“Doctor Who: The Art of Death” by James Goss

“Doctor Who: Blackout & The Art of Death”
“Blackout” by Oli Smith
read by Stuart Milligan
“The Art of Death” by James Goss
Read by Raquel Cassidy
Published by AudioGo (2012)
2 hours 32 minutes

First off, Thank You, AudioGo, for publishing these Doctor Who stories here in the states! I am going through Doctor Who withdrawals (the next season can’t get here fast enough), but thanks to AudioGo the audio releases of Doctor Who stories are definitely finding a home on my listening list. These are originally released in the U.K. on BBC audio but brought to the U.S. via AudioGo.

This time around AudioGo has packaged 2 one hour productions into one box. I had previously reviewed the first story in the set, “Blackout,” I was impatient, like I said I’m going through withdrawals. When I received this 2 disc collection, my son, whom I’ve been trying to get into audiobooks, wanted me to listen to those with him, so I gave him the “Blackout” disc while I completed listening to this set with “The Art of Death” and now that I have completed that one I can give him the other disc.

This review will be about the second story in this set, if you want to read my review of the first story just check out the review at this link
http://gilwilson.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/doctor-who-blackout-by-oli-smith/

As with the “Blackout,” “The Art of Death” is a great story to fit within the Doctor Who universe. The author, James Goss, captures the spirit of the Doctor and his companions perfectly. One of the things I love about the Doctor Who series is the time travel aspect and this story is the perfect time travel story, with the whole paradox theory investigated. The reader, Raquel Cassidy does a great job as reader and even brings out the quirks of the 11th Doctor (portrayed on TV by Matt Smith), she is also able to portray Amy Pond and Rory spot on. The best thing is, is that this story is told from the point of view of Penelope, a care taker at an art gallery, more particularly in the Paradox room of the gallery. Her main job is to keep people from staring at the Paradox, because it can drive people mad.

When the story opens Penelope is telling her story and the story of the Paradox exhibit in the ceiling of the gallery. As one child described it, it is a glowing rainbow octopus. The Paradox begins to talk to Penelope and when the Doctor arrives, he greets Penelope as if they were old friends. When she asks who he is he explains, we haven’t met yet but we will. He explains that he, Amy and Rory were stopping in to see the gallery when they each fell into a time loop and that they will be together again eventually. At this time the Paradox begins to talk to Penelope and they discover it contains a giant creature with a penchant for death.

The Doctor is grabbed by the creature and the Doctor says in a perfect Doctor line, ” Don’t be alarmed, It’s simply sucking the life out of me. Nothing to worry about…” as he fades away. As time passes the paradox becomes stronger and Penelope is visited through various stages in her life by Amy, Rory and the Doctor, although they only appear separately, since they are each drifting through time. Soon the secret of the Paradox is discovered and it is up to the Doctor and Penelope to save the planet and maybe the universe.

With an ongoing mystery that is only fully discovered near the end of this story this is one that will keep you listening on the edge of your seat until the very end. In addition to the great voice work from Raquel Cassidy the producers have mixed in some great sound effects that push the story closer to that edge of mystery. Great listening in this one.

“Phantom Universe: Summer Chronicles, Book 1″ By Laura Kreitzer

“Phantom Universe: Summer Chronicles, Book 1″
By Laura Kreitzer
Read by Karen Savage
Published by Revolution Publishing
8 hours 38 minutes

Once again it’s time to take a romp into the world of Young Adult fiction, and sticking to my favorite genre overall, Science-Fiction.  Some of the most interesting stories come from Young Adult fiction, but then again so have some of the worst, I won’t mention any names (cough, cough, Twilight, cough, cough), but I think you know some.   Anyway this book and what looks to be a series is among one of the most interesting.   I will admit it was a bit frustrating, but in a fun way.  Frustrating because it was so cleverly written that it kept me trying to guess what was happening next, and constantly changing that guess.

This audiobook is read by Karen Savage, and I’ll be one of the first to jump on her bandwagon.  Ms. Savage captures the voice, or rather the inner-voice of Summer, the main character in the story.  She also is able to differentiate the separate voices of the other characters with  ease and let me tell you that is no easy feat.  The voices range from Scottish and British accents, to pirates, to Native American, to Canadian, and even some Southern American.   Each one is performed beautifully in order to enhance the telling of this romp through time.   So now I have one more audiobook voice artist to put on my list to listen to more often.

Oh, I see you caught that time travel hint.  Well the time traveling done in this first book of the Summer Chronicles is only one way with a large amount of people traveling 200 years into the future.  But before I get caught up in that aspect, which was one of the frustrating parts of the story for me, remember, frustrating in a good way.

Summer lives in the modern day world as a slave.  Yes this book talks about child slavery and gets a bit rough, but it is all done to further the story and create the what turns out to be a strong character in Summer.  Summer was sold into slavery by, what at first seems like her mother, but more is learned to deter that idea later in the book.  She is sold at the age of 4 and is beaten with a whip until she learns to not make any noise.  The lessons of the whip are so harsh that Summer, even at the age of 16, does not talk.   She communicates with expressions and by writing on a very few trusted people’s palms.  I have to throw in at this time that this is another time to send kudos to both the author and the reader in representing the thoughts and actions of summer, the author provides the perfect descriptions and the reader presents these words in such a manner that I could visualize easily the facial expressions and emotions of Summer.

At the age of 6 Summer is sold to a Captain of a Pirate ship.  Yes this is modern times, and the pirates, capture ships and sell the cargo.  The Captain of this ship has a liking for large screen TVs and captures container ships carrying this cargo.  Throughout her life on the ship, Summer never talks and becomes the Captain’s favorite because she doesn’t talk.  This section of the book is told with flashbacks throughout her life on the ship to modern day of Summer at 16 years old with the flashbacks talking about different things that shaped her character.  One such event is one where she is nearly raped by a crew member but is saved by another slave, a boy near her age by the name of Landon.  Summer and Landon become best friends from then on.

About halfway through the book a surprising event happens and the Pirate ship is boarded by The Secret Clock Society in search of Summer.  Jaiden, a slave from before Summer was sold to the pirates, is sent to find Summer, but instead she betrays the Society and helps Summer escape just as the ship explodes.  Jaiden and Summer manage to make it to shore, but are unsure of the fate of Landon.

On shore a strange thing happens and the two wake up to the intrusion of a military force capturing the two girls and rounding up what are called “Outlanders.”  Summer strangely begins to feel something for the commander of the force, Gage, and for some odd reason trusts him, this trust comes from deep within and she doesn’t understand why when she has never trusted anyone in her life, except for Landon.

Gage and the others are members of the Canadian military and reveal to Jaiden and Summer that they are now in the year 2210.  This is where it got really frustrating for me.  How did they travel through time? Why?  Summer is examined by a medical personnel and it is decided she is not in any shape to be taken to the Outlanders internment camp.  So she spends some time in a hospital where the years of starvation and severe beatings are treated.

In the year 2210 the Canadian government has taken over most of the civilized world.  While the United States and the rest of the world were busy with World War III, the Canadians were tired of wars and wanted peace and were able to invade through covert actions and behind the lines invasions.  I found this odd but so did some of the other characters from the past so this part was not treated too lightly and an explanation is provided, but I will leave that up to you to discover.  One of the things that caused the Canadians to be able to take control was an “Exodus,” in which 200 million people disappeared.

So how did Summer travel to the future? and why?  Well that is the fun of this story, and it would be a spoiler, so I won’t be telling you, but it completely changes the character of Summer and all her friends new and old, and starts a saga that is only begun in this book one of “The Summer Chronicles.”  I’ll warn you now, don’t try and figure out why or how, just enjoy the great storytelling and when it is explained, just say, “Ahhh, of course.”  Oh also as is in most Young Adult fiction you have a bit of silly teen romance going, but that is not the bulk of the story, so just let that slide as well.

