October 2007 – Page 3

Review of His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

SFFaudio Review

His Majesty’s Dragon
By Naomi Novik; Read by David Thorn
5 CDs – 6.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9780739354131
Themes: / Fantasy / Hard Fantasy / Alternate History / Dragons / 19th Century / War / Britain / France /

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.

Abridged! And here I thought we were beyond abridged audiobooks. I wasn’t even sure I’d ever see another abridged audiobook on a bookstore bookshelf again, let alone find myself listening to one. After all is said and done though, His Majesty’s Dragon wasn’t badly abridged, there were no jarring transitions, even if it felt as if large parts of the story were missing. Narrator David Thorn and his English accent gave Temeraire and the other dragons a kind of menacing innocence, full of a promise of danger and odd loyalty.

The world of His Majesty’s Dragon posits an alternate history where dragons, once the sole province of kings and emperors across Europe and Asia, are now a weapon delivery platform of choice for the military during the Napoleonic Wars. Will Laurence, a promising young sea Captain of the Royal Navy, captures a French ship carrying a precious bounty, an unhatched dragon egg. Unfortunately, what little the ship’s surgeon knows about dragon eggs is that this one will hatch soon. Too soon, in fact, for if the dragon within is to be of any use it must be harnessed immediately upon hatching to a sailor with whom it will have a lifelong bond.

Much of the action of the novel takes place in the training grounds of Britain’s “Aerial Corps.” The writing is professional and amicable, the characters are interesting and I get the sense this story will definitely appeal to the Harry Potter crowd, especially those who like a little romance in their fantasy. One of the standouts, character-wise, is a female dragon captain, who though battle hardened and physically scarred, packs an emotional wallop in the few scenes she graces. As this is the first book in a series it leaves a lot open at its conclusion, and perhaps my disappointment with the lack of integration within the larger pattern off history will be addressed by the subsequent books.

About that disappointment: History fans, like me, will probably be disappointed with the lack of historical detail. There’s good stuff, but not enough of it. Worse though, Novik’s world isn’t fully thought through. The changes she’s made to her historical setting don’t include any wide-ranging hard consequences. For instance, just having another sentient species on Earth would have had tremendous religious, societal and political ramifications to our history. But if individual members of that sentient species are as powerful as a Lancaster bomber you’d expect even more. These necessary changes are absent, or if not entirely omitted they are at least checkmated by dragons on opposing armies. Sure there attitudinal changes, mostly disdain, coming from the aspects of society that don’t interact with dragons on a daily basis, but this feels like the “muggle” solution, a cheat, like was done in the Harry Potter books. And that doesn’t fit the alternate history with one minor change vibe Novik was going for. Dragons, like the armor plated, jool-loving, fire-breathing creatures Novik uses, would have to impact culture from bow to stern. Just think how many cultures have mythical dragons in their history, now make them real! Simply put, there was work to be done and that work wasn’t done in His Majesty’s Dragon. Admittedly, the threads of the significant changes Novik has woven into her image are good. Attitudes toward women have changed within the Aerial Corps, and this is the most fascinating aspect of the book for me. But the dragon aspect of history feels as if they was just plopped atop an already existing rich tapestry of history, the threads attaching it to real history don’t go deep enough, and ultimately, this may be a case where the history and the fantasy are incompatible. But perhaps this is only an issue in the abridged version? If so I’d definitely be up for more in the Temeraire series – in which case I’d really need to get my mitts on the unabridged editions for subsequent books.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Sonic Society: Pulpy, Mysterious, Funny

SFFaudio Online Audio

Season 3 of The Sonic Society, is well under way, their latest, and possibly greatest episode to date! Have a listen |MP3|.

This ep showcases Broken Sea‘s pulpy adventure series Jake Sampson: Monster Hunter. Scripting for JS: MH is well researched, and very fun. The two episodes included are from the second story arc entitled Jake Sampson And The Tears Of Ra. It is a supernatural tale primarily set in 1920s Egypt. Personally I could do without the footsteps in echoing corridors but other than that this is a highly recommended listen.

Also included in this show is the third episode of the increasingly mysterious audio drama from New Zealand. The show is called ~~Claibourne~~ Claybourne, it feels like a Kiwi version of Twin Peaks. It is quite slick. ~~but I can’t seem to find a website or much information about the program on the web though. Anybody know more about Claibourne?~~ Claybourne‘s own podcast can be found HERE, where it has already concluded with Episode 96!*

Also on tap in this show is the funniest listen ever heard on The Sonic Society, a skit from “wacko parody/absurdist/topical/musical/slapstick radio sketch comedy project” called Wasted Tape. It has nothing to do with Science Fiction, Fantasy, or even Horror but I think you’ll dig it anyway. The subject of the WT players’ jocularity: An all male cast of The Vagina Monologues.

And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to The Sonic Society’s podcast feed:

http://sonic.libsyn.com/rss

*Thanks Roy!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Aftermath by Ben Bova

SFFaudio Review

The Aftermath: Book Four of The Asteroid Wars
By Ben Bova; Read by Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Stephen Hoye, and Stefan Rudnicki
10 CDs – 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Renaissance
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1427201064
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Travel / Asteroid Belt / Politics / War / Survival /

I really enjoy Ben Bova’s vision of humanity’s future in space. That vision is contained in all of his Grand Tour books, and the Asteroid Wars books are part of that larger series. The Aftermath is the fourth, and possibly the last, Asteroid Wars novel. Bova’s future is well considered, and that’s part of the fun of reading his books. To get artificial gravity, a part of the ship needs to spin. Resources are limited. Problems arise – frustrating ones, like when you’ve climbed a ladder to do a job and realize that you’ve forgotten the tool you need to do that job. Only in space, you can’t climb down and get that tool. You have to figure something else.

The Zacharias family finds this out the hard way, because the four of them, who run a merchant vessel as a family business, find themselves ready to dock at what turns out to be a military target during the Asteroid War. When they discover their mistake, Victor Zacharias, the father, leaves the ship in a pod in an attempt to lure attackers away, and the rest of the family gets out of there, but not before their ship is damaged, and not before committing to a trajectory that will keep them away from civilization for years.

Victor then finds himself on the attacked habitat in a state of near-slavery while his family does what it can to stabilize their ship and ride out the years in solitude. The story focuses on both of those situations – Victor’s, who never really loses hope, and the family’s, who struggle. In this way, Bova gives us a story of peripheral damage in war.

The audiobook is read by multiple narrators, switching as the point of view of the story shifts. All of the narrators are top-notch, and the style works well with the book. I was particularly enamored with the opening of the book, as the family is introduced, then tossed into peril. Bova’s characters are well-drawn, and the narrators took full advantage in their effective story-telling.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Full Cast Audio releases an audiobook original! Yup, Melting Stones isn’t available in any format other than this audiobook. In fact, the novel was created “with specific voices in mind”, and directed for audio by Pierce herself. The novel’s description from the website:

This time the focus is on Evvy, the young stone mage Briar and Rosethorn befriended in Street Magic. She’s accompanied Rosethorn to Starns Island, where Rosethorn is to investigate a plant die-off. What they find is vastly worse, and leads Evvy into a wild adventure that features some of Tammy’s most fantastic characters ever.

From Random House, we’ve got Dreamsongs, the first of three volumes of audio containing a whole bunch of George R.R. Martin’s short fiction, arranged in sections corresponding to periods of his career. Each section is introduced by Martin himself, in his own voice, and the stories are read by an all-star cast of narrators. Definitely a must-have. I’m not sure why the powers behind great audio like this won’t list a Table of Contents anywhere on the inside or the outside of the packaging. It must be the same reasoning that prevents them for including maps in epic fantasy audiobooks.

And here’s an Audible exclusive audiobook – L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol 23. These new writers must be thrilled to have an audiobook made of their work – and one of high quality to boot, judging from the list of narrators. The Writers of the Future is on it’s 23rd volume, and is still going strong. This audiobook is an unabridged reading of all the stories included in the print version. And Audible didn’t forget the Illustrators of the Future, either – after you purchase the audiobook, download the illustrations for the stories in PDF format. Bravo, Audible!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

ABC RN to air Who Wrote Frankenstein?

Online Audio

ABC Radio National’s The Book Show has a timely documentary in their schedule for next Friday! It’s called Who Wrote Frankenstein? and here’s the description:

Was Mary Shelley too young and uneducated to have written Frankenstein? There is a debate raging about the author attribution of this classic and John Lauritsen says it was actually Percy Shelley. But, Germaine Greer says it’s precisely because it’s badly written that there should be no question of Mary Shelley being the author. Who’s right and how do they know?

Tune in to ABC Radio National’s The Book Show on October 26th @ 10:00am in Australia (repeated at midnight). This may also be available through The Book Show‘s podcast the day after it airs.

You can subscribe to the podcast using this feed:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/bsw.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

You say you want Brade Runna?

SFFaudio News

“A new life awaits you in the Off-World Colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. Lets go to the Colonies!”

A line not from the book. But worthy to get you into the spirit of the thing nonetheless. Look for this title on audiobook shelves late next month!

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?)
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Scott Brick
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: November 27, 2007
ISBN: 9780739342756
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard’s assignmet–find them and then…”retire” them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn’t want to be found!

posted by Jesse Willis