Regular price: £14.99
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
In 2061 a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world. A desperate plan is formed: recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.
The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultramodern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942...right into the path of the US naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll. History is rewritten in an instant as the future smashes into the past, and high-tech hardware goes head to head with World War Two technology. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the maelstrom has only just begun.
The Mechanics and the Mages have been bitter rivals, agreeing only on the need to keep the world they rule from changing. But now a Storm approaches, one that could sweep away everything humans have built. Only one person has any chance of uniting enough of Dematr behind her to stop the Storm, but the Great Guilds and many others will stop at nothing to defeat her.
From the author of the Audible #1 bestsellers The Stone Man, The Physics of the Dead, and In the Darkness, That's Where I'll Know You. Five more stories from Luke Smitherd to keep you intrigued, shocked, and asking what you would do...
Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
In 2061 a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world. A desperate plan is formed: recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.
The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultramodern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942...right into the path of the US naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll. History is rewritten in an instant as the future smashes into the past, and high-tech hardware goes head to head with World War Two technology. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the maelstrom has only just begun.
The Mechanics and the Mages have been bitter rivals, agreeing only on the need to keep the world they rule from changing. But now a Storm approaches, one that could sweep away everything humans have built. Only one person has any chance of uniting enough of Dematr behind her to stop the Storm, but the Great Guilds and many others will stop at nothing to defeat her.
From the author of the Audible #1 bestsellers The Stone Man, The Physics of the Dead, and In the Darkness, That's Where I'll Know You. Five more stories from Luke Smitherd to keep you intrigued, shocked, and asking what you would do...
Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.
Henry Kyllo is a Runner, a member of a secret society called the Inferne Cutis. Every day he is chased through the city by Hunters whose goal is to fill him with bullets. It is a secret war steeped in history, tradition, and mutual fear.
Rumours abound about what happens when a Runner achieves ascension, but it has supposedly never happened before, so no one knows for sure. Except that it has happened before. And it is happening again. This time to Henry Kyllo.
Really, really poor. The all the characters are from the same city, yet half have English accents, half have pseudo American accents. The narrator does not have a good American accent, and not in the way that people say occasional English Hollywood actors have shaky American accents, this sounds like he's never even tried before.
The story makes no sense, has no regard for basic physics, and has 0 consistency for the size of the character. No motivations are clear, and worst of all, nothing is in any way explained. The story is based around a potentially interesting secret sub-culture, but it is never explored, explained, or really even referenced. DO NOT buy this if you're interested in the premise. Or, realistically, at all. I'm genuinely trying to think of a redeeming feature, but I can't.
Just don't buy this. If it were free, I'd say stay away.
Where does A Perfect Machine rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
About the middle of the road.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
I am not sure. Maybe cut down on the number of main characters.
What about John Banks’s performance did you like?
Good pace, easy to understand.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Nope.
Any additional comments?
This is an odd book. Not bad just odd. It's kind of hard to keep track of at times. Didn't much care for the ending, thought that it was really kind of bland and campy. It's still a good read and or listen. The Narrator does an excellent job at bringing the story to life.
Wonderfully unique premise with a total loss of coherence at the end. Performance of John Banks was as good as ever.