“Destination: Void” By: Frank Herbert

Destination: Void
By: Frank Herbert
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
Release date: 10-28-14
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

All you have to do is tell me that Frank Herbert wrote it and I’ll read it no matter how good or bad. So, that should let you know up front, I’m a bit biased. Yes, I’m a big fan of Frank Herbert, actually maybe I’m just a huge Dune fan. That is actually why I picked this audiobook this time around, I wanted to see what his writing is about outside the Duneverse. The book itself was actually published in 1966 one year after Dune, so Herbert was at his creative best.

So what happens to your ship when travelling the cosmos in a form of suspended animation and the brains keeping the ship going, go insane? That is the question to be answered in “Destination: Void.” Frank Herbert is pretty well known to create new religions and mythos in the Dune series of books, and somewhat continues that in this book. In fact the next book in this series is “The Jesus Incident,” which explores religion and science.

What I liked about this book is that it seemed everyone knew something about everyone else and could use that as leverage. The dialogue throughout the book did not seem contrived and as all the relationships within the personnel of the ship seemed natural as well. The technical details did seem a bit overwhelming but were necessary. The exploration of Artificial Intelligence made for a very thought provoking book.

One more thing before I leave you with this, I’m also a HUGE Scott Brick fan, and was extremely happy to hear he was narrating this. Brick is able to portray characters, emotions and dialogue as if it were a multi-cast performance. His delivery is perfect for Science-Fiction.

Publisher’s Summary

The starship Earthling, filled with thousands of hibernating colonists en route to a new world at Tau Ceti, is stranded beyond the solar system when the ship’s three organic mental cores – disembodied human brains that control the vessel’s functions – go insane. The emergency skeleton crew sees only one chance for survival: build an artificial consciousness in the Earthling’s primary computer that can guide them to their destination – and hope it doesn’t destroy the human race.

Don’t miss Frank Herbert’s classic novel that begins the epic Pandora Sequence.

©1966 Frank Herbert (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.