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Illuminations
- Narrated by: Laura Haddock, Rory Kinnear, Emilia Fox, Nina Sosanya, Samuel Barnett, Sian Clifford, Toby Jones, Matt Reeves, Clarke Peters, Alan Moore
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
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Illuminations
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Summary
Bloomsbury presents Illuminations by Alan Moore.
In his first-ever short story collection, which spans forty years of work and features many never-before-published pieces, international bestselling author and legendary creator of From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and other modern classics, Alan Moore, presents nine stories full of wonder and strangeness, each taking us deeper into the fantastical underside of reality.
In 'A Hypothetical Lizard', two concubines in a brothel for fantastical specialists fall in love, with tragic ramifications. In 'Not Even Legend', a paranormal study group is infiltrated by one of the otherworldly beings they seek to investigate. In 'Illuminations', a nostalgic older man decides to visit a seaside resort from his youth and finds the past all too close at hand. And in the monumental novella 'What We Can Know About Thunderman', which charts the surreal and Kafkaesque history of the comics industry over the last seventy-five years through several sometimes-naive and sometimes-maniacal people rising and falling on its career ladders, Moore reveals the dark, beating heart of the superhero business.
From ghosts and otherworldly creatures to theoretical Boltzmann brains fashioning the universe at the big bang, Illuminations is exactly that – a series of bright, startling tales from a contemporary legend that reveal the full power of imagination and magic.
Critic reviews
"Illuminations is a wonderful collection, brilliant and often moving. A few are stories I've loved for years (in one case, for decades), some were new to me, often managing to be both mind-expanding and cosmic while utterly rooted in our urban reality, written in language that coruscates, concatenates and glitters. But the short stories in this book also turn out to be a sort of camouflage, or a frame, for 'What We Can Know About Thunderman,' a short novel that's a scabrous, monstrous, often hilarious, unmasking and reinvention of the people who made the comics, and the lives destroyed by the four colour funnies. It's Alan Moore's Guernica, a time-hopping ontological Imaginary Story that refuses to leave your head after you've read it'' (Neil Gaiman)
"One of the great fiction minds of his generation." (Rolling Stone)
"The king of comics." (Guardian)
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What listeners say about Illuminations
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tom Adams
- 20-11-23
Vomiting the mind of a genius
This is a many and varied collection, the subject matters of which span different times and even dimensions. The storylines are mind-twisting, humorous and, more often than not, entertaining. I confess to having become endeared to Alan Moore’s personality through his BBC Maestro course - he is after all, a writer, teacher, wizard and anarchist. For me, the most disquieting and longest story was ‘What we know about Thunderman.’ The insinuation that much of my early intake of superhero comics might have been subtle political manipulation and propaganda was mind-blowing. Moore’s style won’t be for everyone, but if you’re looking for unique, unconventional and completely off the wall stories that make you think and expand your imagination, then this is for you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J S
- 04-01-23
Illuminations Brought to Life
Excellent stories, extremely well read by a carefully chosen cast. By turns alarming and then hilarious, heartfelt and occasionally scabrous, but always illuminating.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Persephone
- 26-06-23
Illuminating the mind one narrative at a time
As with most of Squire Moore’s work this too will shed light, American and English besides, that will leave you pining for, well, More…
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Alice
- 17-04-23
Average to disappointing
About half of these were good, the others I ended up skipping through. I absolutely loved the novel Jerusalem (it's one of my all time favourite books) so was very disappointed by this collection. I probably enjoyed four of the stories, and skipped all the others. Not sure why it has such great reviews!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Carl Johnson
- 02-08-23
Most were good
Skipped most of thunderman and the American light chapters, I found those long and boring. I assumed American light was an essay on a subject of no interest to me, the comic book industry? and thunder man didn't tell a very good or interesting story, mostly an extrapolated "story" on the comic book industry again? The other stories I found very interesting and some were darkly comic in places. I got this book on offer but otherwise I wouldn't buy it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Simon Gibson
- 01-04-23
Hit and Miss
The first few stories I found very good but "What We Can Know About Thunderman" was long and tedious. The final story, narrated by the Author, was wonderful.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gary S.
- 12-12-22
Alan Moore
Not as superb as his good stuff but it's a much better listen than most of the other stuff on Audible.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tom Lennon
- 11-11-22
Illuminating
A wonderful book by one of our greatest writers. Sometimes haunting, sometimes hilarious and shot through with a staggering, boundless imagination
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew G.
- 18-10-22
The chapters aren't named. Poor effort Audible.
I'm extremely disappointed with this audiobook, the chapters are just numbered which is useless in the context of a collection of short stories.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- The Geezer
- 04-01-23
boring
disappointing stuff. good voice acting but the short stories fell a bit flat for me
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