The Flight of the Silvers

By: Daniel Price

Narrated by: Rich Orlow

Length: 21 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

A thrilling genre-bending saga about six extraordinary people whose fates become intertwined on an Earth far different from their own.

Without warning, the world comes to an end for Hannah and Amanda Given. The sky looms frigid white. The electricity falters. Airplanes everywhere crash to the ground. But the Givens are saved by mysterious strangers, three fearsome and beautiful beings who force a plain silver bracelet onto each sister' s wrist. Within moments, the sky comes down in a crushing sheet of light and everything around them is gone. Shielded from the devastation by their silver adornments, the Givens suddenly find themselves elsewhere, a strange new Earth where restaurants move through the air like flying saucers and the fabric of time is manipulated by common household appliances. Soon Hannah and Amanda are joined by four other survivors from their world - a mordant cartoonist, a shy teenage girl, a brilliant young Australian, and a troubled ex-prodigy. Hunted by enemies they never knew they had and afflicted with temporal abilities they never wanted, the sisters and their companions begin a cross-country journey to find the one man who can save them - before time runs out. Brilliantly imagined and electrifying from the first page, The Flight of the Silvers is the thrilling first book in a genre-bending new series.

©2014 Daniel Price (P)2014 Recorded Books

Critic Reviews

"An absorbing adventure with a fresh take on both the parallel-universe and the paranormal subgenres. You'll get pulled in." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"The cast is engaging...and the author has created an alternate-reality world that is both bewilderingly different and reassuringly familiar…. A highly imaginative exercise in world building that also features characters it’s very easy to care about." ( Booklist)

First scifi hit for me in a while

SF stories have been pretty disappointing for me lately, so this was just surprisingly good in comparison. I didn't like the name, nor the first 10 minutes of the book. But then I got hooked. I am not sure what it was about this book, but I was in. Totally in. I would listen on my way to work and have to snap out of it to make sure I didn't miss my exit! The characters are compelling in their realish personalities, the story is unique despite alternate world/end of the world tropes, and even the superhero qualities are written with fresh ... freshness.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Glad I took a gamble

I took a chance on this book as it had no reviews yet and author was unknown to me, but the idea of parallel worlds intrigued me. The story is thought provoking with time travel, multiple worlds, time lines and paradoxes. The characters are saved from our world and thrust unto a whole new earth that is similar but different. They have each developed a super power that they gradually learn about, so if you are into reluctant super hero stories this book is for you. The narrator was great. My only problem is it appears to be the first of a series of books and I hate waiting, I want more now lol

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

Not quite up to the hype, but still a fun listen

This got off to a really slow start due to the long character introductions, and the action in the second half never really compensated for the very slow set up and periodic data dumps. I'll round it up to 4 stars for being inventive, developing characters over the length of the book, and consistent forward moving plot. The frequent mention of characters using their role tags, ie cartoonist, widow, etc., was annoying. It was enhanced by Orlow's fine performance

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Enjoy the ride!

This book, and likely the series if the author maintains this level of writing, will be a classic. It wasn't exactly what I expected, I can say that for certain. The storyline spun off in so many directions that I wasn't able to guess what was going to happen next. Usually, when an author manages to cram so much into a book it feels disjointed or you get the feeling that the author is just throwing a ton of facts and information at you but Daniel Price does a masterful job and the storytelling is very well done. Mr. Price fleshed out the characters beautifully and I found myself caring for many of the characters. I always have favorites sure but in this novel I felt connected with a couple of the characters and I found myself wishing they'd be OK, in the typical cliche "edge of my seat" when going through much of the action.
This should easily be among the top Audiobooks of the Year. The story is well done and the narration was spot on.

I hope the author can maintain this level of writing for the next books in the series. I can't wait to find out.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Darkly interesting, but something is missing...

The story got off to a very interesting start, with a cast of characters and a perplexing situation. I was quite delighted to listen to it all the way to the end, but I got the distinct impression the author lost interest at the end. Maybe this is a series opener? There were too many questions raised and left unanswered.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Really enjoyed this one.

Purchased this book on sale but would've paid full price. Excellent storytelling and character definition.
The time travel aspect opens a multitude of possibilities for the storyteller and the reader.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Awesome!

Would you listen to The Flight of the Silvers again? Why?

Yes, gives you a lot to think about

Any additional comments?

This is a great book, the start of a new saga. I can't wait til the next installation!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

The sisters made me want to stop reading

Two of the main characters of the story frustrated me so much with their stupidity, bickering and stubbornness that only because I am a compulsive finisher did I get to the end of the story.

9 of 11 people found this review helpful

great idea,great writing, went nowhere

The premise of this book is that there are beings from the future who can control time but not necessarily enough to get every outcome they want every time and so they play with people and parallel universes like play dough. They strap a silver band on some average people and give them powers to control time in ways I'm sure you've never thought of and plop them down in an alternate universe where they must learn as they go about how to understand and control what they can do while fleeing government capture in a world that is like and yet so unlike where they came from.

The implications for controlling time on daily social life were really food for thought, but other than that nothing new or interesting really came out of what sounds like a great seed for a story. The alternate universe idea got almost zero play, and the author did not give any satisfactory explanations about "our" earth, which dies in the first chapter of the book, or the one they end up in. There is the fact that this seems to be the 55th time these future beings are running this scenario, but again, no info about why or what happened other times or why this time is different or how that might effect the outcome. Other than a vague idea that they want it to come out right, we don't really know whether getting it wrong would be fine for everyone else except these future beings or whether the future of the human race depends on it.

The character development is cookie-cutter, with personality styles that remind us of someone we know and so we can just superimpose it on the one in the story. Each play a role in the story, so rather than actually caring about them, I felt they just moved the plot from here to there. The narrator did a great job of giving each different voices, which helped.

It's confusing to say it's great writing and yet a bad story. What I mean is that the author has nice pacing, makes great observations, makes you think but the "what happens next" thing doesn't really get fulfilled. The first few chapters where great, but once the cool stuff about their situation was learned, and they started to trek across alternate America, there was no more story. And the ending? Can you say major cliff hanger for the next book? Not fulfilling at all.

One of the best narrators I've heard yet though. Even voice, Good at accents and emotions. Never sounds likes he's just reading but rather like he is doing a play.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

Fun!

Any additional comments?

I don't read of a lot of genre sci-fi because most of it is terribly written. But this was an exception. The writing was good, the plot was fun, and the characters were definitely compelling. I'm seriously excited for the next book.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful