LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S.A. Corey

Narrated by Jefferson Mays

     A whale of a space opera tale

This is a juggernaut of a novel. It jumps right in with a shot heard around the Earth-Mars-Belt system and then expands with an intriguing infusion of alien bio-tech. In between Corey manages to work in healthy doses of Mars’ cultural extrapolation with a washed out cop seeking redemption story. Here is a book burgeoning with Science Fiction ideas and enough potential to give assurances that the sequels will be equally imaginative. This is one for the Space Opera connoisseur.

Jefferson Mays is clear and steady with occasional forays into character voices. I would have liked a more dramatic performance, but Mays does manage to fade into the background allowing the listener full access to the text just like a reader might experience.  

HALTING STATE by Charles Stross

Narrated by Robert Ian MacKenzie

     Tame Police Procedural

I failed to engage with this novel at even the most superficial level so as to be able to follow the story. I blame myself. I did listen to the entire novel and even started the sequel before punching out on the series. It is in that frame of mind that I write this review. When I started the book, I was excited to discover another novel exploring the concept of virtual reality—hopefully in the nerdy vein of Daniel Suarez’ DAEMON, Ernest Cline’s READY PLAYER ONE, or Neal Stephenson’s SNOW CRASH. But this book is more of a police procedural, going about solving a crime that just happens to have taken place in cyber-space, and not at all an attempt to give the listener a sense of immersion into a virtual world.

The decision of the author Charles Stross to tell the tale in second person is—intentionally or not—disorienting and distancing and therefore not entirely successful. There is no identifiable protagonist, or maybe there is a new main character in every chapter. I am confused.  Each chapter is told from the view-point of a different character and the second person “you” forces the listener to constantly change perspective and, on this audiobook, if you aren’t paying close attention at the start of each new section, you don’t know who “you” are supposed to be. More than once I did not know if “I” was supposed to be experiencing the story through the eyes of a woman until “I” reached for “my” lipstick. I think that this second person narration was the biggest obstacle preventing me from engaging with the novel.

When I first began the book I was thrilled to hear the heavy Scottish brogue of Robert Ian MacKenzie. It reminded me of Monty Python. In fact the reading is so Pythonesque as to be a distraction. I just couldn’t take the book seriously. I did keep listening until the end because MacKenzie is easy on the ears and some of his pronunciations are worth a rewind. But his accent amounts to what I can only label a language barrier. So, the heavy Scottish accent, the second persond narration, and the rather tame approach to virtual reality resulted in a dissatisfying time for me.

As to the plot—I gather that there has been some sort of cyber crime, committed within a massive multi-player online game. Now, as to how they go about investigating the crime and whether or not they solved it, don’t ask me. After listening to the whole book,  I honestly cannot give you a single one of the character’s names or recount for you even the most simplistic outline of the story. That is how detached I was from this book.  

LOVE IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION by Judd Trichter

Narrated by Luke Daniels

     Spoiler Alert: Man Loves Robot…

…Man Loses Robot. Man Gets Robot.

It took a while to get going but when it did this book became very engaging. It is clear that Judd Trichter is a natural story-teller. He makes you care about the characters and utilizes interesting situations to develop the plot to a satisfying climax. Close scrutiny, however, reveals some quirky story elements. I’ll just mention two: First: Somehow, in the very near future, mankind will be able to make self-aware mechanical men with emotional empathy that is the equal to that of humanity. This requires the listener to willingly suspend their disbelief in a big, big way. Second: The most modern robots have personality storage that is centralized in their cranial cavity, but the robot that the protagonist, Elliot, falls in love with have her personality distributed over all her constituent parts. This is essential to the plot because it requires Elliot to go onto a quest to round up all of her parts, from about a dozen different sources, instead of just finding her brain. This in no way detracts from what is an exciting, fast-paced, action adventure story. I also give Judd Trichter kudos for managing to give his story a sort of Jack Spade, film-noir feel to this future thriller. It is an all-around rollicking good time to be had by all.

Allow me to get up on my soap-box for a minute to mention what I see as hypocritical inconsistency on the part of Judd Trichter when it comes to gun-control versus gun-play.  In several places he makes his political affiliations clear. At the 2:35 mark he comes down on Talk Radio and a Right-Wing press for spurning political unrest. At the 3:40 mark he mockingly excoriates Right-Wing politician for going to the slums for photo-ops to promote Second Amendment gun rights. Then at 3:49 Trichter employs gun use by his protagonist as an, effective, plot device. His character Elliot says, “What a strange effect it has on a man’s attitude when one points a hunk of metal at his face.” Elliot then goes on to intimidate a reluctant clerk into giving him a necessary piece on information using the power of the gun in righteous persuit of his love motivated quest. In another scene at 4:38 he pens a dramatic scene where Elliot’s gun speaks to him, even personifying the gun as the agent giving him the necessary impetus for doing the right thing by using his gun, even possibly doing God’s will , to save a woman from certain death. I find it fascinating how a writer with supposedly liberal politics finds it necessary to take a few jabs at his polar political opposites, mock them for their support for the Second Amendment, and then go on to use gun violence as an essential element in his plot. In all this, his character, Elliot, is never condemned for using gun violence to accomplish his mission for the cause of love. In fact, at the end of it all, he is rewarded with happiness. So what is Trichter’s intended message? Guns are bad, but sometimes, in the persuit of a good cause, they are justifiable means to a noble end?

Luke Daniels is wonderful. I can tell you that Daniel’s performance alone should be motivation enough for any audiobook lover to listen to this novel. He takes this already good story and lays on his emotional pitch-perfect unique character voices, great pacing, and perfect use of comic timing, and suddenly a good story becomes great entertainment. If you enjoyed Luke Daniels’ performance here go on to listen to the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos.

MIDEAST BEAST by Joel Richardson

Narrated by Joe Geoffery

     Convincingly Defies Conventional Wisdom

This is a book for those wanting to know more about the modern debate over Biblical end-times prophecy.  Before this book I had already read Richardson’s earlier book GOD’S WAR ON TERROR, so I knew full well what the title implied.  This book is a more focused treatment on the idea that the Antichrist of Orthodox Premillennial Christian Eschatology will be of Middle-East origin. I think he makes a good case. Richardson here explains cogently how the conventional idea of an Antichrist of Roman-European origin does not hold up to close scrutiny.  The idea that Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog are not Russia—as many Premillennial divines have traditionally taught—but are demonstrably proven to be the Antichrist and Asia-Minor (modern-day Turkey) is well developed by Richardson.  He cites the many related scripture references that make it clear that Russia is not a satisfactory match for Gog and Magog. His explanation of how the Islamic Caliphate, headed by the Turks,  neatly fulfills all the scriptural requirements for the fourth kingdom of Daniel chapter 2 and the fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7—and that Rome patently does not.

The book is narrated by Joe Geoffery who reads the book in an inflectionless monotone that is sleep-inducing. This is a non-fiction book, so there are frequent lengthy quotations of sections excerpted from related books. When shifting from Richardson’s text to the quotation Geoffery offers no audible cue to help the listener mark the transition. He does not even grant the listener an extra pause, but maintains the same pace that he gives for breaks from one paragraph to another. In the main, Joe Geoffery is more of an obstacle to understanding the text than he is an enhancement. To his credit, he does have precise diction so it is easy to understand the words he is saying. 

RED COUNTRY by Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by Steven Pacey

     Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

After listening to the first three hours I decided to bail on Red Country. The senseless violence and crude circumstances of medieval mercenary life was getting to me. I missed my squeaky clean corridors of space. Then I went back and re-read some of the five-star reviews. So now I am going to complete the book.  

Five days later…

I finished Red Country after remembering what I found attractive about the First Law trilogy: humor.  It may seem entirely paradoxical but amidst the Sam Peckinpah carnage—where men are exsanguinated in nearly every scene—there lies an undercurrent of sanguine whimsy. Joe Abercrombie is one of the foremost modern practitioners of the insult.  His characters are all adept and the underhand compliment. Once the mind is trained to listen for these barbs, even the most mangled melee becomes melodious.  Find this optimistic hook and you will have found the key to Amercrombie, and hours of enjoyable listening.

Steven Pacey is one of those one-man-show performers. Even with a cast of thousands he manages to give every character, no matter how minor, their own distinct voice. And Pacey’s sense of pacing is marvelous. He instinctively knows how to give each scene the right level of energy to achieve the greatest dramatic impact. Without his narration I would not have been able to engage with the story.  Like Bronson Pinchot he can take a story of passing interest and make it into something special.

P.S. — Several Joe Abercrombie books have been reissued by a new publisher and the reviews for the older versions are no longer available unless you already own the title. There are literally thousands of ratings and hundreds of fine reviews on the original audio versions of Joe Abercrobmie’s First Law trilogy. If you are new to his writings, these are now inaccessible to you. This is unfortunate, since it was the opinions of my fellow reviewers that convinced me to try Abercrombie’s books in the first place. If you wish to know what I thought about Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, and Best Served Cold, you can find them on my reviews page. 

THE HEROES by Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by Michael Page

      Variations on a Gratuitous Violent Theme

 I found this follow-up to Best Served Cold to have a more straight-forward plot and action scenes that were easier to follow that Best Served Cold. There are some shared characters, Black Dow, Shivers, but they seem somehow recast in this tale, having altered roles to play.  Shivers, for instance, has become a sort of nightmare scarecrow of a man, with a whisper of a voice and a personality no one can get close to. This novel has the same overall feel as its predecessors but with slight variations on the theme. Again the characters are well presented and here the plot has more continuity than Best Served Cold.  The problem is that the story has no direction, no goal, no quest. There is just not enough attraction in following a group of amoral mercenaries as they fumble about in a medieval-style war. Unlike the First Law trilogy—which shows interesting character development and logical story unfolding—this follow-up novel seems aimless.  In the end, listening to the whole book left me unfulfilled and lamenting the paucity of story-tellers available for  modern listeners. What I really want is some great Sci-Fi. This foray into contemporary fantasy is an experiment on myself. Most of which has been unfruitful for this listener.

Michael Page narrates and he is acceptable, but a narrator with a wider range is needed to portray the many different characters with distinct voices.

P.S. — Several Joe Abercrombie books have been reissued by a new publisher and the reviews for the older versions are no longer available unless you already own the title. There are literally thousands of ratings and hundreds of fine reviews on the original audio versions of Joe Abercrobmie’s First Law trilogy. If you are new to his writings, these are now inaccessible to you. This is unfortunate, since it was the opinions of my fellow reviewers that convinced me to try Abercrombie’s books in the first place. If you wish to know what I thought about Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, and Best Served Cold, you can find them on my reviews page. 

BEST SERVED COLD by Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by Michael Page

     I Just Love a Happy Ending

Set in the same realm as The First Law trilogy this book can be seen as a sequel of sorts in that it has some overlapping characters and contains events occurring after those in Ambercrombie’s earlier work. I hesitate to burden this series with the “Fantasy” label since magic plays no part in the proceedings. Neither does it fit in the category of Historical Fiction, despite being set in a pre-industrial society. And while it is one of the bloodiest and crudest works of fiction that I can remember its chief attraction lies not in the abundance of gruesome action scenes but in the wit and wisdom of the various characters.  Joe Abercrombie is adept at inserting rapier wit into even the most frantic sword fight. It is the characters that keep the listener’s interest. I found myself being carried along with the narrative paying only loose attention and then a piece of dialog would rise up to the forefront of consciousness and make me laugh. This happens time and again in this novel and became the main attraction for me.

As the title suggests this is a revenge tale—but a revenge tale like no other—with several different characters seeking to even the score with each other. But does the vengeance give the listener a sense of completeness? No, it is just like real life in that the deed leaves one feeling empty.

Michael Page narrates this book. He delivers a journeyman’s effort with crisp diction that is easy to understand. It is during the more frantic scenes that he tends to raise his voice in a high-pitched manner making me wince. When he is voicing the words of the Bloody Nine his voice reached a child’s high-pitched tone that is penetrating to the deepest recesses of the brain, almost causing an embolism. This novel has many, many different characters, unfortunately for us, Michael Page has only a handful of different characters voices to spread around the cast. This, for me, often leads to confusion; hearing a voice from a previous scene but realizing that a different character in actually in view. This is especially bad when the story flashes back to events taking place before the novel opens. These flashbacks are presented in the exact tome and same pacing as the balance of the book. More than once I found myself lost between the present day “now” in the narrative and the “then” of the flashbacks. In the main, Michael Page is more of an obstacle to be overcome rather than an enhancement contributing to the enjoyment of the story.

P.S. — Several Joe Abercrombie books have been reissued and the reviews for the older versions are no longer available unless you already own the title. So, if you wish to know what I thought about the earlier titles you can find them on my reviews page. In fact, this title is not currently available on Audible, so I am not sure who will be reading this. I am currently listening to The Heroes and will post this same PSA on that review.