Audio Book Review: The Little Big Death

Eon

Written by Greg Bear.

Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki.

On an Earth that has suffered the little death, a limited nuclear war between the US and Russia, there is an uneasy negotiated peace. Russia seems to feel sort of like the Germans did post WW 1 when the enormity of reparations and limitations imposed by the international community settled in. Well opportunity knocks here when the asteroid called the ‘potato’ arrives in Earth orbit and is found to be a starship. A starship with humans on it…or at least there were and they had Earth languages.

Led by the US, that may be for of the fiction these days, the international community minus the Russians populate the ‘potato’ and begin to unravel the mysteries of the seven chambers. The fact that it is bigger on the inside than the outside is driving a lot of them bonkers. The people in charge of the project are trying all they can to keep a lid on predictions that this Earth is about to suffer annihilation.

Excellent book with lots of subplots that I’m sure will re-surge in this series called The Way. The narration was pretty good too with Rudnicki’s vocal range. This one gets four out of five units of pleasant nerdiness. Enjoy!

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Eon-Audiobook/B007MF0J3Y

Audio Book Review: Ultimate closing to Proxima in Ultima.

Ultima: Proxima Book 2

Written by Stephen Baxter.

Narrated by Kyle McCarley.

Uri Eden, the main protagonist from Book 1, has just barely made it through the hatch with Steph Kalinsky and the Col-U. As their brains wrap around the idea that in this version the Roman Empire didn’t fall and became space faring, Uri begins to succumb to what he calls Freezer Burn. Apparently when you’ve been subjected to Cryo sleep for a large portion of your life cancers run amok when you are thawed.

Back in the Sol system Penny Kalinski, Lex Macgregor, and Beth Eden Jones Narrowly escape distaster in a Hulk-kernel ship test platform as the Chinese Hedgemony crash a bundle of kernel ships moving at near relativistic speed into Mercury. The result propels them to the Roman-Bricante-Sheen Universe without the use of a hatch. One other person is with them…Earthshine. One of the three deep core artificial intelligences. He has an agenda.

There is yet two more Universes visited in this book but I will leave those for you to discover. The story is gripping and in this form excellently told through the vocal ranges of the narrator. It did not disappoint and I’m giving it four out of five entertainment points.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Ultima-Audiobook/B012E5EORI/ref=a_series_c2_2_saTtl?ie=UTF8&pf_rd_r=00RR8E1ET8QB6F5WC9XC&pf_rd_m=A2ZO8JX97D5MN9&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=series-detail&pf_rd_p=1374482202&pf_rd_s=center-2