The Singularity Trap

By: Dennis E. Taylor

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

The number one best-selling author of the Bobiverse trilogy returns with a space thriller that poses a provocative question: Does our true destiny lie in ourselves - or in the stars?

If it were up to one man and one man alone to protect the entire human race - would you want it to be a down-on-his luck asteroid miner? 

When Ivan Pritchard signs on as a newbie aboard the Mad Astra, it's his final, desperate stab at giving his wife and children the life they deserve. He can survive the hazing of his crewmates, and how many times, really, can near-zero g make you vomit? But there's another challenge looming out there, in the farthest reaches of human exploration, that will test every man, woman and AI on the ship - and will force Ivan to confront the very essence of what makes him human.

©2018 Dennis E. Taylor (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC. Cover illustration by Stephan Martiniere.

Critic Reviews

“Dennis Taylor serves up a top-notch outer-space adventure…. Ray Porter’s narration is simply brilliant…. In addition to suspense, action, futuristic detail, and moments of comedy, the book brings a light, investigative touch to the question of what exactly human identity is.” (The Washington Post) 

Excellent.

After reading the Bobiverse books, I craved more from Taylor. The Singularity Trap exceeded my expectations. I just love Taylor’s writing style and story telling ability.

As for this production, Ray Porter did an excellent job, as he always does. Also, the addition of how voices were portrayed over a phone call, radio, etc was really neat. I hope to find more audiobooks produced like this.

If you enjoyed anything Ray Porter has narrated or Dennis E. Taylor’s Bobiverse books, you will thoroughly enjoy The Singularity Trap.

43 of 49 people found this review helpful

Disappointed fan of Dennis E. Taylor

I love this combination of author and narrator, being a huge fan of the Bobiverse. However... the story here fell very flat. If this is another three part series it may get better... but this felt like a very rushed, weak installment from Taylor. The character building is decent (nothing special, but I like a few characters and would like to hear more about them) and that’s why I think that a series could survive this. However, poor conflict buildup and a disappointing, magic wand ending mean that as a stand-alone story, this is sadly a failure for me.

48 of 56 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

I really enjoyed the Bobiverse books but The Singularity Trap was a disappointment. I am really surprised that this book has received so many positive reviews given that absolutely nothing happens in the story. The whole of the book is a debate about whether or not to kill the man - now alien - being. Listening to this story (if you can even call it that) was about as enthralling as watching a congressional debate on C-Span. Sorr,y Dennis Taylor! I will give your future books a try but this one was a dud.

Side Note: I really enjoy Ray Porter's narrations however I found the switching back and forth between his regular voice and the "intercom" voice distracting. It was jarring and took me out the story.

25 of 29 people found this review helpful

Not As Compelling as the Bobiverse

First off, I loved the Bobiverse and I think Dennis E. Taylor is a great addition to the world of sci-fi. That acknowledged, and it pains me to say this, The Singularity Trap is a miss. The narration is top-notch, but the story isn't arresting. I didn't make much of a connection with the protagonist. I also felt the dialogue wasn't riveting either. Too many times the author tells us the characters laughed at something I personally didn't laugh at. Also, referencing Star Trek was okay in the Bobiverse, but I cringed when it came up again in this book (even in passing). However, my central issue is the plot itself. I have read many books about the singularity and I don't feel the author portrayed the subject convincingly. The singularity is a huge idea, one that basically says no human being alive at this moment can fully comprehend what a post-human world would be like. It would be a universe of staggering complexity and wonders. Such grandeur wasn't really conveyed or even really hinted at. We have some gee-whiz moments, but not enough of them. This is a criticism that can be aimed at many authors. Read The Age of Spiritual Machines, Life 3.0, and Superintelligence, all non-fiction books. I wish more authors would borrow ideas from those tomes.

112 of 139 people found this review helpful

Excellent!

The Bobiverse trilogy quickly became a favorite for me. I was excited to see another book from Dennis Taylor come up as recommended. I burned through this in a day. Excellent book. The audio effects were top notch! When characters talked over the radio or phone there was a light change to the dialogue. It worked well and I hope other audiobooks take note of how well it works.

115 of 146 people found this review helpful

12 hour book within 24 hours

I couldn't sleep last night. It wasn't insomnia. It was THIS DARN BOOK! I couldn't turn it off. I swear I set my sleep timer for 15 minutes at least 10 times. I've had my Bluetooth headphone in my ear since I woke up this morning. I don't know how Mr. Taylor does it, but thank you for being a fast writer! The Bob series and then this book. I might be in love. I think I will be going to look up his previous books now. Lord help my sleep patterns.

110 of 140 people found this review helpful

good setup, disappointing progression

the attempt at characterizing the aliens wasn't enjoyable, the military characters were consistently annoying, and the shocking twists were shocking only in how mundane and unbelievable they were.

also seemed to have a lot of unnecessary and distracting political commentary. i understand some of it was forgiveable as a useful part of the setting, but other times he just trotted out a sequence of future analogues of modern groups to make fun of them and never reference them again

24 of 30 people found this review helpful

Not the Bobiverse series.

absolutely loved the Bobiverse series. I have listened to it many times over. Based on that I have tried multiple times to develop an interest in this, it never happened.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Five Stars Squared!

