Too Like the Lightning (1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)

Terra Ignota, Book 1

De: Ada Palmer

Narrado por: Alejandro Ruiz, Chris Stinson, Jacob Yeh, Lise Bruneau, Marni Penning, Nazia Chaudhry, Nora Achrati, Wyn Delano, Zeke Alton, Kay Eluvian, Taylor Coan

From the winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Ada Palmer's 2017 Compton Crook Award-winning political science fiction, Too Like the Lightning, ventures into a human future of extraordinary originality.

Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer - a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.

The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life. And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life....

Performed by Chris Stinson, Kay Eluvian, Wyn Delano, Nazia Chaudhry, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Nora Achrati, Lise Bruneau, Jacob Yeh, Marni Penning, Taylor Coan, Ryan Carlo Dalusung, Brandon Burton, Dawn Ursula, Holly Adams, Lydia Kraniotis, Neha Gargava, James Konicek, Elena Anderson, Emlyn McFarland, Bradley Foster Smith, Robb Moreira, Chris Davenport, Anthony Palmini, Daniel Llaca, Niusha Nawab, Christopher Walker, Bianca Bryan, Shawn K. Jain, Mark Harrietha, Duyen Washington, Matthew Schleigh, Shravan Amin, Nanette Savard, Shanta Parasuraman, Nicole Perez, Megan Poppy, Torian Brackett, Natalie Van Sistine, James Lewis, Carolyn Kashner, Christopher Walker, Christopher Williams, Colleen Delany, Tia Shearer, Yasmin Tuazon, Megan Dominy, Stephon Walker, Terence Aselford, Scott McCormick, and Rose Elizabeth Supan.

©2017 Ada Palmer (P)2021 Graphic Audio LLC

Bad music

The music is terrible. It doesn’t fit the scenes at all. I kept thinking it was a commercial when I first turned it back on.

So good

I really wanted to listen to the book, but couldn’t concentrate enough, it rendition was perfect. It’s such a cool story

Slow Start

Long and slow start but was needed in order to introduce everything.
Narration is excellent.

Too much nonsense

Too much time spent explaning progressive ideology and too little time actually developing an interesting story. I just kept listening to see where the story leads, but kept getting bored/annoyed by tangents on gender identity and how the nuclear family was bravely challenged. I don't think there's anything wrong with having ideas that oppose the norm, but I came here to read an interesting sci-fi story, not be lectured on modern social dilemmas.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!
The only reason I am writing this is because no one mentioned it any review.
The narrator & main character POV (who often breaks 4th wall to speak to you) is a bloody serial murderer.
You as a listen/reader do not find out until over halfway through story (starting book 1 part 2)

Granted the author may have done this for shock & awe to question audience's moral bias and in order to open on audience's thoughts about other social & political themes brought up in the book.
However the author missed the mark for 2 big reasons (as other reviews have also mentioned).

#1) WAY TOO MUCH WORLD BUILDING!!!
The author spends so much time creating sci-fi worlds and building complex political systems based on "alien" civilizations, with differing value systems, and complicated but interwoven country relationship dynamics.
Unfortunately, not only will you get lost if you are not an accustomed sci-fi reader -- I never really got to know any of the main characters, nor emotionally connect to any of them, let alone go on their story or adventure with them!

#2) TOO MANY CHARACTERS BUT NOT ENOUGH DEPTH!!!
From the outset the author is too focused on creating complex dynamics and interwoven relationships -- character relationship mirroring the larger complexity of political & social dynamic with ulterior motives & interlaced connections).
Because of this, I didn't realize who the main characters were until nearly halfway through the story!
Also because of this was not able to emotionally connect to any of the characters, their experiences or their stories/adventure -- BECAUSE WE DIDN'T GO DEEP ENOUGH!

Reader's Result: Again I appreciate elaborate world building for a series! But this time it came at the cost of your listeners and readers getting lost in NO STORY and UNABLE TO CONNECT to any of the main characters!
I also appreciate a surprise plot twist & shock-in-awe moment to jolt a reader. However to do that means audience first needs to be connected to main characters, emotionally invested into characters' humanity & journey, and engaged in the story plot -- IN ORDER SO I WILL LISTEN/READ THROUGH THE SHOCK OR HARD to get to end.