The Fall of Colossus

Colossus Trilogy Series, Book 2

By: D. F. Jones

Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The hugely powerful and pervasive presence of the Colossus supercomputer mechanically runs Earth and its myriad operations. Managed by its creator, Dr. Charles Forbin, it is incapable of lies and void of human emotion. It is not a robot and not human. As part of its brief to enhance the human race, it runs eerie emotion research centers, authorizing acts of savagery to measure resistance and feeling. Art and abstract creation are banned, and surveillance is constant. No one is free. The power of Colossus is spiraling out of control. The Sect worship it as a God, enforcing its word at every opportunity and seeking out traitors. The Fellowship secretly oppose it as a force of evil, and they risk their lives in a concentrated effort to destroy it and escape its domination. Meanwhile, as Forbin becomes increasingly disillusioned with what he has unleashed on the world, his wife, Cleo, becomes distant, with disastrous consequences.

©1974 D. F. Jones (P)2017 Tantor

Great Story, Outstanding Performance

Having listened to P.J. Ochlan's performance of the first book, I couldn't wait to download this sequel.
Although the writing reflects the society of the time when it was written (1974), and references to smoking and printouts jar a little to our 21st century ears, it is still a great story with themes that are highly relevant today. The strengths and weaknesses of our humanity, power hierarchies, emotional adaptation under stress, our reliance on technology. These are evergreen topics, and the book handles them in an interesting way.
The story moves along well, giving you just enough anticipation without spoiling the suspense.
The real joy here is P.J.'s performance. He gives each character a unique and nuanced voice that adds so much to the writing. This is especially true when he tackles the non-human characters. It's a truly impressive performance, and he doesn't hold back. If you enjoyed the (I think underrated) movie of the first book, you will be pleasantly surprised by his fresh take on the characters.
This is a series I will come back to again, both to listen to how P.J. shapes his characters so well, and for the shear entertainment of it.
If you like classic science fiction, and tremendous voice acting, start this trilogy today!

5th time listening

Awesome trilogy 👌--- highly recommend. I've never listed to a story so many times. Won't be the last time either lol

Perfect story

I can find no fault with the story, beginning, middle or end. This is one of my most favorite books. I did criticize book one colossus of being a little bit slow, but this one is by no means slow. The narration is spot on also. I just love the Voice use for the Martians

Well worth the wait

Having Watch the '70 classic sci-fi film, Colossus:The Forbin Project, a gazillion times, listening to the sequel was definitely worth the wait. Fast forward 5 years after Colossus took complete control of the world's defense and political systems, it was fascinating to find out how the world and its inhabitants had drastically changed: no war, no poverty... It was suspenseful, terrifying at times, and overall a great "read."

A Sequel to Colossus

Written in 1974 as a sequel to the 1966 book, it chronicles the fall of Collosus, a Computer that took control of the world.

As with most vintage Science Fiction, you have to try looking at it from the perspective of the time it was written, ignore what they predicted wrong, and enjoy it it as a retro futurism art.

The narration is adequate, and the characters are acted out, so it's a pleasant listening experience.

Of the 3 books in the series and the first is probably the best one of them. While this installment of the story does bring the story forward, and build more detail into the world, the actual "Fall of Collosus" was a bit of a letdown for me, maybe because the plot device for the main story line has been used so much it's cliche at this point, or that it wasn't particularly dramatic.

While the original story takes place in the 1990's, and the sequel is suposed to be happening 5 years later, for some inexplicable reason the time line gets pushed up the to the 2100's.

Relistening value: low. This is something that I would rarely feel the need to listen to again. It seems like rather typically mid grade SciFi of the period, interesting but not overly compelling, and lacking a lot of interesting character and story subtleties.

still reading/listening

have to do the whole series just to make sure AI is not going to be the same

Terrible book - avoid

This book was a complete bore, then they added rape into the picture and it because a disgusting book. Don’t give them your money

I couldn't finish it...

I am a diehard fan of classic science fiction and enjoyed the first book in this series - although it's a bit dated culturally. I was excited for this follow up...wow was I disappointed. The story is simply...not good. Cultural and character extrapolations based on the ending of the first book are just thrown together with minimal attention to logical progression. Toss in some pretty ghastly tropes (which I won't mention specifically for anyone who wants to listen to the book without spoilers) and you get one of the few books I couldn't finish. For his part, the narrator does a good job. I think this book (as well as the first book in the series) must have been challenging for him as more than half the dialogue is shouting or screaming. Must have been hard to read, certainly hard to listen to. If you want good, classic science fiction cautionary tales, leave this one alone.