Perhaps the Stars

Terra Ignota, Book 4

By: Ada Palmer

Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith

The long years of near-utopia have come to an abrupt end. Peace and order are now figments of the past. Corruption, deception, and insurgency hum within the once steadfast leadership of the Hives, nations without fixed location.

The heartbreaking truth is that for decades, even centuries, the leaders of the great Hives bought the world's stability with a trickle of secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction could ever dominate. So that the balance held. The Hives' facade of solidity is the only hope they have for maintaining a semblance of order, for preventing the public from succumbing to the savagery and bloodlust of wars past. But as the great secret becomes more and more widely known, that facade is slipping away.

Just days earlier, the world was a pinnacle of human civilization. Now everyone - Hives and hiveless, Utopians and sensayers, emperors and the downtrodden, warriors and saints - scrambles to prepare for the seemingly inevitable war.

©2021 Ada Palmer (P)2021 Recorded Books

excellent

one thing I did notice about the audio was that the quality or tamber changed slightly at random places and I'm not sure if that was just my device playing it or if others had it too.

Incredible wrap-up to the series. Audio issues.

Audio had consistency issues. Narrator is wildly fun though - made up for it.

Strong conclusion, great narrator

Was not expecting that ending. I didn't like the narrator at first but completely changed my mind.

Social Science Fiction such that we haven't seen.

It will need a second reading but this is social science fiction of a type we haven't seen for a long time. it's more than just governments it's also how we advance and what we aspire to.

I cried, no shame

This is the end of a long and winding road, and I miss it. I've listened to the last chapter multiple times and cried every single time, because it's so beautiful. T Ryder Smith has an amazing vocal range, so much so that I miss Mycroft Canner when he's not around in the story.

This book is a lasagna of themes, stratas of love and death and reality and fate and posterity bound together with the sauce of 18th century philosophy. Such disparate ingredients, yet it works so well together to the last forkful. And just like lasagna, it's even better when you come back for more.

... I'm going to cry again.

Does not disappoint.

Epic finale to Palmer's glorious tour-de-force of, well, everything. The plot is breathtakingly audacious in its scope, and the characters we've come to know and love (or loathe) thru the previous three instalments play out their parts with gusto. T Ryder Smith knocks it out way of the park with his phenomenal reading, breathing even more life into the story.

A crowning achievement

By far the strongest of Ada’a writing, yet and that is saying something after the last book. The reading should be rewarded. Such a deep and satisfying book and performance.

a work of true communication across vast gulfs

I have been moved to tears more often by this work than by any other.

Love this series!

A great series! Well written and thought provoking. The narrator is Fantastic! Looking forward to more from this author.

Well crafted ending of an epic story, masterfully narrated

I got used to a-bit-unsatisfactory endings of multi book stories with many many characters. This was definitely not the case. Things I found annoying at the beginning started making sense. There were still surprises in the last book, the character archs made sense, and I feel closure with the good ending. And the narration - I have to admit that when after the first book the narrator changed, I was a bit annoyed. But by the fourth book I have realized that Mr. Smith even improved the written version. One specific part blew my mind and made me cry in a way the written version would not (I think you will know which part I mean after listening to it).
I invested a lot of the time in these books, and I am happy I did. Thank you.