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  • Elysium Fire

  • Inspector Dreyfus, Book 2
  • By: Alastair Reynolds
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (449 ratings)
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Elysium Fire cover art

Elysium Fire

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
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Summary

Featuring Inspector Dreyfus - one of Alastair Reynolds' most popular characters - this is a fast-paced SF crime story, combining a futuristic setting with a gripping tale of technology, revolution and revenge.

One citizen died a fortnight ago. Two a week ago. Four died yesterday...and unless the cause can be found - and stopped - within the next four months, everyone will be dead. For the Prefects, the hunt for a silent, hidden killer is on....

Alastair Reynolds has returned to the world of The Prefect for this stand-alone SF mystery in which no-one is safe. The technological implants which connect every citizen to each other have become murder weapons, and no-one knows who or what the killer is - or who the next targets will be. But their reach is spreading, and time is not on the Prefects' side.

Read by John Lee.

©2018 Alastair Reynolds (P)2018 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about Elysium Fire

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

Not his best

This was enjoyable but not one of his best. I enjoyed the familiar setting and characters. I enjoyed John Lee”s narration as usual but i felt most of the characters sounded similar to each other. Better differentiation in the Prefect.

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10 people found this helpful

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

Disappointing narration, still great Reynolds

I usually absolutely love the John Lee narration, but he's changed the accents of all the main characters apart from Ng: Sparver, Dreyfus, Aumonier, Clearmountain and Bowdry now *all* sound like snooty aristocrats drawling through their noses. It's hard to tell them apart, but also this is the accent Mr Lee usually applies to irritating bad guys, so now everyone other than Ng sounds like an arrogant, bored toff.

I'll keep listening, because it's Alastair Reynolds and it's Tom Dreyfus et al., but I hope the narration improves and the story is Reynolds' usual magnificence, not another Terminal World.

Edit: I got used to the accents, but couldn't help hearing Sparver in his old accent. The story is brilliant, though a question (no spoilers) remains unanswered/ambiguously so – perhaps it's deliberate, in true Reynolds style...

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8 people found this helpful

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

Good Story but why change the voices?

I usually love John Lee reading Alastair Reynolds books but as another reveiwer has ponted out, in this title he has completley changed a lot of the charaters voices since The Prefect which is set only 2 years earlier. For me Sparva is the worst example of this, he used to soind gruff, with an attitude but now sounds like a posh aristocrat rather than a Hyperpig Prefect.

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4 people found this helpful

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

It's just too slow

The universe and story is kind of cool but the book is just too slow with never ending dialog.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Brexit in space

Starts off with a lot of similarities to Brexit and Farage could be Devon Garlin. Fortunately a happier ending than Brexit.

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2 people found this helpful

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

A joy from start to finish

It's been a while since I was absorbed in a book as much as this one. It's far better than the first book (The Prefect as was) and a cracking mystery by itself.
Recommended.

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2 people found this helpful

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

More of a detective tale than pure sci-fi.

All round a good production, as always with Reynolds you need to stay alert, a nice mix of genres and I'd like to see another in his series but then again I'd like to see many more books by the author.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Another masterpiece...however the voices...

Reynolds can do no wrong in my eyes, and I found it easier to absorb the intricacies of his world with audiobooks. I just couldn’t get on with this narrator however. He uses a certain dry-humour tone to all the characters, as if everything they’re saying is sarcastic and droll to them, and it really started bothering me as more characters got introduced and I found I didn’t always know who was talking. A great voice actor I just wish there was some diversity.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Excellent world building sci-fi combined with a twisty detective story

I’ve read other A Reynolds stories but this was my first listen on Audible. I enjoyed the story as above (great Sci-fi world building continuing from earlier stories in this universe, The Prefect, Chasm City etc which might help but aren’t essential) and the combination with a detective story. The narrator was entirely clear and the different characters voices and accents probably do help to differentiate speakers, but the pace was a little too deliberate for me. Four not five stars for Mr Lee

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1 person found this helpful

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

nice twist on Cain and Abel

pretty standard Alastair Reynolds fare. not his strongest plot but an enjoyable listen nonetheless. this book would have been written at about the time the UK voted on brexit and the early parts of the plot do seem to be reminiscent of Nigel Farage and the duplicity of the brexitiers. it was quite evocative.
Lee is not that his best. I listened to this immediately after listening to aurora rising and it appears that Sparver, the hyperpig, has had a sex change and is now female. I love John Lee's voice and his limited range can be forgiven but changing a character's sex is outside the remit!

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