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Only Human cover art

Only Human

By: Sylvain Neuvel
Narrated by: Sylvain Neuvel,William Hope,Charlie Anson,Laurence Bouvard,Adna Sablylich,Laura Kirman
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Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel, read by a returning cast. 

We always thought the biggest threat to humanity would come from the outside. We were wrong. 

As the human race picks up the pieces of destruction left behind, a new world order emerges. New alliances are formed. Old divisions are strengthened. And with a power struggle fuelled by the threat of mutually assured destruction, nothing is certain. 

At a time when the world's nations should have been coming together, they have never been more divided. With the human race teetering on the brink of total war, Rose, Vincent and Eva must choose sides. But doing the right thing might mean making the ultimate sacrifice. 

©2018 Sylvain Neuvel (P)2018 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Only Human

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Disappointing ending to an excellent series

I listened to the first two books in this series and loved them, to the point i pre ordered Only Human. The expectation of a fantastic finish to the series was crushed by the disappointment that arrived instead. There has been a change of cast from the first two, and this does have an effect, with some of the replacements trying to sound like their predecessors, and it just doesn't quite work. it's like listening to a tribute band, you can appreciate what they are doing but it's not like seeing the real thing.
Coupled with the average performances, the story just makes little sense. it's painful to listen though the alien exchanges as the author has created a language that is not nice to listen to, and is then translated back by the next speaker making the whole thing pointless as well as painful.
i was genuinely looking forward to this, wanting to know what happened to the characters, but this book should not have been written. There was an ending at book 2 that could have ended it as a 2 book series, there was no need for this. Stick to book 1&2 and enjoy those for what they are, pretend this book doesn't exist and use your 8hrs doing something fun instead.

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17 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Such a disappointment

The first two books in this series were so good it is unfortunate that the author felt this book would benefit from an insane amount of gratuitous profanity. The story itself was lacking in any development.

The performance was poor compared to the previous two and I was left wondering why Eva’s accent went from strongly Latino in the previous book to annoyingly fake Bronx. Other characters had noticeably changed and it really took away from the story.

A poor ending indeed when the previous books had been so well written and preformed.

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11 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I guess it had to end somewhere

I have been such a huge promoter of this series, even before book 3 came out. I'm not sure where to go with this. I guess the story is what it is and the voice acting can also take you out of the story, I still enjoyed the characters.... But "Eva, a girl that grew up on Puerto Rico for half her life and then on another planet, having a New York accent, really started to gripe on me every time she spoke, and then the Aliens sound like a Speak & Spell. I guess this was the Matrix 3 of the story, although this didn't really feel like I had closure on the characters I cared about... In all honesty, it felt like a Twin Peaks episode.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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too much shouting !!

I loved the 1st and 2nd book but I couldn't even finish the 3rd book...too much shouting by the readers. It's an audio book not a radio play...such a pity , it started so well.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

disappointing

I realy enjoyed the first two books in this series so on getting this re listened to those first. I think I heard both of those together in a third of the time it took me to plow through this one...

The 'recordings' style is still observed, but while the first books had our nameless friend to anchor them somewhat, this somehow feels disjointed. The combination of jumping many years while also flashing back to the team away just didn't work for me and felt a very different type of story to the previous two books. while not a bad tale it was hard to see it fitting with the others and was certainly a lot less compelling or exciting. Equally the end felt somewhat underwhelming, although it did tie up the narrative in a sensible enough way I was happy to have followed it all.

if you enjoyed the first two books for their style / format - well look elsewhere imo. if you want the story continued to resolution this works, but don't set your hopes to high

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This is awful

Having listened to the first 2 books in this series I was keen to listen to this third dramatized episode. In short, it's bloody awful! Really irritating characters that sound like a cross between a bad school play and Bill & Ben the Flower Pot Men. I tried but in the end, it was irritating me so much I gave up and will try and send it back for credit.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping end of trilogy

This was a great finish to the trilogy, possibly even my favourite out of the three books. The ending felt right leaving the story at a satisfying point

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great finish!

I was a little sceptical of having all those narrators but it worked great. There's large robot fighting, conventional warfare, an armed uprising, aliens, politics, a toy store, a weird Russian and aliens (again).

The ending fits the story. It covers the time line and introduces some very interesting new characters.

As alien stories go this is a must listen/read. As any story, this is a must!

Give all three a try, you shouldn't be disappointed with them.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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End of an Era

I LOVED this trilogy and am sad it's over. It's a wonderful, compelling, satisfying and highly intelligent piece of sci-fi. I recommend you start at Book 1 and don't stop. I wish there was another.

Mr Burns and 'our friend' - amazing characters.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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5 star ending to a 5 start series.

First things first, this book (of the series) is BLOODY BRILLIANT.
It’s well thought out, brilliantly written and had a solid story and a solid ending. If you’re a fan of the first two books then this one will be the cherry on top of the cake.

Some new characters and 1 of them (Catherine) is someone I think people will enjoy. She’s a bit like a cute version of ‘our friend’.

Cannot recommend this series enough.

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  • H Angeli
  • 09-11-18

Changes is cast

The story is a bit different than the other two but quite enjoyable, and I liked it though the end was a little bit too happy for me. I would rather read a bittersweet ending.
Unfortunately, they changed the voice actress that does Eva's character... And it was not a good idea. The first actress had a Puerto Rican accent, but this one... Well, I don't know much about accents of the English language, but she says 'u' instead of 'r' - it makes no sense at all, why she would pick this accent in the context of the book?!

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  • Anonymous User
  • 26-03-23

Maybe stop after 2nd

I loved the first two books, but this one somehow doesn't fit withe rest of the series, both the story and the voice cast (Recasting some mayor characters). I think I would be happier not listening this one and just having the ending of the second book be the end of the series.
As a standalone book it's 3/5

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  • Swiss Nick
  • 13-10-20

Pretty good

Pretty good story altogether. Did t need to go through 3 book. Could have been made shorter. Dragged on a bit

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • MR W P H MYBURGH
  • 22-03-19

An interesting conclusion to the trilogy.

Not the best out of the three books but still intriguing and interesting. I enjoyed the some of the new characters and the effect they had on the storyline.

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  • P. Nisja
  • 07-08-18

Great performance. Story not so. First two good

the first two books were good. not so this one. lacking in suspense and drama

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