A well crafted classic - Deserves a movie deal.

Just finished listening to this on Audible.
Americans, Christian's and Republicans are going to hate this book. Well, maybe half of all Americans.
I loved it.
Great plot progression and escalation.
A strong female lead.
Plausible and clever technology.
Reasonably accurate orbital physics.
Totally brutal towards right wing politics and religion.
Good narration.
A loud and clear definition of the stupidity of man.
Well done Tony. I loved it to bits.
My only complaint is that you've left no wiggle room for a sequel.
It's a book just crying out for a movie deal.

4 people found this helpful

Finally someone gets hard sci fi

Most hard sci fi novels go down the road of pausing the story for long periods of time to deliver science lessons full of technical detail. Harmsworth doesn't make that mistake here. He has done his research, but rather than relaying it all back to the reader literally, he uses it to describe a realistic environment, giving the reader a taste of what it is like to be there.

That's what I want from my sci fi. I want to experience what it would really be like to travel in outer space, explore nearby star systems or be alive when first contact is made with extraterrestrial beings.

Most sci fi is either pure fantasy or pure science lesson. This book is one of the few that gets the balance right.

1 person found this helpful

Loved this!!

Great book, great concept, great narrator. Needless to say, i liked the book a bit too much

1 person found this helpful

What was Harmsworth thinking?

Nauseatingly woke. Dreadfully condescending. Primary protagonist is entirely off-putting. Takes herself so seriously, she’s impossible to like.

It’s a pity, as the narrator is excellent and the premise is very interesting. The problem is that you know that if you actually met this character in real life, you’d run a mile. Yuck.

Bit of an odd one...

I didn't dislike this book, and it had some interesting concepts... but a few things just didn't quite work. Why was it narrated by an American doing a slightly odd English accent? Some of the characters sounded like a poor impression of The Queen, and others sounded like medieval peasants. The pacing was also a bit jarring, lingering for ages on trivial points of random woke discussion before blasting forward through years of globally significant events. The technology for the 2030s was a little inconsistent too - 200mph+ fully autonomous cars, but also newspapers, chat shows and SD cards? The storyline was quite predictable and linear, and I didn't really feel an affinity for any of the clichéd characters. Finally (and I say this as a proudly British aerospace engineer!), the UK was given way too much importance given its current situation... it felt forced and unrealistic.

Having said all of that, it was worth a listen for the thought-provoking moments, and I would try another book by the same author.

Aristocratic Astronaut meets Richard Dawkins

This book is fine. It’s average. It’s not that bad but it’s not great either.

The protagonist is deeply unlikeable - due in no small part to the preposterous voice given to her by the narrator (that of royalty or aristocracy). When the protagonist climbs the career ladder (inexplicably and with no relevant experience) - she becomes obsessed with status. She is rude to staff and never says please or thank you when barking orders. For a so-called smart person and astronaut, she sure doesn’t know a huge amount about 20th century space exploration.

Anyway - humans find Richard Dawkins’ brain in a miniature space ship. Space Richard Dawkins is as rude as the protagonist - so they fall in love I guess.

Oh - and I wouldn’t call this “hard sci-fi”.

Poor story telling meets unimaginative sci fi

You know how one of the foundations of story telling is to "show don't tell", well the protagonist tells, painfully, then once she is done telling, she tells the same thing to another character, then to another, then to another completely drowning the few engaging bits of the story in what seems to be a novel about the bureaucracy of international scientific cooperation.

Relevant, thought-provoking and moving

Before buying this, I read a review that said "Americans and Christians won't like this" which intrigued me!

I haven't read a huge number of First Contact sci-fi, but I feel confident in saying that Harmsworth has managed to examine the idea from a new angle. There is, of course, some detail about the discovery of the alien device however most of the attention is focussed on how this discovery should be disseminated to the world's population. The autor touches on politics, in what I felt was a very pointed way! The religious impact of First Contact is also addressed fairly briefly. I think I would've enjoyed some more on that.

I think having "Hard Sci Fi" in the title may have made me listen more critically than usual. I can understand why the publishers may have required it but I found I was often questioning some of the writing. I think, at times, the author forgets their narrator is narrating to someone in the future, feeling the need to explain technologies of 2035 to an audience in 2020; that kind of broke the spell for me. There are some slightly clumsy moments too, where the cast of scientific characters explain some simple chemistry to each other that, surely, would be basic knowledge.

I did really enjoy the book - I just wish the editing had been just a little tighter.

Good start, mediocre 2nd half, mediocre narration

The story starts off quite compelling and I was interested to see how it developed. The first third of the story gave a few glimpses of barely believable plot twists, but as the story progresses it veers into the realm of laughable (and not in a good way).

For example (spoiler alert) the protagonist seems to magically bypass any and all government, corporate and military hierarchy and somehow becomes the sole decider of what happens to and with the most significant discovery in human history, simply because she was there when it was accidentally discovered.

However, if you can suspend reality and logic for a while, it is actually quite enjoyable.

The narration, however, is a real annoyance. Someone needs to tell this American narrator that there are more than two English accents. She only has 'extremely posh' aristocratic for the scientists, and 'artful dodger' cockney for everyone else (like receptionists). Someone needs to explain to her that the vast majority of English people speak with a neutral accent, not these idiotic stereotypes. It begs the question as to why a story about an English protagonist, and set largely in England would need an American narrator? Bonkers!

Worth a listen and thought provoking if not a little biased.

Enjoyed the story and it was entertaining allbeit a little predictable and preachy in favour of science rather than belief. Tended to put forward a limited point of view as correct whilst at the same time being a tad condescending of alternatives points of view. Personally I wasn’t a massive fan of the narrators voice as rather posh and I didn’t like the leaning towards elitism, meritocracy and numerous references to certain brands and customs that elevate some above others. But that’s just my view and you had better judge it for yourself by having a listen