• The Singularity Trap

  • By: Dennis E. Taylor
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (32,010 ratings)

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The Singularity Trap  By  cover art

The Singularity Trap

By: Dennis E. Taylor
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Publisher's summary

Dennis E. Taylor, author of the best-selling Bobiverse trilogy, explores a whole different, darker world in this sci-fi stand-alone. Determined to give his wife and children a better life back home, Ivan Pritchard ventures to the edge of known space to join the crew of the Mad Astra as an asteroid miner. He's prepared for hard work and loneliness—but not the unthinkable. After coming into contact with a mysterious alien substance, Pritchard finds an unwelcome entity sharing his mind, and a disturbing physical transformation taking place. With his very humanity at stake, Pritchard must save mankind from a full-scale interstellar war.

Brought to life by prolific, award-winning narrator Ray Porter, The Singularity Trap is a thrilling adventure rife with drama and action on a truly cosmic scale.

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

Our favorite moments from The Singularity Trap

A traveler in the vast loneliness of space.
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Ivan Pritchard on deep radar duty.
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The crew meet to discuss a strange discovery.
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A frightening transformation begins to take place.
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  • The Singularity Trap
  • A traveler in the vast loneliness of space.
  • The Singularity Trap
  • Ivan Pritchard on deep radar duty.
  • The Singularity Trap
  • The crew meet to discuss a strange discovery.
  • The Singularity Trap
  • A frightening transformation begins to take place.

Publisher's summary

Dennis E. Taylor, author of the best-selling Bobiverse trilogy, explores a whole different, darker world in this sci-fi stand-alone. Determined to give his wife and children a better life back home, Ivan Pritchard ventures to the edge of known space to join the crew of the Mad Astra as an asteroid miner. He's prepared for hard work and loneliness—but not the unthinkable. After coming into contact with a mysterious alien substance, Pritchard finds an unwelcome entity sharing his mind, and a disturbing physical transformation taking place. With his very humanity at stake, Pritchard must save mankind from a full-scale interstellar war.

Brought to life by prolific, award-winning narrator Ray Porter, The Singularity Trap is a thrilling adventure rife with drama and action on a truly cosmic scale.

©2018 Dennis E. Taylor (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC. Cover illustration by Stephan Martiniere.
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Featured Article: The Most Stellar Sci-Fi Authors of All Time


Science fiction is a genre as diverse as you can imagine. There are stories that take place in deep space, often depicting teams exploring or running away from something; stories that focus on life at the most cellular level, such as a pandemic tale; and stories that take place in times that feel similar to our own. Depicting themes of existentialism, philosophy, hubris, and personal and historical trauma, sci-fi has a cadre of topics and moods.

About the Performer

Listener favorite and multiple award-winning narrator Ray Porter continues his out-of-this-world partnership with Dennis E. Taylor, delivering an epic performance while giving voice to a parade of characters. He has performed more than 300 books across many genres and was named an Audible Narrator of the Year in 2015.

What listeners say about The Singularity Trap

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    4 out of 5 stars

The Expectations Trap

One really has to write two reviews of this book, one for Bobiverse fans and one for people are not familiar with Dennis Taylor's highly popular series. For Bob fans, the main thing is to set your expectations properly. The Bob trilogy is about a human consciousness (Bob) housed inside a computer -- the singularity, as some refer to it, the complete man-machine interface. Singularity Trap is likewise about a man (Ivan) in a machine. Both face practical and moral challenges working within their machine confines and also in the wider universe they live in.

The Bobiverse is funny and full of pop culture references, particularly well-known SF tropes like Star Trek. This book is not so funny and has only a smattering of references, it's not that kind of book. It's not trying to be funny, it's meant to be more thought-provoking, exploring a number of issues about humanity. If you set your expectations properly, especially with respect to the lack of a laugh track, there is no reason not to like this book as much as Bob -- well, almost as much, it's good (IMO) but still not quite as good as Bob.

I mean, if you're a science nerd or a science fiction nerd, what's not to like about a story that turns on game theory?

What we really have here is a re-telling of 2001: A Space Odyssey, without the inscrutable Kubrick-style mystical mumbo jumbo, just plain old Philosophy 101 mystical mumbo jumbo. The world building is deliberately paced, as in 2001, but based on a completely different scientific ballast. The moral dilemmas are more accessible and again, based more on today's reality than fifty years ago. All in all, a good one-off non-series contribution by Taylor, as long as you're not expecting another Bob.

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49 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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good book

I like this author and his ability to bring complex ideas into focus. ie. game theory alot of people don't know what it is or misunderstand what it is. his other books the bobiverse are totally amazing and I feel that while this book is good it isn't as good as his other books. still I enjoyed it.

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19 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fans of the Bob series will not be disappointed!

Dennis E Taylor does it again. A very different story from his previous trilogy but with the same level of detail and loving character development. I can't wait for more!

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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This is Sci-fi! Deep, thoughtful, humorous, Comple

This is Sci-fi! Deep, thoughtful, humorous, Complex with evolved imagination
twilight zone meets star trex

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11 people found this helpful

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Love this!

Excellent story.
Good mixing of science in fantasy.
I have come to love this narrator. I believe he’s one of the best readers available. He makes dialogue sound so real!

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4 people found this helpful

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Excellent

Good as Always. Taylor's books are all well written, well thought out, and scientifically plausible. An added bonus for Star Trek fans, lot's of references to the show. The narration is also superb. One of the best books I've listened to in a while.

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4 people found this helpful

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WHEN DOES THE SECOND BOOK COME OUT???????

I think my headline says it all...5 STARS.
Book was great. If you like THE BOB, you will like this as well.

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Zy
  • 03-08-19

This is NOT the Bobiverse! So get over it.

Dennis and Porter team up again for another incredible story with a beautiful lesson. It does take a considerable effort not to assume it's the Bobiverse and the beginning is a little slow; however, this is definitely worth the ride.

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3 people found this helpful

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Good story, great writing.

I need good dialogue to get lost in the story, and this one delivers. It’s not often that I comment out loud when listening to an audiobook, but I felt compelled to with this one, given some of the twists. Narrator was fantastic.

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2 people found this helpful

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Like Bobiverse, except it's not

The themes, the atmosphere and the nursing of coffee are all things which I came to know and love with the Bobiverse, and I'm happy to say that Singularity Trap delivers excellently on those three points. Dennis and Ray makes amazing collaborations and I hope and pray that this is not their last.

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