jeremy Guskin, Steve Coombs
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want...except his family's love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother's child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.
-
-
Everything to want in a book❤️
- By Jazmine on 07-04-15
By: Ellen Hopkins
What listeners say about Idlewild
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Christopher
- 05-16-05
Fantastic in the truest sense
This was the 2nd best sci-fi audiobook I have heard thus far (out of many) with the best being Orsen Scott Card's "Ender's Game". This novel has a similar feel to that novel, and the author knows how to get you "inside the head" of his characters in a like fashion. Like all good sci-fi novels, technology is a backdrop for characters to wrestle through weighty and complex issues, both spiritual and pyschological in nature. This is not a "light" novel, it had a definite depressing feel to it which I felt was very effective.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jason W.
- 09-12-17
Good virtual reality/apocalypse read
Pretty good read but would have liked to have had a little more back story in their world prior to entering the real world.
But in the end it was a pretty good book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Peter
- 04-01-04
What a debut!
Well, everyone's mileage may vary, but for me this is the best audiobook I've heard in a very long time. It's hard to describe without giving away the plot, but this is a dark, weird, Matrix-like story that starts out one way and winds up somewhere completely different, and along the way it amuses, provokes, tickles and disturbs. It takes a little while to realize where it's going, but once it comes together, look out. I had chills by the end of it. For a first novel, Idlewild is terrific, and honestly for a fifteenth novel it'd be pretty darn good too.
Four and half stars, and I'm rounding that up to five.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Kim
- 11-18-03
If you enjoy a braintwist...
I would recommend Idlewild to those who enjox The Matrix. It's a nice change of pace compared to a lot of the recent sci-fi that is out there right now. Mind you I did not enjoy the end and would have preferred a more closure.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Michael
- 05-27-08
Better than Most Sci Fi
There are many annoying technology problems with this book (that were completely avoidable), so if that kind of thing really bothers you, you will not like Iderwild. I had to grit my teeth and accept the premise and just go with it. The narration is excellent, the writing is very good, and the story is quite acceptable. This is nowhere close to Ender's Game or The Matrix, but it was substantially better then most science fiction, and much, much better than most VR sci fi. There is good vocabulary and few cliches. This would be enjoyed more by people younger than I am - so I rated it at 4 instead of 3 stars. Only the main character is really fleshed out, but that is consistent with the story - so can be forgiven. You do have to listen very attentively to keep track of where, who and what you are - take your attention away for a moment and you will find yourself lost - focus and stick with it and it will be well worth the listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Heather
- 03-26-13
Woah, what a twist!
What I love about this book is that it feels like a YA book but isn't. The reason for this, I imagine, is that the characters are young adults, so it fits. I don't want to say much about the book as the value mostly lies in the twists about the world of the novel. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the prose and especially the short delves into human psyche and philosophizing on some topics. I highly recommend the audio book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Joey
- 12-29-06
Interesting, but very little actual story
I didn't find the story to be slow, per se, but I did feel like it was building towards a climax that never came. Clearly the author wrote this book with the intent to write the sequel (Edenborn), but with most books I've read from a series, although characters and the storyline build over time, each book has a standalone plot unto itself. This book left me feeling unsatisfied and I would have been happier (though perhaps it would have made less money) if the author had continued the story in this book rather than cutting it off and starting a new book. As others have mentioned, I also feel this story could have been compacted into many fewer pages than it was. I can only blame the editor for that one. Of course, then they would have HAD to combine it with Edenborn. Other reviews have said that Edenborn is better than Idlewild and I am anxious to continue the story and see if that is true, but if you're only looking for one book, not a whole series, I'd pick something other than this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Vikram
- 06-22-07
A watered down version of Matrix
I've listened to this book as well as the second. This story is like a childish version of The Matrix minus the high tech suspense. If you can forget the fact that most 13 year old kids these days know more about computers than the author seems to know, you might be able to enjoy the limited technical details of the story. For me, the poorly written workings of this virtual world sounded like my grandmother was explaining how computers operated.
Starting the plot with the typical main character with amnesia should have been a warning to me. After that the story gets even more childish and borders on B movie type silly with a plot thats just too improbable to be entertaining. My only reason for not deleting this from my ipod was because I wanted to know how much worse the story could get.
If you enjoyed The Matrix you will not enjoy this book at all. The only relation between the 2 is a virtual world.
You might enjoy this book if you're more into fantasy and less into deep scifi.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- John
- 06-12-04
Exciting new writer
Mindbending and heartbreaking, this is my new favorite.Almost as good as Orson Scott Card's Ender's game. Who knew Carl Sagan's kid could write?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Robert Evan Sanders
- 02-15-06
Not as boring as people say
More than a few reviewers here and on Amazon thought the book had some slow parts. I did not feel this way. The reader took some getting used to, but I was hooked after the first hour. By 3 hours in I was fully engaged as the pieces came together. If you post-apocalyptic, virtual reality sci-fi you will love this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful