Tag: space travel

Review of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

admin

SFFaudio Review

Fantasy Audiobook - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'EngleA Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L’Engle; Read by Madeleine L’Engle
5 CDs – Approx. 5 Hours 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House/Listening Library
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0307243230< Themes: / Fantasy / Space travel / Family / YA / Psychic Abilities / Newberry / The elementary school I attended as a kid had a big poster in the library showing the covers of all the Newberry Medal award winners. I remember A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle jumping off of the poster; the cover featured an almost photo-realistic mother-of-pearl centaur that was pretty damn cool looking to a ten year-old. I checked the book out, read it, and loved it, but my recent listen of the new audio edition of A Wrinkle in Time (Listening Library, 2005) made me wonder how much of the book I really understood as a kid. I’ve often thought that they should just come right out and say that books win the Newberry Medal not because they are outstanding children’s books, but rather outstanding children’s books for adults. A Wrinkle in Time definitely falls within this category. The fast-moving story and sympathetic characters definitely make it appealing to kids, but, like Philip Pullman’s stuff , there are thematic elements that are very mature, and maybe even a little subversive. If the book were any less intelligently or subtly written, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it show up on banned-book lists.

L’Engle reads the book herself, and does a fine job. She obviously has an intimate understanding of the material, and her expressive voice lets her keep the story flowing without having to use different voices to distinguish the characters. L’Engle apparently suffered a cerebral stroke in 2002, the effects of which are obvious in her voice; it’s slurred a lot like Johnny Cash’s on his later albums. The only criticism I have of this production is of the decision to use an echo effect for the dialogue of Ms. Which. In the book all of this character’s dialogue appeared in italics, but the in the audio book, the effect comes off as a little cheap.

The audiobook starts off with an introduction explaining how L’Engle read the story to her children as she was writing it. Those were some lucky kids. Hop in bed with A Wrinkle in Time, some cocoa and some good headphones and you’ll probably come pretty close to recreating that experience.

posted by Cory

Review of Battlestar Galactica by Jeffrey A. Carver

admin

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica
By Jeffrey A. Carver, based on the teleplay written by Ronald D. Moore and Christopher Eric James, based on a teleplay by Glen A. Larson
Read by Jonathan Davis
4 CD’s – 4 hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Renaissance
Published: 2005
Themes: / Science Fiction / War / Robots / Military / Government / Space Travel / Mythology / Religion /

Has anyone else noticed how good television has become during the past ten years? Well, 13 years. In 1993 Babylon 5 first aired, ushering in a new wave of science fiction and fantasy television that is both smart and damned entertaining. Following B5 was Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Many would put Farscape and Stargate in the same category. I haven’t seen enough of either to make that judgment. We could quibble about the list of this new wave all we want, but currently at the crest of that wave is the Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica, which is, without doubt, the best science fiction show currently in production.

This audiobook is an abridgement of the novelization of the first Battlestar Galactica show, which was a 4-hour mini-series that originally ran in 2002. I admit that even typing that makes me wince. An abridgement of the novelization of a television show. How much farther from Shakespeare can a person get? Not exactly high falutin culture here.

But this story is edgy, tense, and complex. It opens with a complacent human race that has gotten used to life without their enemy, the Cylons. The Cylons were human-built machines that rebelled, then accepted an armistice agreement around 40 years before the beginning of this audiobook, which is primarily about the sudden unexpected attack on humanity by the Cylons. The attack leaves the Battlestar Galactica as one of the very few ships that survives, and the immediate aftermath sets up several storylines that are followed in the television series.

Jonathan Davis, who keeps pretty busy with the many Star Wars audio titles, narrates, and does his typical and excellent job with it.

I’m a fan of this series, and was happy to receive this audiobook. Though the audio offers nothing new over the miniseries itself, it was an enjoyable way to experience the story while driving. I’m not sure if Audio Renaissance plans to continue releasing Battlestar Galactica titles, but because of the nature of the series, they would have to release every episode since each one is dependant on what takes place before.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein

admin

Science Fiction Audiobook - Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. HeinleinCitizen of the Galaxy
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Lloyd James
8 CDs – Approx. 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0786183810
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Travel / Sociology / Politics / Contractarianism /

SLAVE: Brought to Sargon in chains as a child — unwanted by all save a one-legged beggar — Thorby learned well the wiles of the street people and the mysterious ways of his crippled master…

OUTLAW: Hunted by the police for some unknown treasonous acts committed by his beloved owner, Thorby risked his life to deliver a dead man’s message and found himself both guest and prisoner aboard an alien spaceship…

CITIZEN: Unaware of his role in an ongoing intrigue, Thorby became one of the freest of the free in the entire galaxy as the adopted son of a noble space captain . . . until he became a captive in an interstellar prison that offered everything but the hope of escape!

