AGENT STORM by Morten Storm

Narrated by Neil Shah

      Jihad Double Agent

A tell-all memoir of one Danish man’s conversion to radical Islam, his inevitable disillusionment and conversion to counter-espionage. It is an interesting glimpse into the world of deep cover spies. I found it to have a slow start but then got exciting when he had his anti-Islam epiphany.

Neil Shah does a nice job at introducing an element of the dramatic to the factual account. He gives the various characters good accents and makes the tale very enjoyable. 

SPYMASTER: Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief by Tennent H. Bagley

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

     The Source Is More Valuable than the Secret

The world of espionage is always fascinating. This is an account of one spy’s career from Stalin’s era to the time of Gorbashev. The story of  Sergey Kondrashev, told posthumously, contains secrets he was not able to relate in his own autobiography.  One of the revelations was an insight into one of the primary causes of the Korean War.

I always enjoy the sonorous voice of Bronson Pinchot. When narrating fiction I appreciate his dramatic character voices. This being a non-fiction book, we have to settle for his soothing voice, precise diction and great pacing.  

ECHOPRAXIA by Peter Watts

Narrated by Adam J. Rough

     Faith-Based Hard Science Fiction

Although this novel is set in the same universe as Blindsight, it is not a thematic sequel. There is some character overlap, and Echopraxia does deal with some of the story elements of the earlier novel. The author Peter Watts explains in the afterward that he was attempting something that many think an oxymoron: a faith-based Hard Science Fiction novel. In so doing he was not sure if he would be performing a complete face-plant. I think Echopraxia was successful. I appreciate the manner in which it portrays people with religious faith as intelligent. He even manages to let these spiritual characters get in a few good arguments against materialistic evolution. Here Watts is going against the mainstream in Science Fiction where intelligent design is routinely mocked and materialistic, atheistic evolution is habitually lauded.

I found the author’s afterwards to be thought-provoking and entertaining. In one section Watts explains his argument against free-will based on the cause-and-effect relationship for the central nervous system. This should be read by anyone interested in religion in Science Fiction. It will certainly advance the discussion in the arena of ideas.

Adam J. Rough does fine work as the narrator. I found that his female voices were first rate. He handles this primarily with subtle inflection and changes in pacing.  

BLINDSIGHT by Peter Watts

Narrated by T. Ryder Smith

     Gothic Horror Hard Science Fiction

Peter Watts has crafted a novel that is quite unsettling. The protagonist never seems to be comfortable in his own skin, and since Watts manages to build a certain empathy for him, you the listener are kept off balance as well. I really enjoyed the advancing narrative interspersed with flashbacks exploring the main character’s psyche. I found this novel to be excellent but difficult to categorize.

Hard Science Fiction Space Opera? Certainly.

Vampire story? Of a fashion, but not in any way the typical fashion.

Character study? Certainly true of the protagonist.

First Contact Science Fiction? It has all the essential elements.

Happy ending? Sort of—but only if you think the movie A L I E N ended on a pleasant note.

Recommended? Yes ! .

When I heard “Audible hopes you enjoyed this program” I was left with that desirable, but all too rare, sensation that even though I just had a very enjoyable experience, there was so much more to discover. This book will require a repeat listen. It left me with the same feeling as some of the novels of Gene Wolfe—the book ends but, since there is no real closure, the story lives on in your head like a rogue subroutine awaiting a necessary command. Blindsight was recommended by Richard K. Morgan (author of Altered Carbon) as his, “If you only read one book this year,” endorsement. I can now understand. This will get my recommendation as well, even though I do not pretend to have more than a rudimentary understanding of it.

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The above was written after my first pass through Blindsight. I then went on to listen to Peter Watts’ follow-up novel Echopraxia. Then, after finishing Echopraxia, I listened to Blindshight a second time.  One reason for this experiment at repeat listening is that I find so few well-written serious modern Hard Science Fiction novels; this being one, I wanted to experience it again. The impact of the horror element for me was much reduced the second time through. I was more focused on the use of scientific concepts and less emotionally involved. I was fascinated at Watts’ ingenious utilization of scientific concepts to advance his psychologically driven story. The story is now more comprehensible to me after a second listen, although, because of that greater understanding, I was more settled mentally and, therefore, less susceptible to the gothic horror elements that so impacted me during my first listen. This is a novel that will appeal to lovers of psychological thrillers and space opera fans alike. In fact, this is an exemplary SF novel that I will recommend to those who think that Science Fiction novels do not have anything to offer.

I had not listened to anything narrated by T. Ryder Smith before Blindsight and so was pleased to discover that he has a deft way of blending-in seamlessly with the text; giving each character a subtly distinct voice. He is not as dramatic as some of my favorites but is, in his own way, top notch. 

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M.R. Carey

Narrated by Finty Williams

     A Kinder Gentler Zombie Apocalypse

First building a familiarity with the characters, this novel does not begin as a typical zombie story. Instead we are given the opportunity to decipher the post-apocalyptic world from clues dropped as the relationships between the major characters slowly unfolds. Many zombie genre fans will not enjoy this forst section of the novel, But fear not, this is a zombie novel after all and there is plenty of screeching, foot-dragging action to come. I found this to be a well-though-out scenario of zombie infection, with a parasitic life-cycle that adds another dimension to the usual inevitable doom and gloom of other zombie stories.

Finty Williams is a joy to listen to. Her pronunciation is clear and well-paced. She gives both male and female characters convincing voices. She elevates this novel from what could have been a dull character study into a fine entertainment. 

REPLAY by Ken Grimwood

Narrated by William Dufris

I Had It But Its All Gone Now Blues

In the same vein as Groundhog Day but with a dab of Butterfly Effect thrown in for effect, this is a very engaging audiobook.  Giving the characters a lifetime to relive, instead of just one day, makes the cycles seem ever so much more vicious. You may call this fantasy, call it time-travel, but when done, you will certainly call it entertaining. I am a sucker for these kind of stories. If you liked the above movies you will almost certainly like this book. And you may also enjoy the excellent, if short-lived, TV series Day Break, and Journeyman. All these have two common elements: They force the characters to examine the way they live their lives. And they offer no explanation for the mysterious phenomenon that afflicts them.  

William performs the narration on this audiobook. This effort proves him to be in the top rank of narrators. In the past I have enjoyed greatly his adaptations of Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan and Cryptonomicon by Neal Stevenson. I appreciate his infusion of emotional inflection in his character voicings. 

LIVE FREE OR DIE: TROY RISING, Book One By John Ringo

Narrated by Mark Boyett

     The Economies of Scale

I have now listened to two John Ringo novels (A Hymn Before Battle was my first) and found them both to be well written. This novel manages to walk a tight rope between idea-based gadget Hard Science Fiction and character-based Soft Science Fiction. It contains the requisite alien invasions and significantly advanced technology to qualify as Hard SF. It also has great people. The character Tyler Vernon is a geek fantasy come true: Computer game designer, uniquely skilled to deal with alien business relations because of his computer modeling of a financial Sci-Fi game, builds an empire that allows him to save mankind from extinction. The personality of Tyler Vernon dominates the story and he is a likable persona, well-suited for advancing a Space Opera story-line. Perhaps the most endearing thing about the book is that it manages to avoid pretension while clearly promoting a free-market capitalist agenda. While the alien and technology are standard Science Fiction tropes, Ringo infuses these well-used elements with a fresh and fun-filled storyline that is entertaining, and even engaging, making me want to continue listening to hear what happens next.  

I have now listened to several military Science Fiction books, trying to get a sampling of the field. This is one of the best. Along with Marko Kloos’ Frontlines series and B.V. Larson’s Undying Mercenaries, this is a series I will continue with.

Mark Boyett is a good fit for this John Ringo book. His character voicings are appropriate, handling even female inflections very well. A great narrator is essential for me to enjoy an audiobook, and I enjoyed this one very much. 

THE. BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz

Narrated by Jonathan Davis and Staci Snell

     Fanboy Lives Life On His Own Terms

This is a mainstream novel whose main character is a Science Fiction genre fanboy. There are regular references to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and scattered other references to other SF standards. Clearly this is not a Science Fiction novel but anyone with a love for the genre will find much to relate to. The story is told in first person by another character in the book whose life is inextricably linked and, consequently, strongly impacted by Oscar. The title character is a nerdy, overweight geek from the Dominican Republic who does not fit in with the oversexed culture of his heritage. He spends his whole life searching for a meaningful relationship with a member of the opposite sex. In this, Oscar has a one-track-mind. This persistent focus on this subject is off-putting and detracts from what is otherwise a decent novel.

The main theme is parallel to the story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemingway: A good hearted man struggles with either compromising his own identity to fit into the world in which he finds himself ~ or being true to himself and being ostracized from all he loves. The character Oscar is in most ways stereotypical of a Star Wars fanboy: he collects action figures; peppers his speech with quotes from obscure Science Fiction sources (most of which I recognized), and can't make it with a woman.

The narration is the best reason to tackle this book. Jonathan Davis handles the majority of the text, and Staci Snell takes on some of the sections that are presented from the perspective of female characters. Jonathan Davis has such a a large repertoire of character voices that he makes listening to this novel like hearing a movie soundtrack. His Dominican accents are, to my gringo ear, spot on and lend each different character a special place in the narrative.