“We spoil everything, don’t we?”

At about the 12 hour mark, a passing character looks out at the polluted environment outside of the horrid prison, and just sums it all up: “we spoil everything, don’t we?”. While it took a while to get into to, this book is a beautifully rendered depiction of a world ravaged by pollution, indifference and cruelty, suffering the scars of past generations but not remembering or even caring how it came to be.

Bought this in a sale selection on a whim cause I was looking to get another book in the deal. Ended up being one of the most interesting things I’ve listened to on here.

This is a slow burner of a book, good I found to listen to while commuting or doing manual work. Originally I was skeptical of the cheery English accented narration, and how it could clash with this grim dystopian future, but it is easily the best narration I’ve experienced on Audible.

Take a chance and buy this.

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2 people found this helpful

Wonderful rich tale

I expected to enjoy this because I was so blown away by Tchaikovsky's "Children of Time after which I put all their books in my Wish List.

There's nothing better than a long audiobook that keeps you interested the whole way through and this does that tremendously, Even 23 hours wasn't long enough time spent in this world. If you like rich sci fi with many tales within tales, some told to their conclusion, others you want to know more about then this is for you.

The narration is SUPERB, striking just the right tone for out narrator Stefan and perfectly capturing the laconic humour of the text without over egging it.

It put me in mind of China Mielville's New Crobuzon series (sorry if you get that a lot Adrian, it's meant as a compliment), not necessarily just that they share some similar themes and images but that they are both inventive, complex and the authors can WRITE. There's a flavour that links them even though they are different dishes. If you like Mielville I think you'll like Tchiakovshy and vice versa.

I hope Sergei got home!

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Fantastic

Loved this book, the narrator is perfect for the character and the story is engaging and relevant. Highly recommended

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Slow burner but funny.

Not action packed as I was expecting, but still enjoyable characters after a slow start.

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Engrossing!

I hope there is a sequel they have lots of cliffhangers that need answering!

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Meh - mediocre at best

, I was always hoping that something would happen but it never really did. not a patch on Tchaikovsky's other books.

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Enjoyable if overlong

An entertaining slice of action adventure, future prison, eco-tinged sci-fi. To be brutal, it's too long for what it is - at least one entire section feels extraneous - and (as is often the case with sci-fi) the female characters are poorly drawn ciphers. It would have outstayed its welcome save for the brilliant performance by the narrator David Thorpe, which kept the whole thing rollicking along and kept this listener engaged to the end.

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Future classic sci-fi

Awesome post apocalyptic sci-fi which starts slow and unravels an awesome story with great characters.

It’s like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne played Wasteland and then wrote a book together.

I have no doubt in my mind that this one will be seen in the future as a must read classic.

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The best Tchaikovsky's book so far

I've listened to more than 10. This one is the best written and delivered in an exceptional way.

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this is a must

I find Adrian Tchaikovsky the go to author for a good read. initially, I wasn't too sure about the narrator, but after the first half hour, I realised how good he really was. if you like future dystopian type stories then this is definitely a must read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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2 people found this helpful