Retrograde

By: Peter Cawdron

Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

The international team at the Mars Endeavour colony is prepared for every eventuality except one - what happens when disaster strikes Earth?

Mankind has long dreamed of reaching out to live on other planets, and with the establishment of the Mars Endeavour colony, that dream has become reality. The fledgling colony consists of 120 scientists, astronauts, medical staff, and engineers. Buried deep underground, they're protected from the harsh radiation that sterilizes the surface of the planet. The colony is prepared for every eventuality except one - what happens when disaster strikes Earth?

©2016 Peter Cawdron. Afterword © 2016 by Andrew Rader. A John Joseph Adams Book. Produced by special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

interesting science, silly story

The strength of this book is the depiction of what a Mars colony might looks like. The narrator is good. The story itself, however, is so improbable that it takes away from the reliability of the science. The deeper into the story the book goes the sillier it gets.

Excellent but not what I expected

Not what I expected starting out a great listen! I’d love a second book set after this one

Red Mars meets Artemis

Loved this novel as much as Cawdron's first that I discovered (Occupied States of America). Good science behind this very human story. The novel jumps right into the disaster on Earth and how the Martian colonists handle it. Fabulous five stars.

Entertaining but not amazing

3-1/2 stars: If you are hoping this will be another “The Martian”, let go of that expectation. While it may have a loosely similar premise, it is definitely NOT the same (nor was I expecting it to be). Overall this was an enjoyable science fiction thriller novel. The audiobook was very well narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christiansen who did a great job with the different voices and accents. The twist in the story was different than the one I had anticipated (I’m not giving any details on that) and took the story down a different path (which is not necessarily a bad thing and quite possibly better than what I had expected). However, some parts about Mars were a little too filled with science details and I found my mind wandering off a bit at times while I listened. (The details weren’t quite as interesting or entertaining as those I read about in “The Martian”, or maybe it was just the method with which they were given.) While I enjoyed the book, I didn’t feel the anticipation and excitement or camaraderie between characters that I had hoped to feel while reading it. It was entertaining but didn’t wow me. I’m not sorry I read it or that I spent an Audible credit on it, as it was an enjoyable read/listen. It just wasn’t amazing.

One of my new favorites. great reader too!

fantasic story that seems like it could happen today. It made me cry at one point!

Once again, another stellar book…

I don’t know how he does it, but the creativity in Cawdron’s books is amazing. I unwittingly read the sequel to this novel first, but no matter, they were both wonderful and can stand alone!

Good story -Believable

A good listen but at times a bit wordy -- get on with it !

great trip

this book was a fun story and the science was well presented. you felt like it really happen. kind of scary

Nearly as Good as The Martian

An interesting story set in a realistic Martian science mission showing how people could live and thrive on Mars.

Hard to listen to

I enjoyed the story, but the narration was robotic. It is like every sentence is read as a bullet point. I listened at an increased speed to get through the plethora of pregnant pauses.