Thorby’s earliest memories are of his “papa” Baslim, a professional mendicant, purchasing him at the slave market on the capital city of Sargon, a distant planet that was long ago colonized by a now space faring mankind. There Baslim teaches the rebellious Thorby the art of begging which in itself is an interesting enough trade – but Baslim also has a secret job, one that will eventually propel his adopted son all the way across the galaxy. Citizen Of The Galaxy is one of the most conceptually expansive of Heinlein’s juvenile novels, it tackles many issues including social organization, the nature of ontractarianism and most of all freedom. The society aboard the free-trader starships for example is one of the most interesting Heinlein ever invented (it would have worked as a single novel unto itself). Exploring that culture for me was the best part of the book but there were plenty of other good bits too. Of course heavy handed straw men are peppered throughout the novel to trip up our hero. This has been a big problem for Heinlein, he could never make a villain smart in any meaningful sense. Had Heinlein given us some villains along the lines of Roy Batty of Blade Runner or “The Operative” in Serenity, in other words three dimensional villains, he’d be even more luminous in reputation than he has. And that really is hard to imagine! Straw men aside, there aren’t that many interesting dilemmas for Thorby to overcome in this
one, he’s a relatively passive hero who reacts more often than he acts. As a juvenile novel it works extremely well. A great listen for teenagers and adults.

On the audio end of things Blackstone has made my wish come true! Lloyd James is becoming the definitive voice of unabridged single voiced Heinlein audiobooks. He can do both youth and adults of both sexes easily and ads accents where appropriate. Sound quality, as always these days from Blackstone, is phenomenal. The CDs had not even a hint of anything other than the voice of the text recorded on them. Well done. The original cover art on the Blackstone packaging is a triptych of Thorby from the three sections of his youth. I’ve reviewed here the “library edition” which comes in a library style clamshell binding – but also available are an MP3-CD and cassette edition as well as a retail edition on CD. Check one out in your preferred format, you’ll be glad you did.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Harvest by Alec Sand

admin

The Harvest by Daniel SandThe Harvest
By Alec Sand; Read by John Pruskin
1 MP3-CD – 4 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Academic MP3 Audiobooks
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Travel / Biology / Alien life / Medicine /

Click here for an Audio Trailer

The Harvest is a short novel of future history. No, it’s a bit more than just that. Alec Sand has created a detailed future in which his characters move. It is a future in which a substance called iridium has changed things significantly – it’s a substance from which power is derived and the finding and mining of iridium occupies much of mankind’s time. The Harvest is hard science fiction in which the ideas and concepts generously flow.

In this future, Gideon and his sister Dara reside. Dara has a disease that Gideon is somehow convinced has a cure somewhere “out there”, so he takes her with him on a mining expedition to a new planet. Dara finds much there.

There was some lecturing during the story, which I felt slowed things down a bit. The author could have found smoother ways to introduce information, but it was all interesting, and I found myself eager to know what happened next. I liked the story as a whole very much.

John Pruskin narrates, and overall was very good at keeping my interest. There were a few errors in the narration, but again – I was always eager to continue, and a listener can’t ask for much more than that. He maintained a good, consistent pace throughout and read with clarity.

A unique aspect of this audiobook is its soundtrack. There are several songs that play at various times throughout the audiobook, usually as bridges between chapters or sections. A band called Silk84 provides this music, and the songs are included in full in a different folder on the MP3-CD. I’m listening to some of this music as I write this… I like it! The music ranges from upbeat dance music to beautiful piano music, and though I didn’t always feel the music matched my mood while listening, what Academic did with music in this audiobook is unique and it worked! Yeah, Silk84… I like the sound of your guitar. (You can find Silk84 on iTunes.)

