Summertide

The Heritage Universe, Book 1

By: Charles Sheffield

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

It was just before Summertide, the time when the twin planets, Opal and Quake, would orbit closest to their sun, subjecting both - Quake in particular - to vast tidal forces. It was to be the most violent Summertide ever, creating something that only happened every 350,000 years.

Access to the unstable Quake was supposed to be prohibited, but some very insistent travelers were determined to make the trip. Professor Darya Lang, who studied artifacts left by the long-vanished aliens called the Builders, had a hunch that she might find the Builders themselves. Louis Nenda and the Cecropian Atvar H'sial had their own interests in Quake, and would do anything to get there. And Councilor Julius Graves was hunting murderers - if they were hiding on Quake, he would find them.

Planetary Administrators Hans Rebka and Max Perry had no choice but to go to Quake - risking their lives to protect the others - and to learn, just maybe, the secret of Summertide and the Builders.

©1990, 1991, 1992, and 1997 Charles Sheffield (P)2002 Blackstone Audiobooks

Good to listen to

If you could sum up Summertide in three words, what would they be?

interesting

Who was your favorite character and why?

one of the little aliens

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

it was hard toget into, the first 2 CD' were all history and technical info that was later needed in the book. Once past this the book got very good.

Strong beginning to the Heritage Universe

Hard science fiction with very few frills. Direct and to the point with very good narration. Introduces the Heritage series, answers a couple of questions but poses more. I really enjoy this type of science fiction and will listen the the next 3 books.

interesting storyline

I had to concentrate or I missed things. lucky there is 'Rewind'. my have to revisit the book anothere day!

High Science Fiction - not for the faint of heart

Charles Sheffield believed in hard science and even harder science fiction. All of his stories are built on extrapolations from present day science to some future filled with incredible technological magic. Summertide is no different. The story itself will appeal only to those who enjoy technological fantasies, and if you are someone like that, then the mediocre performance of the reader will not trouble you. For all the rest, no matter who performed the work, you would find it wanting.
As for me, I strongly recommend it. When I have the time and the credit, I intend to get all four of these novels on CD (through Audible, of course).

Enjoyed the storyline

I liked the characters. Made my day pass faster. Got some work done while listening

Entertaining

A good SciFi thriller. the story line was entertaining. listened till the end. all good

I’m not sure if I liked it or not yet

At first I was drawn into the story by its mystery and intrigues about the builders of many artifacts in this region of space and what these wild and seemingly random artifacts were designed to do. Just enough is given during the story about them to keep you on the edge of your seat with wonder at what complex system they may be a part of.
Then about halfway through you realize there is no way that this book is going to provide much satisfaction on that front in a single book, I’m okay with that. The story is progressing Icelandic..there’s so cool characters…there’s some intrigue..a love interest or two…I’m hanging in there and it’s still enjoyable.
Then we start to notice what is the first of many narrator inconsistencies between recording sessions maybe? All of the sudden it’s like a new narrator jumped on and for a good two or three minutes it throws you out of the story..it happens frequently in the second half of the audiobook.
I should also mention that is you aren’t completely disgusted and sickened by the sound of the words doublet, summertide, tidal forces and air car, you very soon will be. As a matter of fact just thinking about the word summertide is giving me a splitting headache.
The trouble is I did find myself despite all the faults wanting to know how it turned out. I don’t have the mental strength to listen to the following books just yet..but if I can ever get the word summertide scrubbed outta my mind I may just do that.

Don't miss this series. What a good read

I finished all three of this series that are on Audible. One after the other. No break in between. I cannot believe that I have missed out on this series through all the years.
The series is for free but I would have quite happily paid for it.
This is good science fiction. Simple as that. You get really involved with the characters and what I like is they follow through to the next books.
Each book gets to a finish but leaves you wanting to get the next one.
The stories are not dated and if I didn't know the publishing date, would not have noticed.
Really cannot say more than, if you enjoy a good science fiction book, look no further.

Sheffield Should Stick to Science

If you like to read technical reports and scientific articles, you may like this book. However, if you like to read about characters and human emotions set within a scientific fictional future, you will not like this book. The charaters are portrayed as dichotomous (either/or) variables that respond to an environment that constantly needs to be analyzed. Sheffield tries to make his characterizations central, but fails and the reader is left instead feeling quite detached. To further the insult of this book, the narrator (G. Howard) seems to feel the same way. He reads as if he is cramming for a freshman's final exam--in Latin no less. Pass on this one.

deadliest dull reader of all time

I've had this book for about 2 years. In that time, i have tried I dunno how many times to listen to it. I can't, I just can't; the reader is so deadly dull, so completely monotonous, lacking in inflection, lacking change of voice or pacing or character or anything whatsoever that if you showed his performance on a graph, it would look like this:

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I have no idea what the book is like so i gave it a mid-grade, figuring that won't really help or hurt it. Wish I could give the performance negative stars. Geoffrey could be reading a phone book, and it wouldn't sound much different. No, that's not true, the phone book would be more interesting, probably; at least there'd be the change from numbers to words & back. Bore-you-to-tears dull. Bore-you-to-death dull. But not, oddly, bore-you-(or at least em)-to-sleep dull; he's so boring that I can't even use the book as a way to distract me from the roiling stresses of life & lull me to sleep. It's so impossible to keep my focus on the book that the real world keeps slithering back into my conscious.
Oh, how I wish I'd returned this dog.