
Truth of the Divine
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Abigail Thorn
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Kaveh Taherian
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Stephanie Willis
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By:
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Lindsay Ellis
About this listen
PLEASE NOTE: An earlier version of this audiobook had chapters out of order, but this error has been corrected.
Truth of the Divine is the latest alternate-history first-contact novel in the Noumena series from the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestselling author Lindsay Ellis.
The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define “person” in the first place?
Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora’s unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.
Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with—and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.
With a voice completely her own, Lindsay Ellis deepens her realistic exploration of the reality of a planet faced with the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence, probing the essential questions of humanity and decency, and the boundaries of the human mind.
While asking the question of what constitutes a “person,” Ellis also examines what makes a monster.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
The narration is better than the first one too as they have used a sound effect to help the excellent narrator deal with the alien voices.
Though deeply grounded in all that has come before. Lindsey ellis’s book brings a great deal of new ideas and interpretations to the table.
Really enjoyable listen and easy to fall into.
More tension and complex. More drama and intruige
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Spectacular
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*So* much better than the first one!
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I can't say too much about my main criticism of the way the story was delivered without spoilers but suffice to say the hardest part for me was that way that sometimes portraying the true-to-life can make for heavy-going.
Engaging throughout
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Some parts did grow a bit too heavy for me but I'm thankful for the warning given in the author's note so I was prepared to pause and resume once I was more ready.
Looking forward to the next installment.
A human experience
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On the other side, it deals with some of the darkest impulses and aspects that accompany the human condition. The hatred that we turn outwards as well as inwards. The ease by which we allow fear to dictate our actions. Fear of that which is misunderstood. Fear of the other. An unusual and unsettling look at issues that exist within our own cultures and societies. The anger and rage that will eventually turn inwards and consume us. Very big questions are asked here, and importantly she provides no answers. That work is for us to do.
A great second novel.
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It is not a fun book in the sense that the characters are not having fun. Characters live with the very realistic consequences of the things that happened in the previous book, both in a personal and social context.
I really enjoyed it and it the book explores very interesting and very relevant topics in a way that feels very organic and entertaining.
And also the reference to punching an alien in the face was so hilarious.
Great book
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A banger of a sequel
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In terms of performance, I love and applaud the addition of a new character perspective. Kaveh's chapters are pleasantly read, often funny and add a lot of warmth to an otherwise (and frankly still) quite depressing story. Stephanie Willis does a great job setting the tone for Cora and I do think her narration and pace improved between this and the previous book, However I have to admit I struggled through her portrayals of Cora's spiraling. I understand that it's supposed to be uncomfortable to hear a person's panic and in that sense she does an amazing job. But as someone who has experienced panic attacks and hyperventilation quite a lot she lost me a bit in the overdramatization - like she was trying a bit too hard to sound out of control and almost crossed the line into caricature. Which is a difficult line to tread in fairness and I do not envy her for having to try! But it was difficult to get past the "Hollywood version" feel of the experience and I had to suppress the urge to skip those scenes.
I also found the drastic change in Ampersand's voice (compared to Axiom's End) difficult to get used to at first and it was too quiet in the beginning compared to Cora's narration, which was deeply frustrating as it made it difficult to hear what he was saying at all. The volume did improve later on however and I started appreciating the effect as time went on, but it really rather ruined the immersion initially.
I'm very much looking forward to the next book!
An excellent sequel!
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Narrative: Wow this was far deeper and intense than I expected. I loved the difference in perspectives shown to the same issue. how some will stick it out to the end and others are broken under the weight of trauma and loss. this was not a "happy funtime" book but the way in which the scenes are written, from varying perspectives and through the way in which emotion is described made this book all the more effective. PTSD has never been described so well to me before and the description of this is visceral and horrifying. Very impactful presentation throughout.
Story: I do find it strange that Olive and Felix seem to have been forgotten about. I don't quite understand the motive for Kora to abandon her younger siblings and then intend to abandon them to a spiralling planet.
I found Ampersand's motivations to be... confusing. He wants to protect Kora, then he abandons her, says he respects her choice and yet sedates her without her consent. I find I feel far less empathy for him than in the first book.
All the characters that help my sympathy didn't make it to the last page. Even Kora felt less like a character than a leaf blown in the wind screaming "please, I'm begging you. help." and as much as I believe this to be a realistic helplessness it did not make for an engaging character.
Carve.... 👌💋 I love him and I hate what happened to him. how dare you break my heart like this Miss Lindsay Ellis.
Sol: I like him even if he is a CIA waterboarding scum bag.
Audio: sometimes when the male narrator was speaking the audio would shift and change and it made for uncomfortable listening. The starts and ends of words were also missing at some points.
wow that was... intense (SPOILERS!!!)
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