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Feersum Endjinn
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy
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Critic reviews
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What listeners say about Feersum Endjinn
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Mark Brandon
- 22-01-13
Brought the novel to life for me
Honestly, Feersum Endjinn was never my favourite Banks book, but Peter Kenny's excellent narration brought it to life for me in a way reading it didn't, all those years ago. Kenny's intonation and characterisation are perfectly suited to Banks' intricate plots and diverse characters, and this was thoroughly enjoyable.
I'd recommend Feersum Endjinn to any Banks fan out there. It's not perhaps the easiest one to start with, if you're new to his science-fiction. Instead, head for 'Consider Phlebas', Banks' first science-fiction novel and, happily, also narrated by Peter Kenny.
Just the best-value SF audiobooks I've come across!
10 people found this helpful
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- C. R. Broadhead
- 19-03-15
Another masterpiece by the master
Any additional comments?
Don't be put off by the reviews about the phonetic speech, doesn't apply to an audible book!
Put me off for a while but no problem when listening.
3 people found this helpful
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- V. Hooper
- 30-06-13
Interesting story, great narration
Very interesting and enjoyable story, a bit confusing at first but still fun to try to work out what's going on, though I would have preferred some things to have been explained earlier. Brilliant characters and fantastic ideas, with several characters' stories running alongside each other. The book has a well thought out and described world, giving it a sweeping sci-fi epic feel which I really liked. Very good book!
Narration is great. All the characters have distinct voices, and Bascule's section is particularly good. In the actual book, his sections are written phonetically, which can make them a struggle to follow:
"Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday?"
Listening to the audiobook avoids this problem, and I much preferred it, as it didn't break the flow of the story. However, if you want the true experience of reading his sections as they were written, then you'll need to get the book. Personally, I'd recommend the audio instead.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mark
- 06-02-13
Feersum Good
I first read Feersum Endjinn many years ago when it first came out. At the time I heard the book in my head in Scottish accents. Also - I found the book quite confusing with Bascule the Teller's dyslexia making it slightly heavy going.
So the audiobook was with an English accent - which threw me - but it was very well read and I thouroughly enjoyed the telling! Well done Kenny! So a decent book made great by good telling. Scottish accents could have been more fun though - but that would have been icing on the cake!
3 people found this helpful
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- GSV3MiaC
- 16-04-20
The only way to 'read' this one
The fonetik writing in (some chapters of) the original book is enough to drive one spare, but Peter Kenny handles it amazingly well, and I suggest this is by far the best way to enjoy this particular novel. Story is perhaps a bit lacking compared to the Culture series, but still well worth a listen.
This is the 'go to' narrator for IMB's works, in my opinion.
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- Andrew May-Coates
- 24-10-19
Tough to get into but worth persevering
Took a while to get into this story, but it got appreciably better a third of the way through then really enjoyed it.
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- Amazon Customer
- 16-06-19
Fantastic
the best of the non-culture books, left it as saw some poor reviews. but this is a wonderfully deep abstract work. An absolute pleasure.
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- Emma Overend
- 14-06-19
Painful listening, even for a Banks fan
I’ve read most of the Banks canon, sci-fi and fiction, and I’d avoided buying the print version because when ever I’d perused it in a bookshop I’d spotted the phonetic text in some chapters, and it put me off. Also I’d known that it wasn’t part of the Culture universe.
Nevertheless, intrigued enough to finally say I’d ‘read’ it, I decided this would be good to try on audible for my long commutes to work and back. How wrong I was.
The phonetic sections are actually the more penetrable sections of the audio recording, with the phonetics become a cockney accent or a charming minor speech impediment, depending which character was speaking.
I just found the rest of the book too slow paced, too disjointed. I had little clue of what was going on. And I found the ending underwhelming as well. Very little to recommend it, sorry to say.
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- patrick O'Neil
- 14-03-19
A wildly inventive story with the Best performance
so wondered so feerless..
Peter Kenny yet again shows his genius like prowess when reading and characterizing Iain .M .Banks works.
Its mesmerising from start to finish. Portraying a " youngster" as a main protagonist is very tricky
but with the help of Banks" narrative Mr.Kenny gives a complete "tour de force" his portrayals are so exquisite.
Brilliant
worth more than every penny
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- sidneylopsides
- 23-10-18
Brilliant world building, unusual styles
First of all, I found it took a good few chapters to get into. I've found this with a few of Banks' novels. He often throws you straight into the story with no background, only later do some things, like people's titles or names for technologies, get explained. However, once you get past that, it all falls into place and you have great stories with interesting and odd characters in some fantastic worlds. This is no exception. One character in particular has an odd style of speech, and this is based directly on how his chapters were written in the book, after seeing some of this written down the peculiar pronunciation made more sense. Peter Kenny does a fantastic job with the voices, I particularly liked Bascule.