Poseidon's Wake cover art

Poseidon's Wake

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Poseidon's Wake

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
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About this listen

This novel is a stand-alone story which takes two extraordinary characters and follows them as they, independently, begin to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of our universe.

Their missions are dangerous, and they are all venturing into the unknown . . . and if they can uncover the secret to faster-than-light travel then new worlds will be at our fingertips.

But innovation and progress are not always embraced by everyone. There is a saboteur at work. Different factions disagree about the best way to move forward. And the mysterious Watchkeepers are ever-present.

Completing the informal trilogy which began with Blue Remembered Earth and On the Steel Breeze, this is a powerful and effective story.

(p) 2015 Orion Publishing Group©2015 Alastair Reynolds
Adventure Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera

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Critic reviews

a novel that works brilliantly as a space adventure and also reads, touchingly, almost as an atheist's reflection on why a kind of optimistic agnosticism may be a useful approach to finding contentment
It's grand, involving and full of light and wonder. Poseidon's Wake is one of the best sci-fi novels of the year
his finest moment yet and a glorious conclusion of the trilogy. A wonderful book and best that British SF has to offer at the moment
Although a long book, with so much story to fit in there is a brevity to the text which makes it an easy read which can be enjoyed as a standalone even though it satisfactorily revisits and resolves the majority of the threads from the previous novels
a well realised sci-fi universe, with plausible character
Having completed the trilogy I now want to return to its beginning and re-read. Alastair Reynolds is one of my very favourite authors, every book is a much-anticipated event, and withPoseidon's Wake he shows yet again why that is. I loved every single page.
Transhumans, talking elephants, inscrutable aliens and good old fashioned spaceship fights all contribute to a breathtaking adventure
All stars
Most relevant
Whilst, in my view, not his best work it is still very worthy science fiction. I am also pleased that we have main characters that are not centred around white middle class men. The characters are well rounded and interesting lending this series a unique quality.
I enjoyed this last instalment the most out of the series.

Entertaining and enlightened

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A fascinating series, highly imaginative and well worth the time. It's always a good sign when I feel slightly disappointed at the end of a series because I'd like to know what happens next...

Enjoyable and different

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There is a worthwhile story in here, but unfortunately it's buried beneath a large amount of unnecessary padding. This is one book which would really benefit from some editing.

In particular, it seemed very dialogue-heavy, with a lot of conversations not contributing much. This was not helped by the narrator making some of the characters speak rather slowly - albeit for a good reason.

That aside, the narration was very good, and it was not hard to tell who was who.

Incidentally, I don't agree with the synopsis above, where it states that "This novel is a standalone story." On the contrary; it draws heavily on the previous two books, and if you're going to go for this one, I'd recommend reading/listening to the others first.

So to summarise: an interesting story buried under a lot of padding, with a decent narrator.

Not bad, but oh so slow...

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If you could sum up Poseidon's Wake in three words, what would they be?

FARSEEING FUTURISTIC VISION

What was one of the most memorable moments of Poseidon's Wake?

THE RESCUE FROM THE WHEEL

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES

Any additional comments?

THIRD PART OF AN EXCELLENT SERIES WITH AN ENDING THAT LEAVES MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.

GALAXY SPANNING EPIC

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Is there anything you would change about this book?

I understand the desire to create an alternate to the standard white Anglo/American focus, but not sure the African slant works for me. But the biggest issue I have is, talking elephants! Felt like a bit 'young adult science fiction' to me, and a big stretch, especially as there was little character definition and therefore it was impossible to be either supportive or antipathetic toward them. I like the usual broad span of space and time of ARs books, and the strict adherence to the existing laws of physics.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

As in other books, the ending allows many more spinoff stories, which is a good thing.

Have you listened to any of Adjoa Andoh’s other performances? How does this one compare?

She was excellent and I will look out more books read by her on the basis of this.

Was Poseidon's Wake worth the listening time?

It filled up my daily commute, in that its length helped and the narrative was 'just' strong enough, but across the whole three books I think there were large chunks where I just concentrated on driving.....I don't think I missed anything critical

Any additional comments?

Alistair Reynolds is a great author but I'd rather see/hear more of the Chasm City universe (or the as yet undeveloped Pushing a Ice universe) than any more of this one. Noble attempt to change the paradigm, but ultimately the whole African/Elephant plot didn't convince me at all.

Curates Egg

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