Metropolitan

The Metropolitan Series, Book 1

By: Walter Jon Williams

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Aiah has fought her way out of poverty and discovers a limitless source of plasm, the mysterious substance that powers the world-city. Her discovery soon involves her with Constantine, the charismatic, dangerous, seductive revolutionary who plans to overthrow the government and upend the cosmic order.

©2012 Walter Jon Williams (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Riveting!

Thoroughly enjoyable, kept making excuses to go for walks so I could listen more. Emily Woo Zeller did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life!

Was this INTENDED to be a romance?

The writer was decent but I wasn't looking for a bodice ripper. It's got politics yet these seem to take a back seat to the affair. the character have depth....but I disliked all of them. Despite that I finished it so it could be worse but it's really not to my tastes.

Alright premise, but poor execution

The plot seemed interesting enough but the narrator was not a good pick.

Her voice was too airy and soft spoken and I found myself constantly wondering off. I had to restart the book around 6 times because she didn't hold my attention and I kept getting lost.

Just didn’t care; not reading the sequel

Had a hard time getting into this. Barely finished. The world, the characters, and even the reading. Nothing clicked. Finished it. The end got a tad more interesting, but it wad really just a huge world being built that never went anywhere. Very, very small desire to read the sequel even knowing it was award nominated.

Not a bad read

Good story and well read.
The gratuitous sexual parts did nothing to move the story forward and could have been left out

Too long for my taste

The story felt thin, cutting it down to two thirds would have improved it.

Glad I came back to Walter Jon Williams

I haven’t tried anything by Walter Jon Williams in years. The last I had read was “Voice of the Whirlwind” over a decade ago. I am glad I tried Metropolitan. It took me a bit to get into and understand the books world of plasm, its relationship to the structures of humans, and the politics and bureaucracy of the main character’s day to day life. But once underway I began to really enjoy the story. I really hope it’s sequel is released soon as an audio edition.

The performance is very good. I really enjoy Emily Woo Zeller’s unique portrayal of the various characters. I hope she narrates the next book if and when it shows up here. If I had any complaints it would be the very quiet almost AMSR like whisper of the narrative voice which I struggled with at first. However, as the story progresses and more characters are introduced, each voiced by her in a unique way, this was less of an issue for me.

world building

Metropolitan by
Walter jon Williams
A sophisticated look at future problems of racism, governments, and exploitation. In a world of marvels the individual either waits to be moved up the chain or risks it all. The ideological venture in a capitalist future, that shows the cracks in the systems on every level. The exploitation of industry, the mass propaganda that controls the individual. Only to be fought through vengeance and revolution.

Excellent

Great story, and I love author's writing style. It's clean and evocative and feels very transparent. Reader is amazingly good. I will seek more of both.

Disappointing

The only redeeming feature was the narrator. Story was weak with no clear ending. The entire tale was improbable.