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  • Maelstrom

  • Rifters Trilogy, Book 2
  • By: Peter Watts
  • Narrated by: Alison Ewing
  • Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (61 ratings)

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Maelstrom

By: Peter Watts
Narrated by: Alison Ewing
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Publisher's summary

This is the way the world ends:

A nuclear strike on a deep sea vent. The target was an ancient microbe—voracious enough to drive the whole biosphere to extinction—and a handful of amphibious humans called rifters who'd inadvertently released it from three billion years of solitary confinement.

The resulting tsunami killed millions. It's not as through there was a choice: saving the world excuses almost any degree of collateral damage.

Unless, of course, you miss the target.

Now North America's west coast lies in ruins. Millions of refugees rally around a mythical figure mysteriously risen from the deep sea. A world already wobbling towards collapse barely notices the spread of one more blight along its shores. And buried in the seething fast-forward jungle that use to be called Internet, something vast and inhuman reaches out to a woman with empty white eyes and machinery in her chest. A woman driven by rage, and incubating Armageddon.

Her name is Lenie Clarke. She's a rifter. She's not nearly as dead as everyone thinks.

And the whole damn world is collateral damage as far as she's concerned . . .

©2001 Peter Watts (P)2022 Tantor
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What listeners say about Maelstrom

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good sequel

Book starts immediately after the events of the first one new narrator which in my opinion is better then the first one. Story is alot more character focused then the first and despite being a sequel can easily be listened to as standalone book cant wait for the next two books in the series

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Methadone for those seeking another Blindsight experience.

compelling macro-scale plot and terrific applied sciences in this fiction. but following characters through this rich world was a bland experience.

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

Better than the first book

The first book had fewer interesting ideas than this book.
Overall better in every dimension.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent and True to Form

Maelstrom built on the excellence that was Starfish while standing on it's own to tell a story that kept me guessing all the way through.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

narrator change

why change the narrator halfway thru a trilogy. She isn't even capable of altering her voice for different characters. What a disaster

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Strange characters, story that goes nowhere.

The character Lenny Clark is a woman who constantly sticks up for rapists and women beaters. Makes you think what the author's view on the subject is and if he supports it.

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