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The Expert System's Brother

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The Expert System's Brother

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
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About this listen

Best-selling British master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky brings listeners a new, mind-expanding science fantasia in The Expert System's Brother.

After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn't understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine.

Can an unlikely savior provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

©2018 Adrian Czajkowski (P)2019 Tantor Adventure Fiction Genetic Engineering Science Fiction Computer Science Artificial Intelligence
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First you think it’s a clever mix of fantasy and magic with a touch of steampunk, but it’s pure sci-fi and it’s very good.

However, audiobooks need to have awards for best performances and punishments for worst renditions: this clever tale was all but buried under a robotic delivery which had me yelling sentences and phrases back with revised human intonations all the way through.

It’s a tribute to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s world-building imagination and prose that I was able to persevere to the end (and it’s worth doing) whilst wading through the hostile environment created by the narrator.

Presumably the narrator hates reading aloud and/or he was bullied by nerds and/or bibliophiles to wreak his revenge so profoundly. Or perhaps he only recorded three or four words in every session and had a break of several days between each one. What else can explain the repetitive tone in which this is relentlessly droned?

Fascinating Story, appalling narration.

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The story is okay. The "twist" is made clear fairly early on which is fine for this story, but it kind-of just plods on from this stage and you can guess where it will be going, but an interesting concept and fairly enjoyable.

However, the narration - oh lordy the narration. To get a feel for it, imagine you decided to get an AI to do the narration but used the free version so you could only narrate it a sentence at a time. Now, image to get each line you said "Read this line in the style of an asthmatic William Shatner but one you've ordered from Temu".

The narration IS very OFFPUTting ...with odd paus...es ... AND strange inflLECTions,

Every sentence that isn't dialogue has exactly the same delivery style. I nearly abandoned it after a few chapters. It never improves. It may not bother you, but I would listen to the preview before you commit to check you can cope with it.

Narrated by Temu William Shatner

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Another Adrian Tchaikovsky triumph!
I'm continually surprised by how much he can fit into a Novella, the world building and character development make you invest in the people and themes that are written about which is difficult to achieve in so few pages. First rate intelligent science fiction as I've come to expect from this author. Some recurring themes from his other books but spun in a new way which keeps things fresh. I'm currently ploughing my way through his back catalogue and have not been disappointed so far.
I enjoyed the narrator too just upped the speed a little to make the delivery a little less stilted.

Smart and enjoyable sci-fi Novella

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The story was great, just my sort of thing, full of clever inventiveness and considerations of humanity. Unfortunately, the narrator has this one vocal pattern, a sort of musicality to his speech that makes every sentence come out the same (excepting dialogue). And it's an annoying one! The closest I can think of is the way a news reader infects sentences which are meant to be much more bitesize than the paragraphs and pages of a book. It drove me mad for the first half of the performance, though by the end I had managed to get past it. Have a listen to the clip before buying, you'll see what I mean. (or maybe it won't trouble you!) The story is worth the listen though, if you can press on!

Odd performance makes it a struggle

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This book is like having a blindfold lifted from your eyes.
slowly you peace together what's happening / happend.

it feels like a different angle on the other authors books.

a interesting book.

I little short left wanting more

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