Why, I remember once on campaign...

Performance: At first I thought there were one or two strange pronunciations: "shone" pronounced as "shown" which I had not heard before. However, the narrator's grasp of different accents from "northern English" to Australian to Roman to Inca was masterful, especially when switching between so many so quickly in a conversation. The most nuanced of all was the Col U.

You can feel the relish of both the author and narrator for Titus's wonderful catch-phrase, and the last utterance is particularly apt.

Story: the epic length through generations (a Baxter favourite device I think) and the different locations (in various ways) really developed wonderfully the promise of Proxima (mostly involving isolation and survival)

The two books are like ripples in a pond where the lives and deeds of Uri (initially) and Steph(growing) spread out to interact with, and affect, all the other characters.

At this time, this is the only series (Proxima and Ultima) that I have listened to twice. I recommend it to all.

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5 people found this helpful

Far too long and rambling in places

I listened to this as I enjoyed the first book in the series and was intrigued by its ending, but this book is disappointing. Whilst amazing in its concept and scope it is let down by far too much mundane detail and at time ridiculous obsession with the Romanic culture. The narration is also somewhat odd with some bizarre accents and a strange pacing. I really wish I could be more positive but I ended up skipping long chunks just to get the end of the story.

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One of the best SF books I've met for some time.

I was drawn to try Stephen Baxter's 2 books (Proxima & Ultima) following the sad passing of Terry Pratchett with whom Stephen collaborated by keeping the science plausible.. Stephen handles a mixture of established science (relativity, AI, astronomy of red dwarf stars) with the latest speculations in cosmology (multiverse and parallel universes) with aplomb. He has obviously lesrmt the art of story telling from Terry as he presents an intriguing story line with mamy surprising twists. I was sorry when The tale ended.

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a good continuation of the story

Not as strong as the first book but still enjoyable. new and interesting characters are introduced, some which raise a smile. the conclusion of this book was the high light for me and I'm looking forward to the third offering.

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Excellent Sequel to Proxima

Took longer to get in to at the start than the first but worthwhile sticking with.

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American narrator, awful British accent

Liked the plot and the writing.

However, the narrator is awful, puts on a British accent that is all over the place, and mispronounced so many, many words.

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Disappointing

After the first book in the series, I had high hopes. This however, was disappointing.
I found it completely implausible, the fact that space travel could be achieved without advanced technology and no real attempt was made to explain this, ruined the book for me.

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3 people found this helpful

Great narrator, engaging storyline

The story is full of twists and turns, it is very engaging to read. The science is explained clearly.
The narrator uses voices that could be ealily separated from each other and give a distinct sound to each character.

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3 people found this helpful

Original Brilliance

Staggeringly brilliant concept narrated superbly. Despite the depth of the science, the breadth of the scope and the wealth of characters you never feel lost or confused. A truly age spanning space opera that will expand your knowledge, love and appreciation of science fiction.

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Good, but could be better

I liked the story, but feel like the writer sort of ran out of ideas and just went with the same theme again. I feel like there should have been MORE to this book. It's still worth a read if you've do be the first one though.

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