Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

By: Eddie Robson

Narrated by: Amy Scanlon

A locked-room mystery in a near-future world of politics and alien diplomacy.

Lydia works as translator for the Logi cultural attaché to Earth. They work well together, even if the act of translating his thoughts into English makes her somewhat wobbly on her feet. She’s not the agency’s best translator, but what else is she going to do? She has no qualifications and no discernible talent in any other field. So when tragedy strikes and Lydia finds herself at the center of an intergalactic incident, her future employment prospects look dire—that is, if she can keep herself out of jail! But Lydia soon discovers that help can appear from the most unexpected source....

©2022 Eddie Robson (P)2022 Recorded Books

Innovative with a twist

The story had a believable feeling even though it was about aliens and mind reading. The mystery was complex and had several surprising twists.

Annoying narration

I am not from the US but I found the American accents very annoying, and fake... and what was with the "go slow" mode when using an American accent! Grrr. Ruined the listen for me. Narration for the main character was fine. The story was different and I wanted to know what happened but as the narration frustrated me I couldnt enjoy the story. For me this would have been more fun if I had read it.

Brilliant and innovative

Very intriguing concept and executed on very well by the author. The narration was top notch too because the difference in intonation makes it clear which character is speaking.

Gotta love a sci-fi whodunit.

Story kept me interested; the premise even more so. (You can read a "what the story's about" elsewhere). I will add that I love the idea that there would be translators to take what's being "spoken" in an alien's head and translate it back and forth. The murder mystery proceeds as it should, though it lurches somewhat toward the end.
Sadly, I was frequently brought out of the narrative by the narration - she should stick to what she knows, and New York-ese ain't what she knows. A long drawl seemed to be her default notice that someone else was speaking. Annoying to say the least. But she did Lydia's voice just fine.

Like nothing else

Extraterrestrial aliens are really no more unusual in this unique story than aliens from south of the border, and perhaps that’s a point to ponder, though I’m not so sure that’s what it’s about. A unique premise that the aliens communicate only telepathically and that only some earthlings can translate their communications blossoms into a mile a minute whodunnit. As far as I can tell you you can’t guess who done it but the answer is both believable and sadly satisfying, given the premise. It’s a great ripping yarn, though as with great science fiction I really think that’s a secondary benefit. This was a 16 hour book crammed into eight hours, in the best way possible and without feeling strained or contrived. Well worth the listen. The writing style is tight and pleasantly evocative, and the narrator is absolutely superb. She’s one of those I would listen to reading a dictionary.

almost quit after three hours

After maybe three hours I began to think the story was just about somebody's life choices gone wrong in a future world setting. Six more hours of that was not going to float my boat. Then the plot engaged and it got better.

There are some science fiction aspects to this story, but it's more a mystery in a science fiction setting. As such, it was pretty good. I didn't guess the end, or the middle.

A couple of the reader's voices really grated on me, but that may have been intended. I got confused who was speaking a few times. Otherwise, the reading was good.

Leaves room for a sequel of some sort. I probably would listen to it if there were one.

My run on good books continues

Audible's algorithm to suggest books is truly terrible. You'd think they'd be good at this sort of thing. So lately I've been stumbling upon books I've never heard of in the sci-fi realm that turn out to be good, which seems a rarer and rarer thing. I'm a harsh critic, as I always say, so my 3 stars is like most people's 4 or 5. This was another original story--not at all derivative. Equally rare, I never found myself wanting to fast forward or skip chapters entirely, never found myself wanting to listen at top speed, in part because the audio performance is fantastic too.

What was missing for me was a little more back story about how the aliens got here in the first place.

Everything was interesting and enjoyable

I loved everything about this book and thoroughly enjoyed the narration. I will be looking for more books by the author and the narrator.

Would have been worth it at more than 1 credit

I could not stop listening, very original story very entertaining. I fortunately had a long drive and was able to immerse myself in this story. My only complaint with this book is that at a point late in the story there is a plan put into place that someone explains to the protagonist "off camera" as it were. We should know everything the protagonist knows at all times. But thats minor.

As an interpreter, this book was amazing!!

For context I’m an ASL interpreter & ASL is a spacial-concept based language. I’m beyond impressed at the accuracy of the description of how interpreting, even the process, can make one feel. Not fully drunk in non alien interpreting (lol), but after a long day wobbly, exhausted & even not retaining information obtained while working are spot on. It felt as though he sat down with real interpreters for character development. Loved this part of the story most because of the accuracy & it felt so relatable for me.
Found the book on book-Tok & Im SO happy I did. Really enjoyed the story, the world building, the twists & turns too. Overall a great read/listen & would highly recommend. Definitely hoping this becomes a series :)