You can get a copy of The Harvest from Academic MP3’s website by clicking right here.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Scattered Suns: The Saga of the Seven Suns Book 4 by Kevin J. Anderson

Scott D.

Science Fiction Audiobook - Scattered Suns by Kevin J. AndersonScattered Suns: The Saga of the Seven Suns Book 4
By Kevin J. Anderson, Read by David Colacci
17 CDs, 20 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN:
Pub Date: 2005
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Opera / War / Aliens / Space Travel /

I made up what I thought was the science fiction equivalent to a Robert Jordan epic. It’s a huge galactic war with several alien races, lots of politics, characters that are all up and down the spectrum from kings to slimebucket used spaceship salesmen.
— Kevin J. Anderson, on Hour 25 – click here to listen

Scattered Suns is Book 4 of Kevin J. Anderson’s Saga of Seven Suns series, which is currently projected to be six books long. Kevin J. Anderson’s website describes the series as “An epic science fiction series by Kevin J. Anderson in the vein of
Frank Herbert’s Dune and Robert Jordan’s popular Wheel of Time books.” It’s grand space opera; complex and broad.

The first three volumes of this series are available on audio from Recorded Books, but they are not absolutely required to enjoy Scattered Suns. At the beginning of this audiobook is a “The Story So Far” section that lasts about 20 minutes. Because the story (and therefore the introduction) is so complex, I listened to it twice before moving into the novel, and it was time well-spent.

In the novel, humanity has gathered into three branches: the Terran Hanseatic League (based on Earth), the telepathic Green Priests (on the planet Theroc), and the starship-dwelling Roamers. True to humanity, these groups are not fond of each other and fight often.

There are also alien races. The Ildrians are an old race that was thought harmless until becoming hostile to humans. The Klikiss, who are extinct, left robots and machines behind. The Hydrogues are aliens that live in gas giants; the Faeros live in suns, and the Wentals are water creatures.

This volume starts right after the destruction of some key Roamer targets by the EDF (Earth Defense Force). Anderson succeeds in what he was trying to do – the book has several storylines moving at once. The characters do range from kings to paupers with lots of folks in-between, and the individual scenes range from epic battles to intimate moments between people. The only thing I’ve experienced recently that compares to it is the television series Babylon 5 which was a similar type of story.

David Colacci is a narrator with superior talent. I don’t recall having heard him before, but I will be very pleased when I encounter him again. His smooth voice and engaging character skills made experiencing this book a real pleasure.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Helmsman by Bill Baldwin

admin

Science Fiction Audiobooks - The Helmsman by Bill BaldwinThe Helmsman
By Bill Baldwin, Narrated by Justin Brooks, C.J. Critt, Patrick Seaman, Roger Jones, & Steve Botha
MP3 Download, 576Mb – 10 hours [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN: 1587521539
Pub Date: 2005
Publisher: Timberwolf Press
Themes: / Science Fiction / Military Science Fiction / Space Travel / Aliens / Battles /

One of the few survivors of a League sneak attack on his poor and miserable homeworld of Careseria, Wilf Brim sets out to settle the score. Were it not for the attrition from the war that followed, Wilf would never have escaped his lower-class status and been accepted into the Academy. Now, freshly graduated, young Sublieutenant Wilf Ansor Brim, Imperial Fleet, begins his first assignment, Helmsman of the I.F.S. Trucluent.

I’m honestly not certain how to categorize this book audio-wise. Though it is listed as “unabridged”, the recording itself says “Based on The Helmsman by Bill Baldwin”, and is very near a 10 hour audio drama. There is a narrator (a very good one), but all of the dialogue is read by other actors, and there are sound effects throughout. The important question is “did it work”, and the answer is Yes, though the occasional unbelievable actor really pulls the listener out of the action.

The novel is pure military pulp science fiction. There is a ton of technical jargon as characters tune disruptors and such. Vehicles are often called “field pieces”, time is measured in “metacycles”, and everyone says “Aye, sir!” quite a bit. The action moves quickly as battles lead to more battles. The title is listed as “mature” for some sexual scenes.

In a nutshell, The Helmsman should please fans of military SF. The sound quality is very good, and the main narrator excellent. This is the first of several volumes – the Timberwolf Press website promises Galactic Convoy (currently available), The Trophy, The Mercenaries, The Defenders, and The Siege.

This title is available at Paperback Digital.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson