Disappointing

Firstly, to qualify my quick review, I have not finished this audiobook - so apologies if it noticeably improves later. I am a massive SF fan of the likes of Ian M Banks and Neal Asher, and I went for this on a synopsis which sounded good (if a bit Long Earthy). I have two criticisms.

The first is really only a minor niggle - the tendency to over-explain the background to the world and story. I really appreciate the scientific detail and grounding, but not the sometimes hamfisted explanations of the wider world. I would have been far more drawn in by the kind of slow reveal Mr Banks uses for example.

The second is the major issue - the narration just killed any immersion. The delivery is very flat, lacking inflection and constantly misses what seems to be the intended cadence of the writing. Even the insertion of some well judged pauses might have rescued it, but I eventually ran out of patience with the majority of major plot points or exciting developments being steamrollered by the monotonous delivery.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and I feel very frustrated for the authors when they choose someone who doesn’t make their work sparkle. Sorry to both author and reader, I genuinely don’t want to be negative for the sake of it, I was just disappointed.

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6 people found this helpful

Outstanding sci-fi

This is an amazing piece of work and I can’t wait for the next instalment.

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2 people found this helpful

A stellar story with stunning narration

The narration by Dami Olukoya is the best I have heard; this audiobook sounds like it is narrated by a full cast. You might expect the Nigerian accents to be impeccable but all of the other characters are brought to life by Olukoya’s skills. The performance is simply flawless.

I have read every single book by M.R. Carey and his imagination seems to be limitless. The story takes place across a multiverse where the “sentience lottery” is won by different species. Some of these worlds are inhabited by sentient machines. All of this allows for some clever exploration of selfhood and autonomy alongside themes of othering and conflict - between species and between worlds Also this ties in nicely to potential near future discussions on the development of generative AI. This would be fantastic enough but somehow, blended into this story is a tale of multiple Nigerias with some Igbo narrative thrown in. As a massive fan of Nigerian fiction, this was a double bonus. Postcolonial sci-fi? How does he do it?! The next book can’t come soon enough.

Also, this was written to counter that ridiculous “woke” comment.

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1 person found this helpful

A lot of science at the start

I struggled with all the science or pseudo science at the start of the novel, especially hard when listening and unable to flick back and forth. In the end, I just let it wash over me until I could get a feeling for the characters. They're great and the narration is excellent.

I prefer The Girl with all the Gifts and the Koli books, but there were moments when I was with the rabbit, despite her awful accent.

Carey's chapters are very well-paced. The question of sentience versus humanity is not too heavily pasted onto the narrative, but neither is it answered definitively yet - Book 2 maybe.

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1 person found this helpful

Exposition Heavy..

This book feels old fashioned. The heavy exposition by the omniscient narrator makes the story feel like a Joe Haldeman novel. You are also going to be reminded of many things including The Borg in the form of the machine hegemony.

However the world building is great, the plot rattles along and I was hooked. Looking forward to book 2.

The narrator, while perfectly understandable made some strange choices for accents to emulate for the various characters. Might put some people off.

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1 person found this helpful

It’s ok, not as good as Koli series but with the same problems.

I would set my stall out in reviewing this to say I like Mike Carey back. Anyone who read the Felix Castor series will know what I mean. MR Carey seems to be the product of an author who has had his work run by several ‘ sensitivity readers ‘ then had the ‘inclusion police’ make all lead characters non white. Does it matter if the story is still good? Yes to me I like to be entertained not preached to.
As a book it is decent enough as a sub par/lower level Iain M Banks. If only Iain was still around.

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1 person found this helpful

Confusing story but I couldn’t stop listening

I found the story very difficult to follow and don’t really understand what happened BUT I was constantly drawn back to hear what happened next! Fascinating concepts and characters. Great narration but I lost track of the many characters. I’m over 70 so that might explain my difficulty in making sense of it all.

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Some interesting ideas, but…

The narrator does a good job. I get it. I enjoyed the idea and concept more than the story. The story just didn’t deliver on the possibilities. Shame.

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Recommended sci-fi

Engaging and fairly original story, well written a and well narrated. Some audiobooks are tedious and require effort to engage with. Not this one!Recommended read/listen!

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Really Enjoyable listen

This is my first book by MR Carry & I really enjoyed it. The story did set up the protagonist Hadiz quite transparently. However there's many more protagonist characters, layers, realities & dimensions to this tale which ensured my return to listening.

I was a little disappointed in the ending until I discovered this is to be part of a series & then I was quite happy as I can look forward to the next installment.

The narrator is superb, I think their performance made this for me & I'm quite sure I'll listen again.

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