Ambergris Audiobook By Jeff VanderMeer cover art

Ambergris

City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek, Finch

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Ambergris

By: Jeff VanderMeer
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Cassandra Campbell, Oliver Wyman
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About this listen

From the author of Borne and Annihilation comes the one-volume reissue of his cult classic Ambergris Trilogy.

Before Area X, there was Ambergris. Jeff VanderMeer conceived what would become his first cult classic series of speculative works: the Ambergris trilogy. Now, for the first time ever, the story of the sprawling metropolis of Ambergris is collected into a single volume, including City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch.

©2020 VanderMeer Creative, Inc. (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
Anthologies & Short Stories Crime Thrillers Fantasy Paranormal Paranormal & Urban Science Fiction Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Mind-Bending
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What listeners say about Ambergris

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Vivid Imagery Intricate World-building Incredible Voice Actors Engaging Narration Interconnected Stories
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Hits different

This book just hits different. It’s format is different. I didn’t feel like things got bows as much as they got more questions. So much is left for us to decide after the fact. But I loved every minute of it.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Series

The first few novels were good, but a bit scattered and seemed to be loosely connected. But the final novel Finch was a subtle weaving of the previous books with the character John Finch and all the mysteries of Ambergis and his own life together. I especially loved the ending, which was uplifting and let the reader's mind reeling with possibilities.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful & Imaginative

The whole Ambergris trilogy was fantastic. Each book is distinct and unique but the over-arching plot and story of the city is always present.
Ambergris is a beautifully crafted world with a very deep history. I couldn’t put the books down and wanted more stories from Ambergris when I was finished.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Can’t recommend enough!

It’s a long listen but it’s worth it, as you discover the amazing city of Ambergris and the strange and thrilling stories that bring it to life.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Entrancing “weird” novel

If you’ve read VanderMeer and enjoyed him before you’ll love this book, he is a writer of immense talent and voice. The world of ambergris is pulled out of time and draws on history and literary canon as well as VanderMeer’s towering imagination. Surges with empathy and an utterly unique weirdness. A lovely late night reader.

Some...shall we say, interesting...choices from the narration team here, to varying results. It’s weird fiction so I suppose I should rather expect some weirdness on the part of the narration team, but in certain stories like “Hoegboten’s guide to the history of ambergris” the narrator is very...present within the reading, whether that’s a deliberate choice on the producers’ part or what I’m not sure. That story has lots of footnotes, which I get is difficult to convey in audio format, but I do wish they’d been able to clarify what the footnotes are within the reading a bit more. Sometimes it seems a bit like the narrators are unsure exactly what tone the prose is calling for from beat to beat. Must be hard in a piece like this but still.

Regardless, I’m glad I dropped a credit on this. It’s a good collection and a fun late night read.

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33 people found this helpful

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surprised how it came together

I wasnt really expecting it to make this much sense but i was satisfied

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Couldn't manage Wyman's narration

I had to skip City of Saints & Madmen and Shriek because I couldn't stand Oliver Wyman's narration. Happily, Finch was a stand-alone read and Bronson Pinchot's narration was fine. VanderMeer was at his botanical and fungal best.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting world, but a long read

I listened to this as the combined trilogy. Some beautiful prose, which I found a little pedantic a times, creating different perspectives of this world. I also found it to drag on. Overall, it is a worthwhile read. However, if I had just started with book one, and it wasn’t part of the trilogy release, I probably would not have continued with the others

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    4 out of 5 stars
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The End is Worth It

The first two books are uneven but the last one makes up for it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Deus ex mushrooma

Imagistic, vivid, vulgar, and artistic, this author's weak narrative is partially hidden by the spectacle of the imagery. I could not like or empathize with a single character, mostly because the reader isn't given any real reason for the loves or resentments, they are just dramatically and vividly displayed; kind of splatted there like... well, I am not the author. Extremely good and detailed imagery and feel, but what's described is rarely important to the narrative. If you enjoy looking through an extremely detailed kaleidoscope for hours, then you might like this series. It's not to my taste.

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5 people found this helpful