Machine cover art

Machine

A White Space Novel

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Machine

By: Elizabeth Bear
Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
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About this listen

Meet Doctor Jens.

She hasn't had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years.

The first part of her job involves jumping out of perfectly good space-ships. The second part requires developing emergency treatments for sick aliens of species she's never seen before.

She loves it.

But her latest emergency is also proving a mystery:

Two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a dangerous embrace.

A mysterious crew suffering from an even more mysterious ailment.

A shipmind trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away.

A murderous virus from out of time.

Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can't resist a mystery. Which is why she's about to discover that everything she's dedicated her life to...is a lie.

©2020 Elizabeth Bear (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group Cyberpunk Military Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction

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All stars
Most relevant
This story works because of decent characters, great world building and a good space-mistery!

What I find very interesting is how the internal monologue of the MC is wildly different from what I would've expected, but I respect it as is.

Refreshing Scifi story of a space-EMT

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I liked the first book in the series a lot. the narrator for that one was very good and critically, suited the style of story. It was quite an abrupt change going into this second story in the series. Although I think the narrator is good (except for the character Starlight...that was frankly annoying), the voice style suited more classic fiction rather than sci-fi. It was a bit like listening to a space opera read in the voice suited to Sense & Sensibility. The story, though not particularly original, was fun and some interesting ideas are discussed. However some parts dragged and could have used some tighter editing. And lastly, and it is probably a minor quibble, the word atavistic was used far too often and became very annoying.

Good story but let down by lack of editing and narrator style

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For fans of Babylon 5 or 2000ad. Sympathetic characters complex story. A good all-round book

Interesting and well read.

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Elizabeth Bear raised many critical issues throughout the narrative of this book. I very much look forward to their future works.

moving and forward thinking

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A plot that’s heavy in exposition but you won’t care as it’s so well done.

Like Ancestral Night, this kicks off with a BDO that does not stay mysterious for long before going off at a tangent.

Narration was well done.

Wonderfully old fashioned

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