The team of Dennis E. Taylor and Ray Porter have again delivered audiobook good!

The Singularity Trap , penned by Taylor and voiced by Porter is a new hard sci-fi Audible exclusive release. The story incorperates first contact, nanotechnology, military conspiracies, interstellar conflict and more all wrapped in the warm quilt of Taylor-Porter fun and frivolity.

I've been patiently waiting for this release and have not been disappointed.

I wish I could give this five stars squared!

86 of 111 people found this review helpful

If it wasn't for Ray...

I would have never finished this book. Loved Dennis's Bobiverse books but this book is horrible. One dimensional characters, stereotypes galore, today's politics, razor thin plot and horrible science. Very slow deadliest catch start leads to what should finally give the reader some action they've been craving, but ultimately leads to disappointment. Not sure if this was a book Dennis wrote prior to the Bob books (i.e., his first book), but hopefully this isn't what we have to look forward to in the future.

12 of 15 people found this review helpful

Classic Sci-fi with a Modern Style

Dennis E Taylor has done it again it seems as this is another high quality production from him very ably voiced by Ray Porter. The storyline has a lot of the hallmarks of classic sci-fi. In fact I'd say it's perhaps "harder" sci-fi than his popular Bobiverse series. A development of his style rather than a flat continuation.

It is still however imbued with Taylor's subtle humour at times and his patient and careful characterisation. It is also once again a fairly ordinary guy trying to deal with a situation beyond comprehension and while there are many tropes traditional to the genre there is plenty of invention too.

Ray Porter does a great job with the narration with many characters voiced in distinctive ways. There are also some nice touches on the audio with radio voices when appropriate which give it additional depth.

If you liked the Bobiverse series this is closer to what I would term hard sci-fi but there's still lots to love here and I think most people would get a similar level of enjoyment out of this one too. I think Taylor has another hit on his hands and he's clearly an author that is going to be fun to follow in the future.

43 of 43 people found this review helpful

Simply Outstanding

Without a doubt the best science fiction book I have ever read, and I have read a lot over the last 40 years. The plot is outstandingly brilliant and you are fully transported into the story line from page 1. The narration is so good it is beyond belief. This narrator is absolutely outstanding each character’s voice unique. I am in awe. I chose this book because of its high ratings. I now completely understand and concur with those ratings. I think I am going to have to listen to it again! And I am also going to look up every other book this narrator may have performed.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Average Follow Up to Bobiverse series

This might have benefited from a new narrator. Ray Porter narrated the Bobiverse series superbly and unfortunately there was similar vocal characterisation. The story sort of petered out, with similar themes from Taylor's previous series which weren't expanded upon enough. Sadly I'm afraid I can only give this book 3 stars as it doesn't get beyond average, which is a pity.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Love this...

Dennis E Taylor has delivered again. As has Ray Porter. And Audible.

The Bobiverse series may or may not have run its course, but evidently Dennis had plenty of life left in his old notes to come up with this great story. This comment is not meant to be negative in the slightest - this story is not a broth made of stale leftovers, but it has almost certainly arisen from ideas that didn't make it into the Bobiverse.

Ray Porter does an excellent job of narration, as before, and it doesn't at all come across as odd that Bob and Ivan sound alike. It's like having dinner with your old friend's pleasingly urbane younger brother.

The humour is still there, if maybe a little dryer (no Simpsons references that I recognised, for one). The characters are as rounded, and the protagonists as agreeable, as one would expect from Taylor. Perhaps, as another reviewer noted, the sci-fi is a little 'harder' than in the Bobiverse, but we're talking nanobots and LaGrange points vs Von Neumann probes and .. err LaGrange points. There's honestly not much in it IMO. And the arch-antagonists (the Others) in the Bobiverse used nanites, anyway.

I think Audible made a great decision in recognising the combined talents of Taylor as an author and Porter as a performer, and I hope this won't be the last we see from this dream team.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Thoroughly entertaining if not 100% original

Thoroughly entertaining if not 100% original, a simple but well flushed out story with good character development and sound science to back it up

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Decent

Very slow in the beginning - I nearly gave up but stuck with it.

Story picked up towards the end. Found the concept was interesting and overall I was happy with the story.

Narration was good.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Highly recommend

This is an old story I guess but retold in a truly fascinating way. Without giving too much away the story has A good mix of good versus evil, versus the unknown. I can’t explain too much about the story as it will give away what is a very clever plot. I highly recommend this as an audio book as literally I couldn’t stop listening the pace and narration are superb

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Totally original

Great, original story. So many twists and turns. I kept thinking that it would go one way but it head off in another direction. I really enjoyed this story. Great narration, I was never in any doubt as to who was talking, which was amazing considering how many characters there were.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good story with a great use of sound.

A good story that had me involved to the end. The sound was very good with realistic effects for radio, intercom, phone and computer.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

It was... alright?

Started off as a promising classic SciFi story, however I found that the plot tended to waver and then by the end I lost interest. I was expecting more about the creators, I was left wanting more and the way the story ended I don't think those wants will ever be remedied.

The performance was awesome however.

6 of 9 people found this review helpful