Ambergris

City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek, Finch

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Cassandra Campbell, Oliver Wyman

From the author of Borne and Annihilation comes the one-volume reissue of his cult classic Ambergris Trilogy.

Before Area X, there was Ambergris. Jeff VanderMeer conceived what would become his first cult classic series of speculative works: the Ambergris trilogy. Now, for the first time ever, the story of the sprawling metropolis of Ambergris is collected into a single volume, including City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch.

©2020 VanderMeer Creative, Inc. (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Hits different

This book just hits different. It’s format is different. I didn’t feel like things got bows as much as they got more questions. So much is left for us to decide after the fact. But I loved every minute of it.

Excellent Series

The first few novels were good, but a bit scattered and seemed to be loosely connected. But the final novel Finch was a subtle weaving of the previous books with the character John Finch and all the mysteries of Ambergis and his own life together. I especially loved the ending, which was uplifting and let the reader's mind reeling with possibilities.

Wonderful & Imaginative

The whole Ambergris trilogy was fantastic. Each book is distinct and unique but the over-arching plot and story of the city is always present.
Ambergris is a beautifully crafted world with a very deep history. I couldn’t put the books down and wanted more stories from Ambergris when I was finished.

Can’t recommend enough!

It’s a long listen but it’s worth it, as you discover the amazing city of Ambergris and the strange and thrilling stories that bring it to life.

Enjoyable and relaxing listening.

Character description and development are done in a balanced way to show how disturbing the changes happening are, and thankfully leaving the details up to the imagination of the listener. There are unexpected twists which eventually show that revenge is indeed a dish served cold; and perhaps with a side of terror?
Shall “we” end up working with “them” eventually? The we-s and them-s persist on all levels, human, vegetable, alien, and hybrids leading to a beautifully complex and easily understood story.

Entrancing “weird” novel

If you’ve read VanderMeer and enjoyed him before you’ll love this book, he is a writer of immense talent and voice. The world of ambergris is pulled out of time and draws on history and literary canon as well as VanderMeer’s towering imagination. Surges with empathy and an utterly unique weirdness. A lovely late night reader.

Some...shall we say, interesting...choices from the narration team here, to varying results. It’s weird fiction so I suppose I should rather expect some weirdness on the part of the narration team, but in certain stories like “Hoegboten’s guide to the history of ambergris” the narrator is very...present within the reading, whether that’s a deliberate choice on the producers’ part or what I’m not sure. That story has lots of footnotes, which I get is difficult to convey in audio format, but I do wish they’d been able to clarify what the footnotes are within the reading a bit more. Sometimes it seems a bit like the narrators are unsure exactly what tone the prose is calling for from beat to beat. Must be hard in a piece like this but still.

Regardless, I’m glad I dropped a credit on this. It’s a good collection and a fun late night read.

surprised how it came together

I wasnt really expecting it to make this much sense but i was satisfied

Couldn't manage Wyman's narration

I had to skip City of Saints & Madmen and Shriek because I couldn't stand Oliver Wyman's narration. Happily, Finch was a stand-alone read and Bronson Pinchot's narration was fine. VanderMeer was at his botanical and fungal best.

Interesting world, but a long read

I listened to this as the combined trilogy. Some beautiful prose, which I found a little pedantic a times, creating different perspectives of this world. I also found it to drag on. Overall, it is a worthwhile read. However, if I had just started with book one, and it wasn’t part of the trilogy release, I probably would not have continued with the others

The End is Worth It

The first two books are uneven but the last one makes up for it.