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Descendant Machine

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Descendant Machine

By: Gareth L. Powell
Narrated by: Rebecca Norfolk
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From the award-winning author comes a gripping, fast-paced and fascinating science fiction adventure. Vividly imagined and sharply written, fans of Ann Leckie and Becky Chambers will be engrossed.

The Grand Mechanism is a machine the size of Saturn’s rings that has lain dormant for all recorded history, watched over by the alien Jzat. Now, rogue elements in Jzat and human society conspire to activate it, hoping it will bring them power and opportunity. But the only person who knows the Mechanism’s secrets is the Rav’nah Abelisk, a Jzat holy man on sabbatical aboard a vast alien megaship. Believing the Mechanism’s activation will bring galactic devastation, Nic Mafalda has to seek out the Abelisk before his sacred knowledge falls into the wrong hands—but only if she can first escape the lethally radioactive remains of her wrecked scout ship.©2023 Gareth L. Powell (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Adventure Epic Fantasy First Contact Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction
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Some great characters, human and machine, fight against the odds to save the universe. A rollicking ride at breakneck speed, with plenty of science, humour, & rough and tumble. Avoids the mind numbing detail of some of the hard scifi operas and is a sensible duration, so Gareth gets my vote again for this one.

Another excellent space opera from Gareth Powell

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I've finally gotten around to listening to Gareth L Powell's "Descendant Machine", having read a hard copy of it some time ago. It's my practice to reserve judgement on a novel until I hear it performed by someone other than the full supporting cast in my head. So, here goes:

I lost count of the number of times Gareth side swiped me with unexpected twists throughout the novel. Two thirds of the way in, I was confidently predicting an ending, only to find I was utterly wrong. That's the sign of a well thought out plot.

The characters are fantastic. Nic Mfalda is one for future adventures (if it doesn't happen, I may be forced to take measures). And the Jzat deserve an origin story. The concepts are breathtakingly audacious. Really. On a Banks level of audacity. There's some great humour littered through the story, delivered through absolutely on the button dialogue.

This is, as Scalzi puts it, a writer at the top of his game. Although, I suspect Powell will scale further heights. His development as a writer has been exponential but this is a real coming of age work. He's found his voice, and in so doing has drawn level with his peer group. I now regard him as being in the vanguard of Brit SciFi with the likes of Hamilton.

On a tangential note, his narrator, Rebecca Norfolk, really works the story, and brings the narrative to life. And I only found three mispronunciations throughout. That's classy in a nearly eight hour read.

Sci-Fi fans everywhere need to get in on this act before everyone starts saying, "Yeah, of course, I was into Powell before he got famous."

Deserves to be Powell's breakout novel

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love the description of the many life forms ballance peculiarities of their worlds within a space ship's

a moments laps of concentration and you will loose YW space ?

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If you like space opera, you'll like this. However the narration is riddled with mispronunciations, some of which are absolute howlers. At one point I wondered if it was text to speech, but apparently it's a human narrator. How can you be a voice actress and not know that bow tie and bow of a ship are pronounced differently? The first book in the series was riddled with similar errors too.

Great story, weird narration.

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