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  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

  • By: Jules Verne
  • Narrated by: David Linski
  • Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (548 ratings)
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea cover art

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

By: Jules Verne
Narrated by: David Linski
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Summary

During the year 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time, receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition which he accepts. Canadian whaler and master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful servant Conseil are also brought aboard.

Public Domain (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

20,000 Leagues & Seemingly 20,000 Ways To Describe A Fish!

The Good - The underwater world is so vast and unknown it allows the imagination to go wild. I think Jules Vergne was a pioneer in early sci-fi and this book is a perfect example of his ability to create a world.
The Bad - Honestly, it becomes a matter of endurance after the first couple hours. It feels like waiting in the doldrums with endless descriptive text on different sea-life, fauna and nearby geography. A bit like a student’s essay which needs considerable padding out to reach the word count!
The Ugly - The story. In my opinion (who cares right?), the characters all lack depth, the plot is devoid of drama and the final resolution is incredibly lacklustre. This was the aspect that really spoil it for me. While I could endure the lengthy descriptions, the payoff has to be a riveting story and unfortunately this just wasn’t the case.

Summary - the literary equivalent of the tv show Lost. Plenty of great ideas but none of them had a satisfying story or conclusion. I would recommend the book to anybody who wants to appreciate a foundation block of early sci-fi or anyone who was a particular obsession for the sea but otherwise, I’d go elsewhere. It may have amazing for it’s time, but that was quite a while ago now.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

More encyclopedia than story

Performance was superb, dynamic throughout despite only 4 available characters. In 1870s I imagine the journey across and below the 7 seas would be like fiction. J Verne's research & imagination is to be applauded. Just wish there was more of a story.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Calm and entertaining adventure

I really liked this classic specially if one things how exciting could be to explore the oceans, I found the adventures of the protagonist not too sensational or the development of the protagonist too deep, I feel that the joy of this book is took imagine those places visited by the by the Nautilus, places described in detail to make feel part of the crew.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

This book is not truly a novel it is more like a scientific paper
The author comes over as a big head I have listened to this book and one other by this author and to be honest and you could use both books as textbook on various subjects and topics.
The narrator had very little to go on depth of the various characters and the story is thus monotonous
Not recommended

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too much fish and not enough Nautilus

I've never before wanted to know more about a machine (the Nautilus) and the rest of its crew.
The author seems to have received a zoology book as a Christmas gift because he can't stop reading from it when describing fish and other creatures of no interest, leaving the submarine almost completely unexplored. Same with the crew.

It feels like there's so much potential left out, maybe I should take into consideration that it was written in 1870. But even so at times it's just poor story telling namedropping 6-7 different species of fish in one paragraph.

The narrator was good and felt very fitting according to the story and the time period it took place.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

20,000 leagues under the sea

I’ve always loved Jules Verne this is a great audiobook the narrator does a goo job a book everyone should have

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly told tale

Loved this. It’s amazing tome that despite when it was written, the language and storytelling still holds up. Was completely invested in this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome

What an absolute pleasure to listen to.
Great story even though it’s 150 year age.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Whale of a time

Despite the lack of whales, this was a very enjoyable listen, the narrator did a fintastic job of bringing this classic to life, I could feel the discernibly manly presence of Sir James Mason himself. Fingers crossed for a sequel.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Ne
  • 06-07-23

Absolutely Fabulous

I loved it. How could someone have known so much so long ago. How many lessons we could have learnt had we listened.

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