“The Templar Chronicles: The Heretic” by Joseph Nassise

“The Templar Chronicles: The Heretic”
by Joseph Nassise
Multi-cast performance
Published by GraphicAudio
Approx 6 hours

I started listening to this audiobook on a Friday the 13th, and didn’t realize the synchronicity of my starting on that date and the subject matter until I had arrived at work.  I work in radio, and on one of the newscasts the news announcer talked about the origins of the fear of Friday the 13th, one of the reasons listed was that on a Friday the 13th Pope Pious ordered the murder of all the Knights of the Templar due to rumors of dabbling in witchcraft and other acts of heresy.  After starting this book and hearing that discussion, I knew I was listening to the right audiobook.

Other than the synchronicity of the date another reason I knew I was listening to the right audiobook was that it is published by GraphicAudio.  GraphicAudio doesn’t put out mere audiobooks, the create what they call “A Movie in your Mind.”  Every time I have listened to an audiobook from them I am amazed at the quality of their productions.  They use top notch voice actors and their music and sound effects make all their books come to full 3D life.  Previously from them I have listened to their audiobooks created from DC comics.  Their bringing to life the otherworldly sounds and battles between superheroes and super-villains is just unreal.  This book has a lot of characteristics of comic books including super-powers and otherworldly villains and GraphicAudio was the perfect choice for this audiobook, because GraphicAudio knows how to bring these subjects to life.

I say that this book has some superhero/comic book characteristics and after doing a bit of research on the book, I found that the author has turned this into a comic book series, which sadly is now out of print.  Maybe they’ll print a trade-paperback.  Either way I feel as though I have heard the full effect of the book by listening to this, yet another, mind-blowing special effects extravaganza that goes into every GraphicAudio production.

At the end of the First Crusade, the church created a monastic military order known as the Knights Templar.   They were the official warriors for Christendom but when they were captured and tortured into false confessions, many were burned at the stake and the Pope disbanded the order.  This only led to the knights becoming the stuff of legend.  Now, rising up from the ashes of history, they are the Vatican’s last defense in the war between good and evil.

The desecration of Templar cemeteries has sparked a full-scale investigation.  Leading this investigation is Cade Williams, who is no ordinary man. His ability to cross over to the other side and touch a person or item and see its past makes him uniquely qualified to command the Church’s special operations division.  As a modern-day Knight, Cade can use the curse that has scarred his soul as a weapon against the forces of darkness, but this curse/power has also branded him as a heretic among some of the higher-ups in the Vatican.

Cade and his team soon discover that cabal of necromancers and sorcerers is behind it all. Their purpose: to claim the legendary powers of a lost holy relic, the Spear of Longinus, for their own ungodly campaign.  Cade takes on a new member of his team who also has a special power of his own.  Cade also has the ability to see special abilities and forces (both good and evil) and sees that the leader of the Knights Templar’s aid, Duncan, has the ability to heal with his hands.  Combining powers they must battle demons, zombies, and sorcerers to protect the Spear, the world and all known reality.

In what is a cross between a Frank Miller comic book, an Indiana Jones adventure, and a Seal Team 6 mission,  Joseph Nassise has written an excellent action adventure novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and the superb audio production from GraphicAudio will push you off and right into the middle of the action.  What is even better, is that this is only book one of a three book series, so that means more to come.

“11/22/63″ by Stephen King

“11/22/63″
by Stephen King
Published by Scribner (2011)
849 pages

If I remember right, “Christine” was the very first Stephen King book I read, and since then I have read every book published by Mr. King. The King of Horror is my go to man when it comes to wanting something to read and not sure what I want to put my hands on. He has never let me down and always creates a story that is not only intriguing but can envelop the reader completely. I have read every thing he has written to date, and when he announced he was retiring, I desperately sought out other similar authors; Dean Koontz and Clive Barker were a couple, but none seemed to grab me as much as Stephen King. I have other favorite authors, but Stephen King will always be my utmost favorite. So with that in mind, understand I enjoy every Stephen King book and don’t think I could give them a bad review if I tried. This one is no different.

A lot of critics say he gets too wordy, but I think that is what I enjoy in a Stephen King novel, the expansion of the main story into something else entirely and eventually he will bring you back to the main idea that started the story in the first place. This book is exactly that. The main premise is that there is a portal that goes back to September, 1958, and when you return it is only as if two minutes have passed, no matter how long you stay in the past. So with that as the main part of the story and the title of the book “11/22/63,” you know someone is going back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Again, this is a Stephen King book and the development of a story doesn’t stop with that idea. There are whole lives involved and whoever goes back to the past has to live in the past for five years before the event happens, so now the story really unfolds.

Basically Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. In the beginning of the story he receives an essay from one of the students, which is a true Stephen King gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on a mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

It seems Al has tried this but the past is obdurate and does everything it can to prevent the future from being altered. Al has been diagnosed with cancer and is about to die. Jake is the only one that can change the past to make the future better. Before he does something as drastic as preventing Kennedy’s assassination, Jake decides to first try and save Harry Dunning’s family from his murderous father. While the past does try to keep Jake from changing the outcome, he manages, barely, to save all but one member of the family. When he returns to the present he sees that it can be done but that there are consequences.

One other thing, each time someone goes back through the portal to 1958, the past/future resets. So Jake must save several people on the second time round and eventually move to Texas and get ready for the big mission. Here’s where the story gets involved and becomes more than just a time travel novel. Jake, Now George Amberson, has taken up teaching in a small town while he stalks Lee Harvey Oswald, to confirm he is the one and only shooter and to plan on how to stop Oswald before the deed is done.

During this time Jake/George, falls in love, finds his life is teaching and that he loves helping out the students, but all the while Oswald lurks near and must be stopped.

So while enjoying a story of a man out of time thoroughly getting lost in life, the time travel aspect keeps coming up, especially the mention of the “butterfly-effect,” and how much of the future is changed by his simple interactions with people and especially students. This effect is made even more prominent when near the end of the book he returns to his own time, only it is not his time anymore.

Can this simple (really not that simple) plan of saving one of history’s favorite Presidents be a good thing or a bad thing. In writing this story King not only relied on his gift of an elaborate imagination, but he also had many discussions with historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin and actually has a fully thought out and debated plan for the future with Kennedy surviving, which may surprise you.

All around this is a fun book and yet another Stephen King book that provides one more answer to the What If question.

“World War Z” by Max Brooks

“World War Z”
by Max Brooks
Multi-cast performance
Published by Random House Audio (2006)
6 hours and 3 minutes

Yes it’s another zombie book review from me. Hey, I just can’t help myself, I love these zombie books. Some are terrifying, some are humorous and some, like this one, just make you think. Nearly every zombie movie and book has somewhere in it the saying about when Hell is full the dead shall walk the Earth, they may not quote it exactly but it seems to be a great explanation for a zombie apocalypse. It also provides a great excuse for religious zealots to appear in zombie movies. Either way I’m not waiting for Hell to fill up, I’m getting prepared for the zombie apocalypse now, and Max Brooks books (World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide) seem to be great resources.

This book tells of the Zombie Apocalypse and how all the nations of the Earth handled this horror show. Told in a series of interviews by the author, the apocalypse is reviewed from start to what may be the end. The interviews are with doctors, soldiers, the vice-president and other prominent political leaders. While this is a fun book with lots of pop-culture reference, it does, at times, seem like a slam toward government and bureaucracy. Due to the other conflicts in the world the army is not prepared for a horde of living dead that have no central command. At one point in the book a young Palestinian doesn’t believe the dead are rising and thinks it a trick of the Israelis. The war at first looks like it may be a total loss but when the president of the United States holds a U.N. meeting (or rather what is left of the U.N.) onboard the USS Saratoga he finally is able to get the world to band together to fight off the zombie horde in a fashion that will secure the world for the living.

At first there are problems, with the thinking of zombies cannot survive the frozen north, many people migrate to colder climates for what they at first think is a simple camping trip, but once arriving and winter setting in, realizing they are not prepared, and when supplies run low, the people turn on each other.

I have to tell you a bit about my journey into this full-cast production of the audiobook before I let you know how awesome this recording is. I knew I would be reading this book or listening to it, especially with my love of zombie books, but I was planning at first to read the “Zombie Survival Guide” by Brooks. But thanks to a few friends telling me how awesome this book was I decided to do this one first. I first checked out the unabriged version with a single reader and got through a few chapters of the book and was getting bored. The reader was doing a straight read and no acting, and this book really requires some acting involved. I was looking for information on the book while listening and found that a full cast version was recorded, albeit abriged. I don’t normally listen to or read abridged books, but when I saw some of the cast members of this book, I couldn’t resist.

The cast includes; Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, John Torturro, Henry Rollins, and more. Just those names mentioned and I had to get this book. I mean, c’mon Hawkeye Pierce in a Zombie book? Let me tell you It was worth it and more. The actors were superb, of course, and the mult-cast made this book much more believable due to the many people “interviewed” in the book. It was a blast to hear this version and I never regretted the abridged version.

The social commentary made a lot of sense especially the aspect of Hollywood stars and social elite being totally worthless, and Joe the Plumber or Joe the Carpenter becoming the most valuable of citizens in time of disaster. The interview with Henry Rollins’ character T. Sean Collins, a bodyguard to the rich, proves this point perfectly in this book.

This book combines horror, social commentary, and some fun into a must read, or in this case listen, zombie book. From this book you’ll learn just how close the human race is to becoming extinct. Whether you are a fan of zombies or not, trust me you will enjoy this book, and as an added bonus, you’ll learn how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.

And now for the good news; There will be a movie made from this book. I can’t wait.

“Doctor Who: Blackout” by Oli Smith

“Doctor Who: Blackout”
by Oli Smith
Read by Stuart Milligan
Published by AudioGo
1 hour 17 minutes

I am really loving these short (1 hour or so) audio stories released by AudioGo. They are each like an episode of Doctor Who and the perfect filler while waiting for the next season of Doctor Who to come back to television. The BBC has just announced a new companion for the Doctor for the next season, so while I get even more antsy for the next season I have these audiobooks to fill my time. I believe this is the last short story I have for the 11th Doctor, so the next ones will be full-fledged audiobooks from AudioGo (they have lots from all the Doctors).

This “episode” begins with a patient, Clint, who has had dreams of abductions talking to a doctor, but as it turns out it is The Doctor. The Doctor, Amy and Rory have landed the TARDIS in Pennsylvania but on November 9th, 1965 have taken a train to New York to find a cure for a poison that is in the water, and Clint seems to be a key.

Rory and Amy have caused a fireplug to overpressurize and in turn the water spray reveals a ship floating above New York City. Soon people start freezing and exploding and it is up to the Doctor to find the cure for the poisoning. The aliens cause a blackout which makes things difficult for the Doctor to get a message, or rather a warning, to the aliens, but assisted by his trusty sonic screwdriver the Doctor fights on.

The reader, Stuart Milligan, did a very nice job creating the all around feel of a Doctor Who story. The writing was a perfect fit into the world of Doctor Who and, Milligan was able to bring to life the action and emotion of the story. His voicework was very good when representing the Doctor, Rory and even Amy, however his representation of Clint seemed a bit forced, I think he was trying to go for a typical rough New York cab driver with the voice, but it didn’t seem to work for me. The rest of the voice work was nearly perfect. In case you aren’t familiar, Milligan portrayed Nixon in the “Impossible Astronaut” episode of the program.

Definitely a must listen for any Doctor Who fan. Nothing you couldn’t go without, but definitely a story for filling in some of the time before the new season.

 

Doctor Who: The Gemini Contagion by Jason Arnopp

Doctor Who: The Gemini Contagion
by Jason Arnopp
Read by Meera Syal
Published by AudioGo (2011)
Running Time: 1hrs 30mins

First of all I want to scream out how much I love the BBC and AudioGo for making these Doctor Who audiobooks available. I am antsy and eagerly awaiting the next season of Doctor Who and in the meantime I’m getting my fix of the Doctor, by listening to these adventures through time and space with the 11th doctor. When I run out of the 11th doctor I will go back to the 10th (who, portrayed by David Tenant, was my second favorite Doctor to Tom Baker) But these adventures with the 11th Doctor (portrayed by Matt Smith) are loads of fun. Right now I’m going through all the audio releases that are three hours or less, and having a blast.

This audio release is read by Meera Syal, who appeared in two episodes of Doctor Who; The Hungry Earth Cold Blood. She portrayed Dr. Nasreen Chaudhry, a geologist in the year 2020. Along with Tony Mack, she was digging down into the Earth further than any other human ever had before. They discover a race of reptilians that have lived under the Earth for years and will do so for many more. Anyway, at first I was wondering if her reading this book would mean that her character would make an appearance in this story, and reading the cover notes I couldn’t see how. As I listened I realized she wouldn’t, but Meera did a superb job in reading the story. She was able to capture the quirks of the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond perfectly and with the help of the subtle music score was able to present the emotions and excitement throughout the story.

The story follows the The Doctor and Amy as they arrive on the ice-planet Vinsk in the year 2112. Where the Zalnex company is getting ready to release a miracle hand lotion. The lotion provides the user to understand all languages. The problem, the shipment is being sent to Earth and the lotion was never tested on humans. As it turns out humans are susceptible to insanity after using the hand lotion, because the human brain cannot sort out the languages at once.

The doctor that created the lotion cloned a race called “Meme Spawn” and used them to manufacture the lotion, by introducing the microscopic spawn into the lotion where they psychically link to the host allowing the host to understand the languages. To make things worse the cloned Meme Spawn, are able to mutate and become a sort of flying starfish creature and conquer the hosts.

The Doctor and Amy race against time to keep the shipment arriving on earth. But along the way Amy becomes “infected” and the Doctor must make the decision of whether to save Amy or the Human Race.

This romp through space and time is just as fun as any episode of Doctor Who and sorts itself out in true Doctor Who fashion.

“Immortality, Inc.” by Robert Sheckley

“Immortality, Inc.”
by Robert Sheckley
read by Bronson Pinchot
published by Blackstone Audio (2011)
Approx 6 hours.

Okay first of all I want to apologize for the time between reviews, this time around I have picked 2 long audiobooks and one extremely long printed book. But soon I’ll be back on track. They have all been worth it, especially squeezing in this 6 hour fun journey into the future.

I knew this was the right book to be listening to, right now, because of the subject matter and the side stories created. First of all this book is a nice piece of classic science-fiction that involves time travel and immortality. So right there you know this is going to be interesting. But the book also involves ghosts, spirits, the afterworld, hauntings, and zombies. The cool part of this was that, of the other books I was reading or hearing at the time, one was a zombie book, one was a time travel book and then there’s this one. As for the ghosts, well, in case you didn’t know it I’m also a paranormal investigator with a local group (on facebook http://www.facebook.com/psiofi ) and one of the side ventures I was doing that may have helped to delay this book was a little ghost hunting on the side, so all the subjects covered in this were fitting in with all my other projects.

“Immortality, Inc.” was first published in 1959 and gave a bit of a grim look at humanity’s future. Sheckley’s unsettling vision of the future is told in a bit of a witty sort of way so as not to be one of those depressing dystopian novels, like “1984″ or “A Brave New World,” I loved those books, but every time I read them I get just a bit depressed. This book however had some fun moments. In fact there is one moment in the book that is so humorous it was represented in the animated series “Futurama.” The moment is when the main character, Tom Blaine, finds himself transplanted from the year 1958 to the year 2110 and in trying to escape the hustle and bustle of the city of the future, finds himself in line for a suicide booth.

This story was said to be the basis of the 1992 film “Freejack,” starring Emilio Esteves and Mick Jagger. But from what I remember of the film, Hollywood took some creative license and mucked around with the story quite a bit. I’m going to have to rent that again and compare sometime soon.

