The Forever Watch

By: David Ramirez

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

An exciting new novel from a bold up-and-coming sci-fi talent, The Forever Watch is so full of twists and surprises it's impossible to press pause.

All that is left of humanity is on a thousand-year journey to a new planet aboard one ship, The Noah, which is also carrying a dangerous serial killer....

As a city planner on the Noah, Hana Dempsey is a gifted psychic, economist, hacker, and bureaucrat and is considered "mission critical". She is non-replaceable, important, essential, but after serving her mandatory Breeding Duty, the impregnation and birthing that all women are obligated to undergo, her life loses purpose as she privately mourns the child she will never be permitted to know.

When Policeman Leonard Barrens enlists her and her hacking skills in the unofficial investigation of his mentor's violent death, Dempsey finds herself increasingly captivated by both the case and Barrens himself. According to Information Security, the missing man has simply "Retired", nothing unusual. Together they follow the trail left by the mutilated remains. Their investigation takes them through lost dataspaces and deep into the uninhabited regions of the ship, where they discover that the answer may not be as simple as a serial killer after all.

What they do with that answer will determine the fate of all humanity in David Ramirez's thrilling pause resister.

©2014 David Ramirez (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Fans of hard SF will find this well-conceived and well-constructed debut a pleasure...Superior, psychologically plausible characterizations are combined with sophisticated worldbuilding, clever trope inversion, and original plotting to create a powerful story that will amply reward re-reading." (Publisher's Weekly)

Good book, poor reading

My wife and I both really enjoyed the story, but the reader is just horribly stilted. I mostly got used to it by the end, and apparently it's a bit better at 1.25x speed.

An Interesting and Ambitious Effort

If you could sum up The Forever Watch in three words, what would they be?

interesting, unique perspective

What did you like best about this story?

I don't usually review books I can't recommend without reservation. But this is sufficiently good that even with a few reservations, it is worth the read. It takes a rather old meme (generation colony ship with "something going on") and infuses with a new perspective and a variety of unique ideas. Take a chance and read it -- it has twists and turns that I was not expecting.

Have you listened to any of Dina Pearlman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. She is always very good.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

It isn't what it seems to be

Any additional comments?

I'll remember this more than a lot of other books.

Awesome Story

I loved this story. Great sci-fi concepts. The narrators voice took some time to get used to because it's a little choppy but after a while I was fine with her.

Unique and fascinating read that stays with you.

An engrossing drama aboard a "generation ship". But also part detective/love story, part (very) high tech Sci-Fi, part mystery and part action.

It shouldn't be able to hold together as a story, but i does, bigtime. It never lets go of the listener, much due to the fact that it is never predictable. Ramirez also introduces a lot of new ideas (technical and social) for the genre, without unnecessary explanations. I like!

Dina Pearlman has a soft and pleasant voice that may be a bit bland as readers go, but it never ever gets in the way of the story.

A thoroughly enjoyable read. I listened to this in three long sessions. It stays with you a long time after it's over - always a sign of a good book.

Wooden in every way

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not. My ratings allow some room for doubt. They should probably be 2/1/2.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was a complete surprise-and I don't mean that in a good way. It was deus ex machina all over again with characters acting in strange ways, with key characters all of a sudden reported to be dying but for no explained reason…I could go on. I won't.

What didn’t you like about Dina Pearlman’s performance?

The reader's voice was so robotic- I stayed with it, figuring that perhaps it was a computer speaking and therefore robotic intonation was appropriate. I was wrong, and not for the first time was I disappointed while allowing the author room to roam.

The reader is wooden– think of the way any computer sounds these days but without the inflection! (example: every 'a' was a long 'a', not pronounced as 'uh' as we do in normal speech. By the time I was fed up with the reading I was invested in the story, which was a miracle in itself; see below.

Could you see The Forever Watch being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No.

Any additional comments?

This is an odd book hardly SF. Sure, it's set on an intergalactic ship but it could have been set in New Jersey. Plot twists appear out of the blue– aliens are discussed but only enough to flesh out a plot device.

I still don't understand what G1 was all about- people bearing monsters? Huh? How did we become psionic? And do I really need to be reminded ad nauseum that her 'man' is a big ole bruiser? Really?(although there is one fairly interesting sexual setting).

There were so many things needing explaining that would have made this book truly interesting: how does one become captain? How did one of the security people get to be captain in the last part of the book? What's the deal with the aliens, anyway? Why is the future of humanity-leaving out spoilers here- confined to a bump on the ship?

I stayed with it because I was about half way through when the author's idea paucity became painfully obvious. By that time, I'd invested too much. I wasn't disappointed, though; the ending was as non sequitur and boring as I expected it would be.

I'd return it but I don't send back books I've heard all the way through. Don't bother with this book.

Fantasy not science fiction

Psychic star drives, telekinesis and on and on. No plausible explanations.
Talented author. Good book if you are into fantasy.
Just don't expect interesting "science".