Slow burner

The first of a trilogy, which has the expectation of setting the scene for something big. A great story, with an imaginitive world building. Ultimately I feel I wanted more in the ending, but understand this is effectively the back story to a much larger saga.

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Slow burner

It starts quite slowly, but the story builds nicely and finishes with a satisfying conclusion. Onto part two of the trilogy now.

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It was ok

It was ok. Just not as exciting as I usually expect from an Alistair Reynolds novel. Not sure at this point that I will continue with this series. Perhaps it will improve as we go. The performance by the narrator was good though I am not really fond of the musical addition to the narrative like this is a Disney production or something. It’s an audio book not a film.

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Superior space opera

I'm a big fan of Alastair Reynolds's novels (but particularly the Revelation Space series) so the concept of a medium-future space opera is an enticing one. Most SF tends to be 5 minutes from now or way way in the future so this is atypical, set in a time of colonization of the inner planets, with more sporadic industrial colonization of the outer planets and their moons. Due to environmental collapse due to global warming, Africa as emerged as a major power, and the main characters are black sheep members of the very rich and successful Akinya family making lots of money out of space tech. Doing a favour for his yuppie-ish cousins, Elephant behavioural scientist Geoffrey Akinya is sent on a treasure hunt around the solar system after artefacts left by the fearsome and recently deceased family matriarch Eunice, whose adventures around the solar system started the whole thing off.

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith does another fantastic narration job here. He can do an old Chinese lady talking to a young African boy and put you in the conversation, without it seeming like an episode of Allo Allo.

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15 people found this helpful

Loved this audiobook

This was my first experience of Alastair Reynolds. I found the story very intriguing, the vision of the future was well thought out and, as much as possible with Sci-fi, quite believable. I was thoroughly entertained.



Like a lot of people I can't understand the criticism of the narrator, I thought Kobna Holdbrook-Smith did a superb job - fresh and engaging throughout a very long audiobook.

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1 person found this helpful

Brill -Afrika in Space

I really enjoyed this innovative bit of space opera. I recomment it ☆☆☆☆☆ 5 star

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A great book well narrated

I really enjoyed this. Its on par with Reynold's better works such as Pushing Ice or House of Suns. The narration is great and I haven't a clue why there are so many negative reviews about it. If you're in doubt listen to the sample.

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9 people found this helpful

Superb narration!

This is a very thoughtful novel, and it encourages me to read more of Reynolds work.
It is set in a solar system in which Africa has become a dominant force. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's superb narration does full justive to the book with a wide range of accents ...from Nigerian to a Whale who started life as a Chinese girl!
Please do not listen to other reviewers who have criticised the narration ...I honestly don't know what planet they are on !

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4 people found this helpful

Not great, but not bad either....read on.

OK, there are 3 parts to this review. The book, the audio and the narrator.

1) The book.

It's an OK story, I liked the opening, then it was slow going for a long time before starting to pick up again. The book had dull aspects, plus was quite repetitious at times (characters re-telling the story you already know to others). It reminded me of most documentaries on TV of late where you get told the same thing many times over (I'm not sure whether this is done to pad out a show or because media companies think that people are stupid). There are also so very obvious plot 'twists'.
Finally, there are quite a few holes in the use of technology (I wont go into them here as I think they would act as spoilers).

All that said, I understand that it's the 1st book in a trilogy. I would probably get the next one (unlike a lot of books I've listen to lately).


2) The audio
Not a great production. You hear several changes in audio quality and tone during the narration. Plus there are a few places where the edit as screwed up and a sentence is repeated. This makes me think there could be missing sentences too.

3) The narrator.
He has come into quite a bit of criticism. I assume he was chosen over the 'usual' Reynolds narrator because he could do a variety of African accents. I found one or two mildy annoying, but that's not a bad hit rate and I think the same could be said for almost all books on audible. My opinion is that he did a good job, if a little slow at times, but the pace is as much to do with the producer than the narrator, so don't put all the blame on him.

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1 person found this helpful

An elegantly paced novel

Well written, perhaps a bit slow at times, but thoroughly enjoying. Excellently read.
I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys scifi.

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