The Electric Church

By: Jeff Somers

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Time is your curse. Lack of time. Everything requires time, and you have so little. This leads me to the fundamental question the Electric Church poses: How can you be saved when you have no time?

Avery Cates is a very bad man. Some might call him a criminal. He might even be a killer - for the right price. But right now, Avery Cates is scared. He's up against the Monks - cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and a small arsenal of advanced weaponry. Their mission is to convert anyone and everyone to the Electric Church. But there is just one snag: Conversion means death.

©2007 Jeff Somers (P)2010 Tantor

Not bad

I don't know that there was anything groundbreaking or new in this book, but I still thought it was entertaining at least. If you liked any of Richard Morgan's Kovacs novels you might this one. I think I will probably check out the next one in the series when I get a chance. It seemed like if this book was just okay, it was at least setting the main character up for something potentially more interesting in the next.

Alright narrator

Narrator was alright. Not very good with female voices. His ability to make the different characters sound different is a bit lacking.

Good Story....Bad Ending

This is the story of Avery Cates who lives in a not too distant version of New York. A New York and world that has been devastated and is run by the Haves; everyone, including Avery are little people. Avery is a killer for hire who is down on his luck, who by no fault of his own killed a System Cop and is now a hunted man. Make no mistake; Avery is a very bad man. Now Avery has been hired to kill the head of the Electric Church. The Electric Church is the fastest growing church in the world. The converts of the Electric Church must die; then have their brains transplanted into droid bodies; where they live forever.

The story is a good and fast moving; even with a couple of preposterous meetings/rescues that are eventually explained. I like the characters and the stories progression. I would have given this book four stars, except the last 33 minutes of the book are readings from what I will call the Bible of the Electric Church. Like most bible readings;I just couldn't finish it.

This book is read by Todd McLaren who I have listened to in the books Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. One of the reasons I choose the Electric Church is to listen to Todd again. If you like Todd McLaren you should like his rendition of the Electric Church.

My Favorite Series

I own all the paper back books, and have read through them several times.
I now listen through the audio books whenever I am in between books.

Fantastic beginning

An imaginative and fantastic semi-post-Apocalyptic story, with cyberpunk tendencies. I really do not want to go into details, which would ruin anyone's first listening experience. I just want to note, in contradiction to the review who apparently wants pink unicorns and rainbows, yes this is not a "bright" children's novel, but if you take into account the series as a whole, it is absolutely amazing. The novels show character development and change of outlook, and all the while the development of sci-fi ideas and political machinations mature and develop with unexpected and fantastic results.

Holy Dystopia

This book puzzles me. I'm not sure if I even liked it. I did find it entertaining and attention grabbing in a "bus full of nuns and children are in a violent bus wreck on a highway " sort of way. The horror of it's situations making it difficult to turn away from it.This book makes you feel filthy, like you need to take a shower afterwards. The setting is so depressing I felt like balancing myself out by watching a "Hello Kitty" marathon between listening sessions. The story is written well ,if not vulgar, but that's by no means a problem for me. The characters are gritty and troubled and disgusting, but we'll formed. The real gem of this is in the narration. The reader gives depth and emotions to the infinitely scarred and backward characters and in a whole this book will if anything leave a mark on your psyche for a while, like a vomit stain on a carpet that even though you can't see it, you can still smell it and with that are reminded of however it got there. I'm pretty sure I can't listen to the whole series back to back to back. There is a definite period of cleansing needed before I can digest this dystopian take on the future. But as bad as it sounded I'm sure I'll get around to them all.

If you like antiheroes, it's a great read

The liner notes called this book cyber-noir. So, despite the weird cover, I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised. The Electric Church was a futuristic, but gloomy future world seen through the eyes of an unlikely anti-hero (Avery Cates) as he fights against a repressive "system". I liked it so much, I read it in a day, bought hardcopies of the next 3 books the next day, and purchased the whole series on audio the first month of my audible account.

having the time of my life

Todd McLaren is the best narrator hands down. This book is written to capture you in to keep you on edge the entire time you're in it. This series with Avery Cates is an incredible series and you should listen or read each book.

decent premise. TERRIBLE execution.

this is.a distopian future. a significant part of anyone's day is complaining about fellow citizens who have perceived advantage relative to the narrator. boring, annoying, low stakes story