Slow Up

Hire a Muse, Book 2

De: George Saoulidis

Narrado por: Bridger Conklin

How fast can you think?

Limitless meets Black Mirror in this novel that pushes the limits of a couple's minds.

When Galene meets a man who's only goal in life is to make his mind go faster, she ends up falling for him. But will she manage to keep the relationship going at the top of the glass tower, when in reality she's too much of a slob and is bogged down with all her unfinished goals, when their age difference becomes too much of a problem, and when his work places them in the sights of an unforgiving huntress?

Do you want to know what's next for the computer geek Galene? Do you wanna meet Artemis? Then listen to this bittersweet story in a world where thinking too swiftly can get you killed.

This is Book 2 of the Hire a Muse series.

What is the god complex universe?
The gods are back in town. Skyscrapers pop out of nowhere all around Athens. Corporations rename themselves as Greek gods. It all started with the Greek crisis of 2009 and it will forever change the world as we know it. Some say that CEOs have gone mad. Others, that they know damn well what they are doing. That there is something solid amongst the myth. In the day of inter-connectivity and social media admiration, can the myths come back to life?

What happens when a corporation gets a god complex? Find out in our series of books. Described as light cyberpunk, definitely sci-fi, and with a fresh twist on Greek mythology.

Visit us at: http://www.mythographystudios.com/join-the-mythographers/

©2017 George Saoulidis (P)2018 George Saoulidis

Speed up your playback speed

'Slow Up' is book 2 in the series, but each story is standalone, with different characters. The books build a cohesive world, but aren't required reading to understand each other.

'Slow Down' tells the story of IT technician Galene and her relationship with a mysterious man who lives in the office tower penthouse and does data analysis. When she is called up to the penthouse to fix an issue she finds him watching news at 3x speed, without missing a beat. He is 'overclocking life', to go through information quicker and find what is important, to help the company make money. She fixes his IT issue and then finds a way to speed his work up even more, which starts them down the path of a professional, and then personal, relationship. But with his ability to get the right information quickly, he is a sought after man.

The book is mostly about the relationship between the characters, but it's also a discussion / commentary on the 'more more more' life style. The characters discuss how bingeing TV led to speeding it up 10% to get a little bit more in. Then getting used to that and speeding up again, and again and again. They speed up listening to things (like audiobooks)

It does make it should like listening to things at 3x speed is some sort of superhuman feat that will burn you out. But the audible app allows you to go up to 3x speed, and I know people who do listening to books at that speed without missing a beat, and they aren't superhuman. It is just a matter of working up to it through gradual increments.

I enjoyed the characters and the discussion and the story generally, but the last quarter it unraveled somewhat. It rushed towards an ending, jumping months at a time and skipping over a whole lot of stuff.It lost some of it's interest when you are just telling almost dot points in peoples lives, rather than showing the journey along the way.

I guess in some ways the book followed the build up of the characters, slow to begin with, hitting almost every action and thought, and then speeding up as the book goes on until the last few chapters time is flying by. Except in this speed up you do miss things. It's not all the info just coming at you quicker.

Note: there is some very graphic sex scene in the book, so avoid if that is an issue.

Narration is 3.5/5

Narration by Bridger Conklin was good, but took a lit to get used to. Some of his characters (I'm thinking particularly of the boss near the start) sounded very stilted and like the narrator couldn't quite maintain the voice and the flow at the same time. But generally it was good narration. Varied characters, good flow, easy to listen to an understand. No giant glaring issues with it.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Lots of great original concepts & ideas.

5 stars on originality and concept.
My only complaint was the ending actually. It felt rushed.
Altogether, it was a good read, that I recommend.

Twilight Zone and Black Mirror had a baby!

This book was awesome! I knew there would be some twisty, turny stuff but man oh man, when they pulled back the camera on the last chapter, it was like watching Burgess Meredith when he broke his glasses. Un. Real.

The narration was insanely well-done as well.

If you like Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, you will love this!

Interesting & Unusual

This story is much like most of George Saoulidis' other stories; different, refreshing and twistedly amusing. This time we get the ancient Greek gods dealing and messing with the modern world. Along with adventure, mystery and suspense there's also some romance. I really enjoy Mr Saoulidis' stories because I never know what exactly to expect and I like that. The narration was well done. The voices created by Bridger Conklin were unique and enjoyable. He has a nice voice and kept an easy pace. Which is the only complaint I have. I think he could've narrated at a bit faster speed and it would have been excellent. A great listen overall that I would recommend to my Sci-Fi friends.

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

SF with a hint of cyber punk - and romance! (18+)

This is truly a great story, well-told and in the same universe as many of the author's other short stories and novellas: the Greek-mythology-come-to-life God Complex universe. This is book 2 of the Hire a Muse series of 2, but these are standalone stories. I haven't read part 1 and this was no problem at all.

Slow Up was my second God Complex novella, and I loved it even better than my first, Nanodaemons, which was also great. The characters are well-fleshed out, with talents, loveable traits and annoying habits. I also loved how the blooming romantic relationship that is the core of the story was slowly and realistically developed, with great humor and an age gap that you don't read too often in other stories.
This isn't exactly a romance novella though, it's definitely science fiction with a hint of cyber punk. And it contains an explicit sex scene (with great humor at the same time) that is suitable for adults (18+) only.

Also loved the ending, which gave the story a last unexpected twist.

So, five stars for the story from me!
Narration was fine, though the narrator could have voice acted somewhat more, to distinguish better between the characters. A minor point.

Definitely recommending this, though beware, it is a very short novel and you may want to wait for a sale or a Daily Deal here on Audible. That is the one issue I keep having with this so talented author: his stories are too short! (please write a complete novel some day! :-) )

~ I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I was not required to write a review at all, and did so anyway because it was awesome.