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this intriguing and thought provoking sci-fi piece of art, I need to first talk about the reader. Bronson Pinchot is the reader, and after listening to the whole book, I have to say he does a superb job. I will admit that starting out the story I was worried because he seemed to be delivering the story in a very dry manner, but looking back that worked for the intro. As the story progressed and the characters started making their appearance, Pinchot shined. His ability to create voices for the separate characters was stunning. In some cases it was quite comical and worked perfectly with the humor written into the story. My favorite was his representation of a sleazy “transplant” street seller. Transplant is the ability to place your mind into any other body (and it doesn’t necessarily have to be human) and the salesman was like the combination of a pimp and one of those old trench coat wearing counterfeit watch sellers, and the picture i got while he voiced the guy almost made me feel slimy listening. Bravo!

So, what’s this story about anyway? Well, Tom Blaine dies in a car crash in 1958 only to wake up alive in the year 2011. The Rex Corporation has taken Tom’s essence, soul, spirit from the past and put it into a “donated” body. The breakthrough of time travel is not new, but this form of transplanting the soul through time is new. They plan on using Tom as their poster-child for the process, until they learn the Government won’t allow this process. So they shut down all the plans to use Tom. He is released from Rex Corporation and goes out to explore the world in his new body. Maria Thorn, a representative from Rex Corporation soon rescues Tom from a body snatcher and helps him to properly view life. Body Snatchers take young healthy bodies (people) and kill them to allow the older rich people to reincarnate into them.

The rich can do this legally but the illegal bodies are usually healthier and easier to come by. In fact, one of the doctors that brought Blaine over to 2110, is about to be reincarnated into a young body, but something goes wrong and the doctor is pushed out in the process by another spirit. The other spirit takes too much time acquiring the new body and becomes what is known in the year 2110 as a zombie. A zombie is a spirit that inhabits a body but the body is still dead and decaying fast.

This zombie soon starts following Tom around, because he has some tie to Tom but cannot fulfill his mission until he remembers what that is. The zombie population help Tom escape when Tom is placed on a wanted list, but the threat of the one zombie still lingers.

Tom is soon hunted down and after receiving conditioning to be able to make the journey into the afterlife, by being gifted with hereafter insurance, the Rex Corporation wants to kill him to cover up their crime of saving a soul without prior written consent. Tom then has to travel the world to escape the hunting squads and to find what the purpose of the zombie’s constant companionship.

A story about man’s future and how even after finding there is an afterlife, humanity finds a way to ruin that. Some funny moments and even some nice thrilling moments. This should be added to any true sci-fi fan’s library.

“A Million Suns” by Beth Revis

“A Million Suns”
by Beth Revis
Read By Tara Carrozza & Lucas Salvagno
Published by Penguin Audio
10 hours and 18 minutes

Young Adult fiction is one of those great genres that appeals to all ages, and can be a hit or miss. Recently the “Twilight” series of young adult vampire romance took the world by storm (hopefully that waste of time is over), before that there was Harry Potter and now “The Hunger Games” has been released as a movie. So the young adult fiction genre is one worth checking out, no matter your age. Many of the stories are extremely well written and just having the main characters as teenagers puts them in the YA category. While listening to this audiobook, I was (and still am) listening to another YA audiobook. This one is science fiction and the other is a Zombie Apocalypse YA book. So as you can see lots of directions you can go with this genre.

This book is book two of the “Across the Universe” trilogy with the third book due (at the time of this posting) early 2013, so If you haven’t read the first one or listened to the audiobooks you still have some time so get going. Being the second book in the series there are some things that need to be stated to help you get caught up. The ship Godspeed is a multigenerational ship that has been sent on its 300 year mission to a planet that orbits the twin suns of Alpha Centauri. The crew consists of a group of people who have been set up in the ship with specific duties to keep the ship running generation after generation. The citizens of Godspeed are led by an Eldest who trains an Elder to rule the next generation. The ship’s main cargo consists of around a hundred or so people from various walks of life who are frozen in cryogenic chambers to be thawed upon arrival at Centauri Earth.

