The Man Who Used the Universe

By: Alan Dean Foster

Narrated by: Paul Ansdell

No one knows the true motives of Kees vaan Loo-Macklin. He's a mastermind criminal who gave up his place at the head of the dark underworld to become a legitimate member of Evenwaith's cities. But soon he was reaching out to powerful enemies - the slimy aliens called the Nuel. Loo-Macklin negotiates an illusory peace agreement and gains precious alien secrets in the process. Is he after peace, power or pure evil? With enemy starships beginning to amass, we won't have to wait long to find out.

©2014 Alan Dean Foster (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Loved this stand alone

Alan writes great series..but I enjoy his stand alone stuff, and this is no different!

one of my favorite book by Alan Dean Foster

one of my favorite book by Alan Dean Foster and Paul Ansdell do a good job for narrative.

Idolized this book in paper in the 80's

Well, I absolutely loved the paperback version of this that I bought from the bookstore in the eighties. To this day, i have quoted the ending on how cool it was that the main character did as the title states. I check back on audible for old favorites and pick them up when audio formatted to listen on my commute.

I know it was a long time ago. I know it was a paper medium. I know I was a different person back then.
But.,,,
This book was super slow burn. I also do not believe the narrator was right, though he did a great job with voices and such. Mostly the writing is very different than what you typically see for a story nowadays. The author has successfully written tons of books.
Just go into it, that it is a slow book, and mostly, I don't want to say "cerebral" but kind of like that, since it is not an intellectual type novel either. I think if it would be contemparily written, it would be quite different.

Enjoyable, glad I was able to re-read this one.

An '80s Classic Finally on Audio

It's great that this title finally gets the audiobook it deserves. The Man Who Used The Universe was probably the best overall book written by Alan Dean Foster, in my opinion.

What makes this book most different from most books by Foster is the meat of the story actually exists, the middle of this book is there to move the central story ahead and not just to extend the length of the book.

Foster has always been a prolific writer with a penchant for original, weird, or otherwise odd premises and characters. This book is a more traditional sci-fi, centered around two star empires, one ruled by the Humans, the other by the ugly, slime Nuel.

The story itself follows Kees Van Loo-Macklin, starting from his first murder and through his rise through the underworld, and then eventually the legal world of commerce. Along the way he mixes an absolute rule of looking out for number one, himself, with an uncanny ability to see ahead and manipulate others into his web and under his control. The question throughout the book is simply...why? what is his eventual goal?

While the writing can be a bit clunky at times the story and premise shine through. If you enjoyed Piers Anthony's 'Bio of a Space Tyrant', then you will likely enjoy this book as well.

The only downside for American listeners is the British accent of the reader, and that only on the names. Kees Van Loo-Macklin first name is pronounced Kays instead of, I would supposed, Keys. Also, the main Nuel character sounds like a british schoolboy. Still, Paul Ansdell does a fine job narrating, and we get used to his accent quite easily.

Well done and worth the credit, after all these years. Hopefully 'MidWorld' will be along soon....

aliens are Scottish?

Good story, nice arc. but the Scottish accents threw me off in a way that surprised me.

A great, solid sci-fi story ahead of its time.

This would make an excellent, dramatic sci-fi series in the right hands.
The aliens, architecture and futuristic societies paints an intriguing concept that would look amazing on the contemporary tv screen.

awesome

Loved this book when I read it years ago. very powerful story. This and the Player of Games are the best!

Not much science

Although this tale doesn’t give to much attention to science it makes up for it in the characters. Good storytelling

One of the best books I have ever read.

when I looked at how few reviews there were. I shyed away but I was desperate and I could not find anything else to read and was about to re read something.
fantastic story line , great reader.. I can not say enough as to how much I enjoyed this book.

Predictable and trite

I had about 60 minutes left and just put it down. I finished it later just for closure. The whole thing felt 2 dimensional and phoned in.