The Algebraist
Culture
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Algebraist
Buy for $30.41
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Kenny
-
By:
-
Iain M. Banks
About this listen
As complex, turbulent and spectacular as the gas giant on which it is set, this novel from Iain M. Banks is space opera on a truly epic scale.
“An enormously enjoyable book, full of wonderful aliens, a sense of wonder and subtle political commentary on current events.” –Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year.
The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars.
Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of—part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony—Fassin Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer—a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he's ever known.
“Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson
“Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.” –The New York Times
For More from Iain M. Banks, check out:
The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
The State of the Art
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Consider Phlebas
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,994
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,002
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Visionary but half-cooked intro to Culture 'verse
- By Ryan on 07-20-13
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Transition
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 451
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 352
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 352
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally an Iain M. Banks book on audible...
- By Kurt on 10-29-09
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Service Model
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,746
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,623
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,623
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Another banger from Tchaikovsky
- By J. C. Amos on 06-09-24
-
Matter
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Buy this Abominable Abridgement
- By Jim Sabshin on 05-06-12
By: Iain M. Banks
-
The Mercy of Gods
- Captive's War, Book 1
- By: James S.A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,035
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,853
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,853
The Carryx—part empire, part hive—has waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy in its conflict with an ancient and deathless enemy. When they descend on the isolated world of Anjiin, the human population is abased, slaughtered, and put in chains. The best and brightest are abducted, taken to the Carryx world-palace to join prisoners from a thousand other species. Dafyd Alkhor, assistant to a prestigious scientist, is captured along with his team.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible
- By Davey Francis on 08-15-24
By: James S.A. Corey
-
Alien Clay
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 427
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 403
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 403
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there. In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Could have been a short story
- By Dixy on 12-05-24
-
Consider Phlebas
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,994
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,002
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Visionary but half-cooked intro to Culture 'verse
- By Ryan on 07-20-13
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Transition
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 451
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 352
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 352
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally an Iain M. Banks book on audible...
- By Kurt on 10-29-09
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Service Model
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,746
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,623
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,623
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Another banger from Tchaikovsky
- By J. C. Amos on 06-09-24
-
Matter
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Buy this Abominable Abridgement
- By Jim Sabshin on 05-06-12
By: Iain M. Banks
-
The Mercy of Gods
- Captive's War, Book 1
- By: James S.A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,035
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,853
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,853
The Carryx—part empire, part hive—has waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy in its conflict with an ancient and deathless enemy. When they descend on the isolated world of Anjiin, the human population is abased, slaughtered, and put in chains. The best and brightest are abducted, taken to the Carryx world-palace to join prisoners from a thousand other species. Dafyd Alkhor, assistant to a prestigious scientist, is captured along with his team.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible
- By Davey Francis on 08-15-24
By: James S.A. Corey
-
Alien Clay
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 427
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 403
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 403
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there. In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Could have been a short story
- By Dixy on 12-05-24
-
The Prefect
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,463
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,990
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,993
Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best yet of the Revelation Space series
- By Michael G Kurilla on 04-03-11
-
The Bridge
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 84
A man lies in a coma after a near-fatal accident. His body broken, his memory vanished, he finds himself in the surreal world of the bridge - a world free of the usual constraints of time and space, a world where dream and fantasy, past and future, fuse. Who is this man? Where is he? Is he more dead than alive? Or has he never been so alive before?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Sci-fi fans might skip, but it’s fantastic and well crafted
- By Moore Creative on 07-25-18
By: Iain Banks
-
Infinity Gate
- By: M. R. Carey
- Narrated by: Dami Olukoya
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 429
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 380
The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds–except that they’re really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they'll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Great world building, but....
- By KJH on 05-04-23
By: M. R. Carey
-
The Quarry
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
Eighteen-year-old Kit is weird: big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from "highly gifted" at one end, to "nutter" at the other. At least Kit knows who his father is; he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry. His mother's identity is another matter. Now, though, his father's dying, and old friends are gathering for one last time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
By Iain Banks, not Iain M. Banks
- By Reader X on 05-19-18
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Revelation Space
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,660
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,747
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,744
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Defeated
- By Eoin on 07-15-12
-
Elder Race
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 295
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 269
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 269
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
barely more than a short story.
- By Daniel Smith on 09-10-23
-
Saturation Point
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Emma Newman
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
The Hygrometric Dehabitation Region, or the "Zone," is a growing band of rainforest on the equator, where the heat and humidity make it impossible for warm-blooded animals to survive. A human being without protection in the Zone is dead in minutes. Twenty years ago, Marks went into the rainforest with a group of researchers led by Doctor Elaine Fell, to study the extraordinary climate and see if it could be used in agriculture. The only thing she learned was that the Zone was no place for people. There were deaths, and the program was cut short. Now, they're sending her back in.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Classic Tchaikovsky
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-24
-
Space Opera
- By: Catherynne M. Valente
- Narrated by: Heath Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,305
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,166
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,171
A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented - something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding. Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix - part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not a lot of story (non-specific SPOILER ALERT)
- By Erik B. on 05-22-18
-
Anathem
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris, and others
- Length: 32 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,949
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,522
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,531
Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the "Saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities, and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
I love Neal, but Good lord... ugh!
- By SpiderGrrl on 10-08-19
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Mal Goes to War
- A Novel
- By: Edward Ashton
- Narrated by: John Pirhalla, Katharine Chin
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
As a free A.I., Mal finds the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists about as interesting as a battle between rival anthills. He’s not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, though, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A fun enjoyable listen, amazing narration.
- By Kindle Customer on 04-20-24
By: Edward Ashton
-
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
- Bobiverse, Book 1
- By: Dennis E. Taylor
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105,410
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 96,653
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96,416
There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Ignore the Publisher's Summary! This is Amazing!
- By PW on 04-12-17
By: Dennis E. Taylor
-
Revenger
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,662
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,487
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,480
Revenger is a rocket-fueled tale of space pirates, buried treasure, and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism...and of vengeance...Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest crew members of the legendary Captain Rackamore's ship, using their mysterious powers as Bone Readers to find clues about their next score. But there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: The fabled and feared Bosa Sennen, in particular. The galaxy is filled with treasures...if you have the courage to find them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story, crap Mastering/Post work
- By C.Dale on 03-23-17
Critic reviews
“An enormously enjoyable book, full of wonderful aliens, a sense of wonder and subtle political commentary on current events.”—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on The Algebraist
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Transition
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 451
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 352
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 352
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally an Iain M. Banks book on audible...
- By Kurt on 10-29-09
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Consider Phlebas
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,994
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,002
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Visionary but half-cooked intro to Culture 'verse
- By Ryan on 07-20-13
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Matter
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Buy this Abominable Abridgement
- By Jim Sabshin on 05-06-12
By: Iain M. Banks
-
The Quarry
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
Eighteen-year-old Kit is weird: big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from "highly gifted" at one end, to "nutter" at the other. At least Kit knows who his father is; he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry. His mother's identity is another matter. Now, though, his father's dying, and old friends are gathering for one last time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
By Iain Banks, not Iain M. Banks
- By Reader X on 05-19-18
By: Iain M. Banks
-
The Bridge
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 84
A man lies in a coma after a near-fatal accident. His body broken, his memory vanished, he finds himself in the surreal world of the bridge - a world free of the usual constraints of time and space, a world where dream and fantasy, past and future, fuse. Who is this man? Where is he? Is he more dead than alive? Or has he never been so alive before?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Sci-fi fans might skip, but it’s fantastic and well crafted
- By Moore Creative on 07-25-18
By: Iain Banks
-
Accelerando
- By: Charles Stross
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 699
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 619
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 620
The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hardest of hard SF...
- By DLee on 11-24-14
By: Charles Stross
-
Transition
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 451
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 352
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 352
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally an Iain M. Banks book on audible...
- By Kurt on 10-29-09
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Consider Phlebas
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,994
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,002
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Visionary but half-cooked intro to Culture 'verse
- By Ryan on 07-20-13
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Matter
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Buy this Abominable Abridgement
- By Jim Sabshin on 05-06-12
By: Iain M. Banks
-
The Quarry
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
Eighteen-year-old Kit is weird: big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from "highly gifted" at one end, to "nutter" at the other. At least Kit knows who his father is; he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry. His mother's identity is another matter. Now, though, his father's dying, and old friends are gathering for one last time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
By Iain Banks, not Iain M. Banks
- By Reader X on 05-19-18
By: Iain M. Banks
-
The Bridge
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 84
A man lies in a coma after a near-fatal accident. His body broken, his memory vanished, he finds himself in the surreal world of the bridge - a world free of the usual constraints of time and space, a world where dream and fantasy, past and future, fuse. Who is this man? Where is he? Is he more dead than alive? Or has he never been so alive before?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Sci-fi fans might skip, but it’s fantastic and well crafted
- By Moore Creative on 07-25-18
By: Iain Banks
-
Accelerando
- By: Charles Stross
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 699
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 619
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 620
The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hardest of hard SF...
- By DLee on 11-24-14
By: Charles Stross
-
Thirteen
- By: Richard K. Morgan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,946
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,213
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,221
Marsalis is one of a new breed...literally. Genetically engineered by the U.S. government to embody the naked aggression and primal survival skills that centuries of civilization have erased from humankind, Thirteens were intended to be the ultimate military fighting force. The project was scuttled, however, when a fearful public branded the supersoldiers dangerous mutants, dooming the Thirteens to forced exile on Earth's distant, desolate Mars colony. But Marsalis found a way to slip back.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
WOW, Morgan Does it again!