There has been a bit of a mutiny in the Eldest/Elder community where one Elder is thought dead and a younger Elder is being trained to replace Elder. The missing Elder has taken the name Orion and started unthawing the “frozens.” Amy has been thawed out and joins Elder in solving the mystery of who is killing the frozens. Amy discovers that there are engine problems and that Godspeed may not arrive for another 50 years. Soon Orion is caught and frozen to be thawed and tried by the other “frozens” upon arrival at Centauri Earth. But not before it is revealed that the population of Godspeed have been controlled through drugs, and fooled for generations about the arrival at Centauri Earth.

Here in book two, Amy now has settled with the fact she may never see her parents again (they are among the “frozens”) and has to start her life on Godspeed and decide if she is going to have a relationship with Elder. Elder is now in charge of the Godspeed, following the death of Eldest. He is determined to be different in his leadership style, no more lies and no more drugging his people. But rebellions begin rising up, laziness threatens food production, and there’s another murderer onboard. Meanwhile, Amy stumbles across a thread of clues left behind by Orion, explaining his extreme actions and revealing more secrets that will affect the entire ship, leaving Amy and maybe Elder with a choice to make. One of those secrets is that Godspeed is no longer moving through space, not merely moving slower than expected.

This story mixes a coming-of-age type story with mystery, romance and adventure with some superb science-fiction. The science-fiction aspect should be the one that grabs you but with all the rest thrown in, it’s pretty hard to resist.

Both teen and adult science fiction fans will enjoy this extraordinary coming-of-age story. Filled with intense suspense, adventure, mystery, and a bit of romance – A Million Suns is pure excitement from beginning to its cliffhanger ending. This fantastic space opera trilogy is a must-read.

The book is separated with each chapter told from the point of view of either Amy or Elder and the team of Tara Carrozza and Lucas Salvagno doing the reading the story flows perfectly. Each able to capture the main characters and all their personalities, as well as vary their voices well enough to still allow for the multiple character’s dialogues to be perfectly translated.

 

“The Ringworld Throne” by Larry Niven

“The Ringworld Throne”
by Larry Niven
read by Paul Michael Garcia
Produced by Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Approx 14 hours

I’m not sure what it is but with sci-fi book series there seems to be a hit and miss for each book. The first book in the series seems to always be a hit (I guess otherwise there wouldn’t be sequels) but the next books can range from being as good as the original, sometimes better, or sometimes worse. With the “Dune” series, the sequels and prequels were hit and miss but always had something to contribute to the collection. I think the same could be said about this “Ringworld” series. The first book, “Ringworld,” was phenomenal, especially in the creation of the Ringworld and the physics involved. What also made the first book so good was the mystery behind who created the ringworld and why. Now that I have just read this 3rd book in the series, I think since the mystery of who created the ringworld has been answered it lacks some of that air of mystery. Now the struggles to keep the ringworld alive seem trivial. But nonetheless, this book contains some nice sci-fi and was a nice addition to the series.

I will have to say one of the things that kept this audiobook so enjoyable, was the voicework of Paul Michael Garcia. Garcia did an excellent job of narrating the story, but the best was his ability to give a voice to the vast array of characters representing several different homonid and non-homonid races. At times I almost felt as though I was listening to a multicast performance. His ability to adjust his voice to not only clarify the different characters speaking or thinking but to also represent the sound of the alien species was phenomenal and made the listen a lot more fun.
This is the third book in the series and takes place just a few years after the events in “Ringworld Engineers.” The ringworld has been restabilized after Louis Wu uses a gas expulsion from the sun to knock the ringworld back into proper orbit. The problem with this method that weighs heavy on Louis is that millions died in the process. This book begins with showing that not as many of the ringworld’s inhabitants died as was expected. In this third book in the series the book is actually split into two separate stories that merge into one in the end of the book.

The first story tells of the different species of homonids who are out to destroy a nest of vampires who feed on the ringworld’s inhabitants. The main group is somewhat let by some of the characters Louis met in the second book. The second story continues with Louis Wu and his crew who are taken prisoner by a vampire protector. The Protectors are a race that evolve from the species they protect. The Vampire protector here, who Louis names Bram, uses Louis to regain control over the Ringworld’s defenses.

With some very interesting species and some nice science to create the sci-fi, this book is still a must read in the series, but it does lack that air of mystery that made the first book a top read.