Project Tau (Five Worlds)

By: Jude Austin

Narrated by: Matt Weisgerber

Part of the award-winning Five Worlds series. Contains strong language.

Kalin Taylor is on the path to success. He's just won a scholarship to the prestigious Sanderson College of Arts and Science to study medicine. He's also about to do something very, very stupid in the name of becoming one of the 'in' kids at college.

It sounded simple at the time. Sneak into a branch of the top-secret, interstellar scientific company GenTech, take a photo of the genetically engineered creature Project Tau that's supposedly inside, and sneak back out again. Cue membership of the college frat house, cue popularity and an improved lifestyle, right?

Unfortunately for Kalin, simple doesn't mean easy. Now he's facing a life of slavery, assuming GenTech's 'training' doesn't kill him first, and if he doesn't find a way to escape soon, it'll be too late.

©2016 Jude Austin (P)2024 Jude Austin

Great story.

Fantastic story. There is one thing that came up repeatedly that I felt really wasn’t necessary, but it didn’t take away from the story. It just didn’t add to the story. The narrator isn’t my usual style of narration, and I can think of other people who probably would’ve done a better job. But the person who read the story did not do a bad job.

Overall, I do think whoever is reading this review should editor their collection if they’re a sifi fan. The description of the story does a very good job explaining what it is. If the description sounds good, you’ll enjoy the story.

An Interesting Clone Story

The world building in this story was interesting if a bit simplistic and anachronistic at times. The primary theme revolves around human cloning … called Projects … that are grown and used in place of humans in dangerous environments (mines) and experiments that have apparently greatly benefited humanity in general, but these clones are always property, treated more or less like animals. But they are hugely expensive and the labs that grow them operate on a very slim margin … so when the opportunity to pass off a human as a project lands in front of the lab executives, they just can’t pass that up … and Kalin becomes project Kata … with skills and abilities no Project has ever had before if only they can “break” his independent streak. And that is where the story turns very dark, especially for a YA genre.

When Project Kata is thrown in with Project Tau (an actual, advanced human clone), the interactions provide a backdrop to explore what is means to be human … and what it means for a human to be reduced to mere property (think chattel slavery). There is also a dimension of human psychology with respect to how these projects are trained (aka broken) that provides an opportunity to highlight the effects of abuse and violence, both physical and mental, that was designed to dehumanize the subjects (not human and clone) and how those in authority can justify their inhuman behavior. It all seemed plausible given my understanding of human history and psychology; although to be honest, I found the focus here a little difficult to take at times, but the protagonists were very sympathetic characters and I was pulling for them the entire time while anticipating a better situation at the end …

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#ProjectTau #Project #FreeAudiobookCodes

Well written, entertaining science fiction

Project Tau is a well written, entertaining science fiction adventure. It is set around 1700 years in the future, when humanity has settled on other worlds, of which about half a dozen are described. The basic plot centers around what happens when Kalin, a college student, breaks into a laboratory on a dare. It’s not good! The narrator does an excellent job, especially as Kalin.