
Brightness Reef
The Uplift Trilogy, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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George Wilson
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By:
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David Brin
About this listen
Persecuted refugees from six separate alien races have migrated to the idyllic planet Jijo. And despite their incredible diversity, the inhabitants live together in blissful harmony. However, settlement on Jijo is illegal - and it's only a matter of time before the residents of this forbidden paradise are discovered by the galactic powers-that-be.
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Story
While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure. Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father.
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Ugh
- By Shelly Frey on 01-31-25
By: Martha Wells
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To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1
- By: Philip José Farmer
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Along with a remarkable group of compatriots, including Alice Liddell Hargreaves (the Victorian girl who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland), an English-speaking Neanderthal, a WWII Holocaust survivor, and a wise extraterrestrial, Burton sets sail on the magnificent river. His mission: to confront humankind's mysterious benefactors, and learn the true purpose—innocent or evil—of the Riverworld....
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Great concept, dated writing.
- By Battaglia on 08-04-11
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River of Time
- By: David Brin
- Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The River of Time brings together 12 of David Brin's stories, including "The Crystal Spheres", which won the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Short Story in 1985. Here are powerful tales of heroism and humanity, playful excursions into realms of fancy, and profound meditations on time, memory, and our place in the universe. Who guides our fate? And can we ever hope to wrest control for ourselves?
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Love this book
- By Pernicious on 05-26-16
By: David Brin
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Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
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No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
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The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume One
- By: Neil Clarke - editor
- Narrated by: Amy Tallmadge, Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 28 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Neil Clarke has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.
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Hit and Miss; Many more misses than hits
- By Terrence Feenstra on 09-15-16
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Pawn
- Chronicle of the Sibyl’s War, Book 1
- By: Timothy Zahn
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Nicole Lee's life is going nowhere. No family, no money, and stuck in a relationship with a thug named Bungie. But, after one of Bungie's "deals" goes south, he and Nicole are whisked away by a mysterious moth-like humanoid to a strange ship called the Fyrantha. Once aboard, life on the ship seems too good to be true. All she has to do is work on one of the ship's many maintenance crews. However, she learned long ago that nothing comes without a catch. When she's told to keep quiet and stop asking questions, she knows she is on to something.
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Things Are Not What They Seem
- By J. Jones on 05-27-18
By: Timothy Zahn
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Steel Beach
- Eight Worlds, Book 2
- By: John Varley
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal - and so is the computer that monitors their existence.
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Top notch writing; Voice actor needs some work
- By Dale R. on 09-06-21
By: John Varley
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Linesman
- By: S. K. Dunstall
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The lines. No ship can traverse the void without them. Only linesmen can work with them. But only Ean Lambert hears their song. And everyone thinks he's crazy.... Most slum kids never go far, certainly not becoming a level 10 linesman like Ean. Even if he's part of a small and unethical cartel, and the other linesmen disdain his self-taught methods, he's certified and working. Then a mysterious alien ship is discovered at the edges of the galaxy.
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Absolutely Excellent Story - Sci-fi Meets Fantasy
- By Striker on 07-13-15
By: S. K. Dunstall
except for one thing. the narration- while fantastic when played straight, is cringe inducing torture for 40-60% of the book when the reader attempts alien voices. the voices are, at best, overdone, silly, annoying accents and, at worst, slobbering mushmouth that literally leave me nauseous. I hate it. I hate it so much. I don't know if I can finish because it's SO bad and the level of writing is just not good enough to compel me to put myself through it
ruined by voices
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I am sorry to say I did not give this book a fair chance.
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Worthy Voice Acting
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Director/Sound Engineer is a real job
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Not for the novice sci-fi reader
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great story, slow reveal of larger purpose
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There's nothing wrong with slow fiction; the issue comes when there is very little to pull the reader through the slowness.
I think the primary sin of this book is that it doesn't generate a sense of anticipation. A slow story is tolerable (welcome, even) when it takes its time to increase anticipation and delicately unravel each moment in a journey.
Having read Startide Rising and The Uplift War, I was able to generate my own expectations and predictions about *why* any of the goings-on in Brightness Reef were remotely dramatic. The book sure didn't do it for me.
The lack of intense climax at the end is forgiven since it is the first in a trilogy.
The narration is ok, the alien accents are consistent but come at the expense of emotive intonation.
Slow can be good...
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Not really a fan of the narration
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Brightness Reef
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Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and feel it is a masterpiece in classic sci-fi form. David Brin knows how to sink the hook in and keep you guessing until the very end. He is a master at storybuilding from various alien perspectives, which may throw some people off because of the change in thought process/focus from one alien race to another, but I found it captivating and ingenious.
I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys Frank Herbert, Peter F. Hamilton, Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card and other masters.
However, one caution to casual sci-fi readers that prefer straight forward stories full of action and special effects: you will get action, you will be thrilled, you will be surprised, but you will not be satisfied unless you are a fan of classic sci-fi writing techniques. This is not a shallow, no-brainer entertainment for the masses. This is a thought provoking work with complex plots/sub-plots that provide surprising twists and turns that are hard to predict compared to a lot of other literature in the genre these days.
I hope you enjoy!
Hard Core Sci-Fi at it's best!
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