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Interesting Ideas Burdened by Repetition and Characters

Revisado: 03-03-25

Alien Clay is one of the more interesting sci-fi reads I’ve had in the past year. The world described is incredibly imaginative, and political commentary is timely. Part 3 of the book is gripping and had me at the edge of my seat for the majority of its run time.

I have to subtract 2 stars, though, as Alien Clay definitely needed another editing pass. Throughout the book, but in Part 2 in particular, descriptions are repeated over and over again. The Mandate and the unique characteristics of the life of this world are described and redescribed endlessly — these additional descriptions do not add any additional nuance to what was said minutes or even seconds earlier. These sections are most enjoyable at 1.5x to 2x speed. I legitimately think certain concepts were described over 50 times — nearly identically — over the 14 hour runtime of the novel.

Characters were acceptable but a little flat, as is characteristic of most sci-fi (where the ideas are the focus). That said, this flatness is particularly damaging to the themes of this book. I did not find myself emotionally attached or empathetic to any of the characters on offer.

The performance was impeccable.

Recommended — a good, but not great, novel.

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Excellent!

Revisado: 09-10-24

The Book of Koli was a welcome surprise. The world building is sublime -- I was completely engaged for the vast majority of the story.

Solomon's performance is one of the best I've ever heard for Koli. I do think I would have preferred another voice actor for the women, however, as one character is quite annoying to listen to in my opinion.

I will be continuing the story.

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Enjoyable, but Some Minor Complaints

Revisado: 09-10-24

The Trials of Koli is a good follow-up to the first book. Spinner's arc is a welcome addition, and the story is engaging the entire way through. I would recommend it to any lover of fiction.

I do take issue, however, with the lack of character development of Koli. He is as naive as ever, and while everyone around him is growing, he barely changes.

There are also some YA themes that are a little hard to shake. I usually prefer stories to be a bit more heady.

All of that said, I will be continuing the story.

The narrators are excellent.

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An Engaging, though Implausible, Novel

Revisado: 09-02-24

I enjoy Stephen Baxter's novels. They're filled with big ideas. Proxima is no exception. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys sci-fi.

Some critiques, though:
- The plot is a little unfocused at times and requires serious suspension of disbelief. I find several core events that drive much of the story implausible *at best*.
- Characters are a little flat. This is a common theme in Baxter's works, though. That said, I've personally never been a stickler for character development. As long as the book makes me *think*, the characters can be suboptimal.

That said, I will be continuing the series, as I remained engaged throughout and the finale was quite strong.

McCarley's narration is sublime: Easy to understand with distinguishable characters.

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Strong Hook, Decent Story, Slow Pace

Revisado: 02-05-24

Infinity Gate opens very strongly: A compelling technology (though not particularly unique -- see The Long Earth series for an almost identical example) and world on the brink of disaster.

After this very strong hook, though, I found the pacing slow and plot only decent. The novel largely reads like a prequel: Our cast of characters are introduced and we follow their journies, but the core call to action doesn't occur until the closing pages. There are no twists or edge-of-seat thrills. It also reads a little comic-y? I'm left with the distinct impression of young adult fiction.

Even though the cast is largely non-human, this is easy to forget: Organic character motivations, thought processes, etc. are human in every way. This lack of imagination is a little disappointing.

I did, however, finish the book, so Infinity Gate definitely isn't a *bad* novel. I just left it primarily thinking "meh".

Olukoya's performance is exceptional; exquisite vocal/accent range and easily understandable. I look forward to listening to more books performed by her.

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Gets Much Better Half Way Through

Revisado: 11-26-23

I was about to throw in the towel on this book about 4 hours in. The word that kept coming to mind was “juvenile”. Every mention of a woman seemed to be prefixed with a description of her curves, people becoming psychotic and evil for no apparent reason, really hand wavy science, etc. I was worried I had stumbled into a young adult novel.

I’m glad I stuck with it, though. Once the adventure really begins this is truly a thrilling ride. What Robinson lacks in nuance he makes up for with expertly crafted cycles of suspense and release.

Many of the major twists in this book were extremely easy to guess. I saw them coming from the moment the twists were made possible.

3.5/5, rounded up to 4.

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Lost Interest

Revisado: 11-26-23

It’s a pretty bad sign when you lose interest in a book with an hour left before the end. I just can’t be bothered to finish it. An infinite number of worlds to explore and it seems like we’re stuck on the least interesting ones.

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Interesting Ideas

Revisado: 10-19-23

I'll admit I have a weak spot for books like this one: Take an idea and run with it to its logical extreme. This is a fascinating ride from beginning to end that made me think.

Characters are mostly one-note. Fortunately the world is interesting enough to mostly make up for this.

I'll subtract a star for the flat characters and some pure fantasy aspects that I found a little eye roll-y.

Overall 4 out of 5. I'll be continuing the series.

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Rich world, significant plot and pacing issues

Revisado: 10-10-23

I enjoyed The Thousand Earths and think it is worth a credit. The universe Baxter has created not without issue, but is nonetheless rich and lingered in my mind long after I stopped listening.

I had to remove 2 stars, though:
1. Several significant characters in the story have few, if any, redeeming qualities. I felt zero sympathy for them and struggled to understand their motives. At least one character in the story is simply pure evil. These characters feel flat.
2. The primary plot is significantly trivialized by the end of the novel due to additional information the listener is aware of. It is simply too long and too monotonous, and at many points I was screaming in my head "I've known how this ends for hours of listening! Just get it over with!"

Despite these grievances, I found The Thousand Earths engaging. It is one of the better sci-fi listens I have had in the past couple of years.

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Yawn

Revisado: 02-25-23

Dull, dull, dreadfully dull. After 8 hours of listening I think I'm throwing in the towel. This is a science fiction novel only because there are aliens. The aliens, however, like so much modern SF, could be replaced with virtually any entity that's mysterious and powerful and it would make essentially no difference. There is no exploration of inner space or the human condition thus far, just the machinations of a literary deus ex machina. There are no big ideas, just a cliche storyline. There is very little world building or cultural discussion.

R.C. Bray, like always, is fantastic.

Save the credit and look elsewhere for real SF.

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