- By L. on 07-10-07
-
The Reality Dysfunction
- Night's Dawn Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 41 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,512
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,226
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,216
In AD 2600, the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialization of entire star systems, and throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally on Audible!! My favorite Hamilton series!
- By Patrick on 04-05-16
-
The Steep Approach to Garbadale
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 133
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 88
The Wopuld family built their fortune on a board game called Empire, now a wildly successful computer game. So successful, in fact, that the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the Wopulds out. Alban, who has been evading the family tentacles for the last few years, thinks Spraint should be treated with suspicion, but he also has other things on his mind. What, for example, drove his mother to take her own life?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Entirely enjoyable. More AudioBooks by Iain Banks?
- By Daniel on 08-23-09
By: Iain Banks
-
Singularity Sky
- By: Charles Stross
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 550
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 415
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 418
In the 21st century, the perfection of faster-than-light travel and the rise of a prodigious artificial intelligence known as the Eschaton altered the course of humankind. New civilizations were founded across the vastness of space. Now, the technology-eschewing world known as the New Republic is besieged by an alien information plague. Earth quickly sends a battle fleet - but is it coming to the rescue, or is a sinister plot in motion?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Gonzo giggleworthy geekitude
- By Noah Smith on 11-11-10
By: Charles Stross
-
Espedair Street
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
Daniel Weir used to be a famous - not to say infamous - rock star. Maybe still is. At thirty-one he has been both a brilliant failure and a dull success. He's made a lot of mistakes that have paid off and a lot of smart moves he'll regret forever (however long that turns out to be). Daniel Weir has gone from rags to riches and back, and managed to hold onto them both, though not much else. His friends all seem to be dead, fed up with him or just disgusted - and who can blame them? And now Daniel Weir is all alone.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Almost really really great
- By David Shear on 01-28-14
By: Iain Banks
-
House of Suns
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,615
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,974
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,981
Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every 200,000 years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Science fiction in Deep time
- By A reader on 05-12-10
-
Alien Clay
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 427
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 403
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 403
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there. In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Could have been a short story
- By Dixy on 12-05-24
-
The Long Game
- The Far Reaches Collection
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: P. J. Morgan
- Length: 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 155
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 132
On a far-off colony, humans tower over the local species who grow the plants they need. Narr keeps the workers in line—someone has to. But when Narr learns just how short-lived their species is, the little alien embarks on a big mission: to find out why their people die and how to stop it. Stubborn and hopeful, Narr has a plan for the locals, for humans, and for the future.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Life Is Short
- By Ryan L on 07-06-23
By: Ann Leckie
-
The Prefect
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,463
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,990
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,993
Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best yet of the Revelation Space series
- By Michael G Kurilla on 04-03-11
-
Schismatrix Plus
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Pavi Proczko
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 54
Acclaimed science fiction luminary and a godfather of the genre’s remarkable offspring - cyberpunk - Bruce Sterling carries readers to a far-future universe where stunning achievements in human development have been tainted by a virulent outbreak of prejudice and hatred.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Sci-fi should be weird but...
- By Ryan H. on 02-11-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Voyage
- The NASA Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 24 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
An epic saga of America’s might-have-been, Voyage is a powerful, sweeping novel of how, if President Kennedy had lived, we could have sent a manned mission to Mars in the 1980s. Imaginatively created from the true lives and real events, Voyage returns to the geniuses of NASA and the excitement of the Saturn rocket and includes historical figures from Neil Armstrong to Ronald Reagan who are interwoven with unforgettable characters whose dreams mirror the promise of a young space program that held the world in thrall.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Borrrring
- By Robert on 09-11-21
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Thousand Earths
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Caitlin Shannon, David Monteith
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 67
Hackett, in his trusty ship the Perseus, is not just a space traveller—beginning his travels with an expedition to Neptune and back—but, thanks to the time-dilation effect, a time traveller as well. His new mission will take him to Andromeda, to get a close-up look at the constellation which will eventually crash into the Milky Way, and give humanity a heads-up about the challenges which are coming. A mission which will take him five million years to complete. Not only is Hackett exploring unknown space, but he will return to a vastly different time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not Baxter's best but worth a listen
- By Lord Rahl on 10-10-22
By: Stephen Baxter
What listeners say about The Algebraist
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mule
- 05-26-24
World building escape from reality
First off Peter Kenny is amazing as always!! Thank you for bringing this Mr. Banks story back to the light. While not a Culture book it possesses the same deep thinking inner motivations of species and the same heavy sci-fi space ship whoop ass. Be patient, read it twice, you’ll find it a masterwork in the Banks world!!