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Venomous Lumpsucker

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Venomous Lumpsucker

By: Ned Beauman
Narrated by: John Hastings
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About this listen

***Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award***
*SUNDAY TIMES SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF THE YEAR*

'A novel that delights, dazzles and moves in equal measure' Financial Times

'Brutally satirical and grimly hilarious' Daily Mail

The venomous lumpsucker is the most intelligent fish on the planet. Or maybe it was the most intelligent fish on the planet. Because it might have just gone extinct. Nobody knows. And nobody really cares, either. Except for two people.

Mining executive Mark Halyard has a prison cell waiting for him if that fish is gone for good, and biologist Karin Resaint needs it for her own darker purposes. They don't trust each other an inch, but they're left with no choice but to team up in search of the lumpsucker. And as they journey across the strange landscapes of near-future Europe - a nature reserve full of toxic waste; a floating city on the Baltic Sea; the lethal hinterlands of a totalitarian state - they're drawn into a conspiracy far bigger than one ugly little fish.

'A laugh-out-loud novel about mass extinction (yes, really)' Sunday Times

'Confirms his reputation as one of the foremost satirists of his generation' The Times

©2022 Ned Beauman (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Fiction Funny Witty

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All stars
Most relevant  
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any conservationist who enjoys the subtleties of dark British humour. The story is both sensitive and brutal. It is profound, whimsical, poignant and funny and I hope it isn’t as prescient as it seems.
The narrator John Hastings was brilliant at providing consistently distinct character voices and accents. I thought that his delivery was spot-on and not a single moment of irony or wit was lost.
I read a review that said the author Ned Beauman is a ‘speculative genius’ and, despite the prospect filling me with existential dread, I believe it might be true. The story and style remind me of books by Ben Elton, Philip K. Dick and Iain M Banks. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

The age of extinction made terrifyingly hilarious

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Great story, awesome writing, and truly superb performance. I'm now going to have to listen to everything the Beauman has written, and everything Hasting's has recorded.

Simply brilliant

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For some reason I really struggled to connect the first half of this book with the second half. The book seemed to go in a direction I wasn't expecting, not necessarily in a good way..

It has some really interesting ideas, good science and it stimulated thought. I just couldn't connect with the characters and ultimately felt that the story was a little too flat for me. It only got really interesting in the last 5 minutes!

It's worth a credit if you're into sci-fi and science based readings but it's not going to excite, amuse or challenge your thinking that much.

Interesting but lost its way a little.

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So many concepts and ideas handled with humour. This is a really important and informative book that opens a (hopefully not extinct) can of worms. It reminds me of Douglas Adams in many ways. Well written and constructed storytelling.

Wonderful.

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I was hesitant to start this book, I think the title and premise sounded too much like hard work. I ended up listening to most of it in one day, narration was great and humour made me laugh out loud unexpectedly. Not for everyone I imagine, but if you're even reading this, I would say just get it. I found it very human.

Unusual, fantastic, funny & great narrator

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While I appreciate this is a good book I found I drifted off several times and just gave up listening half way through. I really wanted to like it more, many people did, so don't be put off by my words.

Not for me

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I loved the way this book considered how the future might turn out if we carry on with our obsession with markets and commoditisation. I then found the book got sillier and sillier as it went on but it was still a very enjoying read.

Dark dystopia

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Great book - on one hand a satirical romp through a only barely implausible future world - wryly observed. On the other heartfelt exploration or the contradiction at humanity’s core. Fresh and free spirited and thought provoking - for me memorable with identifiable characters and the only book ever where I have ever come across my own mindset in a character. Hats off to Ned Beaumont. The narration suits the prose and was never distracting so full marks for that too.

Funny and important

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Great and humourous view on the serious environmental problems. Some excellent satire on our political times too

Refreshing

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Absolutely brilliant but horrifying to listen to. I'm particularly haunted by the extinction hunter, and the fact that he is based in Somerset is chillingly accurate. If you care about the future of the planet, and have a dark sense of humour, then this is an ideal listen. If you don't think environmentalism is important then it's even more important that you try it. I hope it changes your mind.

Ironically funny but terrifying eco Sci-Fi horror

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