Listen free for 30 days
-
The Algebraist
- Narrated by: Geoff Annis
- Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £31.39
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Against a Dark Background
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilisation based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her.
-
-
It's probably just me but...
- By Paul on 25-10-12
-
Consider Phlebas
- Culture Series, Book 1
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction - cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade....
-
-
A Truly Great Sci-Fi Novel
- By scotty on 09-04-12
-
Transition
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
-
Audio book of the year
- By MikeyC on 10-11-09
-
Feersum Endjinn
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time.... Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones.... And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt.... And everything is about to change.... For this is the time of the encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand.
-
-
Interesting story, great narration
- By V. Hooper on 30-06-13
-
Cryptonomicon
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 42 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
-
-
Mixed emotions
- By Mr. M. Bleck on 12-12-13
-
Redshirts
- A Novel with Three Codas
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.
-
-
Interesting concept ruined
- By Mr. G. Mitchell on 12-10-17
-
Against a Dark Background
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilisation based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her.
-
-
It's probably just me but...
- By Paul on 25-10-12
-
Consider Phlebas
- Culture Series, Book 1
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction - cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade....
-
-
A Truly Great Sci-Fi Novel
- By scotty on 09-04-12
-
Transition
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
-
Audio book of the year
- By MikeyC on 10-11-09
-
Feersum Endjinn
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time.... Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones.... And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt.... And everything is about to change.... For this is the time of the encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand.
-
-
Interesting story, great narration
- By V. Hooper on 30-06-13
-
Cryptonomicon
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 42 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
-
-
Mixed emotions
- By Mr. M. Bleck on 12-12-13
-
Redshirts
- A Novel with Three Codas
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.
-
-
Interesting concept ruined
- By Mr. G. Mitchell on 12-10-17
-
Anathem
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris, and others
- Length: 32 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the "Saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities, and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community.
-
-
The best of the lot (not just Neal, books!)
- By George Newman on 29-05-20
-
Rendezvous with Rama
- Rama Series, Book 1
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence.
-
-
Well read with distinctive character voices.
- By In car listener on 16-01-17
-
The Complete Short Stories
- By: J. G. Ballard
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrrom, William Gaminara, Sean Barrett, and others
- Length: 63 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of 98 enthralling and pulse-quickening stories, spanning five decades, venerates the remarkable imagination of J. G. Ballard. With a body of work unparalleled in twentieth-century literature, J. G. Ballard is recognized as one of the greatest and most prophetic writers in the world. With the much-hailed release of The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, readers now have a means to celebrate the unmatched range and mesmerizing cadences of a literary genius.
-
-
Excellent but badly put together
- By Lester Gabang on 10-02-17
-
Guardian of Night
- By: Tony Daniel
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For alien Commander Arid Ricimer, there was no going home. His species was winning the war with Earth, but the civilization he had fought for was gone, destroyed from within by ideologues and bureaucrats. So he does the only thing that makes sense to a person of integrity—he attempts to defect to Earth with his officers and an entire spaceship, a vessel that mounts a superweapon of almost unimaginable power.
-
-
Sadly.disappointed
- By Elisabeth on 23-12-12
-
Quicksilver
- Book One of The Baroque Cycle
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Neal Stephenson (introduction), Kevin Pariseau, Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
-
-
A glorious and enchanting tale
- By Tamlin on 20-01-11
-
Tarnished Knight: The Lost Stars, Book 1
- The Lost Stars, Book 1
- By: Jack Campbell
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The authority of the Syndicate Worlds’ government is crumbling. Civil war and rebellion are breaking out in many star systems, despite the Syndic government’s brutal attempts to suppress disorder. Midway is one of those star systems, and leaders there must decide whether to remain loyal to the old order or fight for something new.
-
-
The future looks bright.
- By Nick on 06-11-12
-
Neuromancer
- Sprawl Trilogy, Book 1
- By: William Gibson
- Narrated by: Jason Flemyng
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel. William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term 'cyberspace' produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the cyberpunk movement.
-
-
Of its time
- By G. B on 18-10-21
-
Renegade
- Spiral Wars, Book 1
- By: Joel Shepherd
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity’s new Homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity’s most powerful industrial family, is framed with his murder.
-
-
Aside from the occasional infodump, a pretty good
- By Andrew J Chamberlain on 07-02-21
-
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- By: Douglas Adams
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with.
-
-
Classic English Comedy Sci-Fi, but...
- By No Longer Submitting Reviews on 24-08-20
-
Bear Head
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Nathan Osgood, William Hope
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mars. The red planet. A new frontier for humanity: a civilisation where humans can live in peace, lord and master of all they survey. But this isn't Space City from those old science-fiction books. It's more like Hell City, built into and from a huge crater. There's a big silk canopy over it, feeding out atmosphere as we generate it, little by little, because we can't breathe the air here. I guess it's a perfect place to live, if you want to live on Mars. At some point I must have wanted to live on Mars, because here I am.
