Audiobook Review: Another Win for Scalzi and Wheaton

The Collapsing Empire, The Interdependency, Book 1

Written by John Scalzi and narrated by Wil Wheaton.

Publisher’s Summary:

Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible – until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war – and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal – but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster-than-light travel forever, three individuals – a scientist, a starship captain, and the empress of the Interdependency – are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

My Take:

As I have stated before I really enjoy this author-narrator combination and they definitely deliver on this one.  Of the many trading houses that make up the Empire, the house of “No-Hama-Peeton” (hope I spelled that right) is I suspect modeled after the Medici’s or Machiavelli.  There is no ethical boundary, no goal out of reach and no depth they will not sink to for achieving their ends.  You’ll see (or hear in this case) what I mean.  There are two main player worlds in the flow.  Hub, which is where the Woo Clan set up the Empire because all flow lanes go through Hub; and End which is the farthest reach of humanity and the only breathable air world of the forty seven destinations that mark out the domain of the Empire.  All others are populated with huge stations and spin-worlds or domed-under-asteroid colonies.  The “No-Hama-Peeton” house think one thing will happen and the Empero another.  That’s all you get.

 

Five star crafting and performance.  I recommend this highly and it is book 1 of a series.

Audiobook Review: Good story but poor performance.

Revenger

Written by Alastair Reynolds.

Narrated by Clare Corbett.

Publisher’s Summary:

A superb science fiction adventure set in the rubble of a ruined universe, this is a deep space heist story of kidnap, betrayal, alien artifacts, and revenge.

The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. Among the ruins of alien civilizations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives.

And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them….

Captain Rackamore and his crew do. It’s their business to find the tiny, enigmatic worlds that have been hidden away, booby-trapped, surrounded by layers of protection – and to crack them open for the ancient relics and barely remembered technologies inside. But while they ply their risky trade with integrity, not everyone is so scrupulous.

Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest members of Rackamore’s crew, signed on to save their family from bankruptcy. Only Rackamore has enemies, and there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: the fabled and feared Bosa Sennen in particular.

Revenger is a science fiction adventure story set in the rubble of our solar system in the dark, distant future – a tale of space pirates, buried treasure, and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism…and of vengeance.

My Take:

In this work Mr. Reynolds has crafted almost a passable “Steampunk” Space Opera.  The Baubles the privateers loot resist any technology but the simplest so that is what they use.  Adrana and Fura are the heroines of the story, fleeing a misogynistic colony to seek their fortune among the stars and the relics of tens of thousands of years of repeated human re-habitation.

 

I really enjoy the way this author writes his stories so a lot is made up for by the content.  This particular performance may have exceeded the abilities of the narrator leading to a lot of male voices coming off muffled and all of the female voices sounding too alike.  I’m giving this one five for content, three for performance and four overall.  Enjoy!

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Revenger-Audiobook/B01N4PGYYB

Birding at Fossil Creek Reservoir 22APR17

Happy Earth Day Everyone!  Enjoy!!!

Western Meadowlark

 

Grebes and assorted water fowl.

Two Clarks Grebes

Best action shots I got today with my Canon EOS Rebel XT and a 1000 mm Vivitar Zoom.

Let’s finish with a Robin. LOL

Audiobook Review: von Neumann probes with Snark!

We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Written by Dennis E. Taylor.

Performed by Ray Porter.

Publisher’s Summary:

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it’s a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he’ll be switched off, and they’ll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad – very mad.

My Take:

Bob is a likeable guy who made money instead of doing what he really wanted to do…theoretical and practical physics.  Well now his head has been thawed, his brain scanned and he is the software property of the Theocracy America turned into.  Apparently not all of the Theocracy agrees that these von Neumann probes should be sent out into the Universe to procreate (or replicate) but all the kids are doing it so it’s GO TIME!

 

There are lots of places this story goes and most of the time it is snarky and humorous in it’s telling of horrendous things.  I love this kind of story and the presenter is on the top of his game.  Four out of five enjoyment points for both story and presentation.

 

 

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/We-Are-Legion-We-Are-Bob-Audiobook/B01L082HJ2

Audiobook Review: Fallen Dragon rises again here!

Fallen Dragon

Written by Peter F. Hamilton.

Narrated by John Lee.

 

Publisher’s Summary:

In the distant future, corporations have become sustainable communities with their own militaries, and corporate goals have essentially replaced political ideology. On a youthful, rebellious impulse, Lawrence joined the military of a corporation that he now recognizes to be ruthless and exploitative. His only hope for escape is to earn enough money to buy his place in a better corporation. When his platoon is sent to a distant colony to quell a local resistance effort, it seems like a stroke of amazing fortune, and Lawrence plans to rob the colony of their fabled gemstone, the Fallen Dragon, to get the money he needs. However, he soon discovers that the Fallen Dragon is not a gemstone at all but an alien life form that the local colonists have been protecting since it crashed in their area. Now Lawrence has to decide if he will steal the alien to exploit the use of its inherent biotechnical processes – which far exceed anything humans are capable of – or if he will help the Resistance get the alien home

 

My Take:

Lawrence Newton was antsy as a child on the colony world of Amethi where his womanizing board member father, Doug Newton, rode him mercilessly with humiliation and sarcasm to become a carbon copy of himself.  All Lawrence wanted for himself was to explore the stars.  Lawrence thought he was coming around to his Dad’s image in his teens after meeting Rosalyn at a resort and falling madly in love and bed with her.  Discovering two years later that Dad had set that up, with money, set him off on an impulsive rage to go to Earth and work for the competition-Zantiu-Braun.

ZB dangled star flight academy in front of Lawrence to coax him into Security for twenty years.  Twenty years of ground pounding, interstellar piracy and never getting the break he wanted to become a starship pilot.  That is until he pulled off a mission for the Resistance on Thallspring during an “Asset Realization Operation” for ZB.

I think is may be one of my favorite works thus far from this author.  The story was never dull and the delivery was really awesome.  Five stars for the story and four for the delivery.  Four and a half overall.  Well done.

 

 

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Fallen-Dragon-Audiobook/B01M7O5JEY