-
-
Strange choice of two narrators
- By Mr M on 20-03-21
-
The Reality Dysfunction
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 41 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton is the first in Night's Dawn, a sweeping galactic trilogy from the master of space opera. In AD 2600 the human race is finally realizing its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets across the galaxy host a multitude of wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary space-born creatures.
-
-
Great story spoiled by poor audio editing..
- By P Hardwick on 18-11-16
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Felt cheated
- By Paul Green on 02-07-19
Summary
For short-lived 'quick' races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria, whose rule is both military and religious. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets - the rest is debris.
Our human hero, Fassin Taak, is a Slow Seer privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron in his home system Ulubis. His work consists of rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance....
More from the same
What listeners say about The Algebraist
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Martin
- 05-12-17
Spoiled by awful narration
I jumped at the chance to get hold of the unabridged version of this book which had previously only been available in its severely abridged seven-hour version. To be fair, it is probably not one of IMB's best works, butt is still a hugely entertaining story. Unfortunately, the narrator is very poor indeed. He has clearly acquainted himself with the rather arcane names of places and people typical of IMB, but he seems to have failed utterly to plan ahead in his reading, so the intonational contour of what he reads is frequently wrong, and he often fails to get the tone of the dialogue right as well as making occasional errors with the pronunciation of words (he obviously doesn't know the words hegemony or exigencies for example). He then proceeds to ham it up with overdramatic rendering of action sequences. I shall certainly be looking out for his name as one to avoid in future.
67 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Samuel99
- 26-03-18
Narrator does not understand sentences
This could be a good book but it is difficult to assess, given the awful narration. The narrator Geoff Aniss makes listening a difficult and painful process and I've never had to rewind so much.
His main problem is the way he continually breaks up sentences with apparent semi-colons at random places; before continuing with the story. It's actually made me; feel angry, because this books comes from an amazing author and has effectively been; mauled.
49 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Brandon
- 13-11-18
A welcome reboot of Banks' most intriguing work
This was a long time coming. 'The Algebraist' is perhaps one of Banks' lesser-read works, at least if my friends are anything to go by, and the original audio - by Anton Lesser - was of poor quality, from an auditory point of view, although his delicate tones and nice range of character voices are pleasing, ultimately.
If you haven't read it, and like the Iain M Banks canon, you need to. If you haven't read any of his novels before, it's not the place I'd begin, although it is a work of rare treasures, with civilisation-building to rival the best of Banks (and SF in general), some great characters and all the wonder of life on/in a gas giant planet.
My only slight disappointment here was the choice of Geoff Annis for narrator. Don't get me wrong, Annis' buttery Yorkshire tones are very listenable, but his range of character voices is limited, and this can get slightly confusing and a tad dull at times, especially during multi-character conversations.
The other Banks SF works are mainly voiced by the brilliant - for my money, unmatched - Peter Kenny (with the exception of 'Matter', which Toby Longworth brings to spectacular life (and runs Kenny a creditable second in my 'All Time Banks Narrators' (yes, I'm a nerd...)).
It's a shame Kenny wasn't picked for the Algebraist, but I'd happily buy a THIRD cut to hear his take on the insane Archimandrite, the prim Colonel Hatherence and the curious, arcane Dwellers of Nasqueron.
Altogether, a qualified 'buy' for Banks fans; otherwise try 'Matter' or 'Surface Detail' and come back to 'The Algebraist' when you've bathed in the glory that is Iain M Banks (RIP).
33 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Toadjuggler
- 03-02-18
Hooray and oh dear.
Brilliant book by my favourite writer.
Please get it re-recorded by Peter Kenny. Mr Annis just doesn't get Iain Banks and it comes through in his reading. I lost track so many times and it took me three goes to get through it, so disappointing.
I actually first joined Audible to listen to Iain M. Banks' books but this really doesn't cut it.
PS. three years after I posted the above I decided to be fair. I decided to listen to this again. I decided that this is the single worst reading I have downloaded from Audible. The reader is abominable, he can't read sentences and doesn't even pretend to understand the text. Please, please, please get Mr Kenney to re-record this.
43 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anony-mouse
- 22-03-18
Sadly no Peter Kenny
The story is very good in typical Iain M Banks way (not a Culture series novel but in the same vein) but is let down by the narration. Geoff Annis gives an ok narration but doesn’t have the range of Peter Kenny and so is let down by poor female vocals and very bad American-ist accents. I’d still say it’s worth buying.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nick
- 05-11-18
Brilliant
I have the abridged version of this book and have kistned to it several times. I began this book rather wishing Anton Lesser or Peter Kenny had read it; influenced, no doubt, by reviews that were less than complimentary about Mr. Annis, however I really enjoyed the narration and will seek out other books narrated by him.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 12-11-17
Not The Culture But A Great Listen
A little over long but a great listen, have previously listened to the abridged audio book but enjoyed this a lot more. Not quite Banks at his best but still a brilliant!!!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- GadgetMaven
- 03-07-20
An ok story but too long-winded in parts
This would have made a good short story but as with some of Bank’s books there are too many diversions and introspections that lend nothing to the story. It was hard not to switch off at times. Contrary to some other reviewers, I found the narrator to be the saving grace!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steve K
- 06-10-19
Nothing new.
I had the pleasure of reading the book when it was first published. listening to the story, read by a superb narrator, has added to the drama and given me a new perspective on the tale. But whatever form you choose, the truth is that the story remains a magnificent Iain Banks creation. For those that continue to love his work this is not a surprise.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- George
- 22-01-19
Good story but quite predictable plot.
The "twist" in the end was very predictable which make the whole story a bit less interesting. Also I found the side story about sal quite irrelevant and completely out of place with the test of the plot. The reader was really good. Overall by far not the best of Banks' books.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- M. Lambert
- 16-08-18
A masterpiece.
Extremely imaginative yet very real. Excellent characters who feel real. A distant future on a galactic scale. The tech is fascinating but not fantasy. A fast moving story well told. The narrator is perfect. Neither overly dramatic nor attempting to blow your mind, just extremely well done.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Emainiak
- 07-07-19
Whimsical Fun
Ian Banks departs from his Human-centric Culture novels to explore a twist in his post-scarcity society theme. The Agebraist explores how humanity might interact woth a civilization so old, with individuals living as ling as billions of years if they can avoid accidents, that scarcity and all conception of the seriousness of trivial life has been lost. The Quick, the general term for species who live lifespan in the order of decades or centuries, or even millenia, seem to buzz about them in so much tumult and chaotic intensity.
Banks's Dwellers are humerous, their society a lampoons of civilization's foibles and vanity, and the story manages to be exciting while frequently relying heavily on dialog. Very much worth a listen.
With regards to the presentation, it is solid but starts out with an odd "pause for commas" approach that takes some time to adjust to. By the 20% mark either I or the reader had fully adapted to the rhythm and made for an enjoyable British accented presentation.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- William L.
- 15-08-20
Crap
Despite a fantastic narrator, this book is mindless drivel. Word soup. Yuck. Another author from the gutter using f-bombs. I guess they don't teach vocabulary or creative writing these days.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 03-12-19
World building does not a story make.
Excellent world building. Half baked characters with banal and pointless character arcs. As a result the whole affair feels sterile, and leaves one with little emotional investment and instead resigned to a boring trudge through the far reaches of the galaxy, even if that galaxy is well imagined.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 24-06-18
okay after you get into it
Abit difficult to get started with. Characters are somewhat wooden. I had expected a little more from Iain Banks
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rob
- 02-12-18
Excellent characters and world building
Another classic from Banks. Captivating story and interesting characters, especially the enigmatic Dwellers. A bit tough to follow in the beginning due to the amount of characters with weird names. In addition, the narration jumps between characters very abruptly at times, so listeners have to stay on their toes.
Reasonably realistic physics despite there being a galaxy-spanning civilization and FTL travel through wormholes.
Warning: some description of horrific torture. Thankfully it doesn't last that long.
Overall an excellent book.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Roberto Ruiz
- 06-08-18
Space Opera//Mcguffin
This is one of Banks' best works, not as grand in scope as the Culture series but maybe even better for it as it doesn't take itself too seriously. The alien races in this book are phenomenal, Dwellers may be my favorite aliens. Geoff Annis' narration is spot-on, you will not be disappointed.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kevin
- 22-01-19
Wonderful story.
It kept me riveted until the end. It has a lot of science fiction ideas that I haven't seen before. Great read and quality narration.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Michael G Kurilla
- 17-05-21
Alien encounters of a bizarre kind
Iain M Banks' offers a richly engaging universe with complex political structures and a truly alien race that is tough to fathom. Near the edge of the major galactic empire lies a system that has been shut off from the rest of the empire for a while due to loss of a portal. Near the edge, the Beyonders operate as a group of anarchist pirates. The only noteworthy aspect of the system is a scholar who has studied the Dwellers, an alien race that lives in gas giants. They are long lived (billions of years), stick to themselves, but appear to possess an alternative portal system that the scholar inadvertently uncovered. Now everyone wants it, but no one knows where it is and so the race is on, including a particularly sadistic splinter group.
Banks combines a complex set of political structures with some thoroughly detestable fellows, along with a treasure hunt that crisscrosses the galaxy picking up clues in exotic locales. At the same time, the Dwellers represents a truly frustrating alien intelligence, having lived so long, they have forgotten more than has been discovered by everyone else which along with their laid back attitude makes for annoying and frustrating interactions. He also includes several side stories both personal and philosophical (artificial intelligence). While the ending leaves plenty of fodder for another adventure in this universe, Banks has never returned.
The narration is reasonable with decent character distinction, but the tone and pacing are not well aligned with the action as the action scenes tend to be delivered like the rest.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ryan Woodham
- 31-12-20
The book that just doesn't really get better
Hard to follow the storyline as it scene jumped, voice acting was fairly dull as well. In the end the combination just made it hard to stay tuned in and I just kept hoping the book would get moving.
2 people found this helpful