What Ken did

Beautifully written and read. As my grandmother once said ‘there’s nothing as queer as folk’ and she appears to be correct. I would be very grateful if Seb would continue writing because he makes enjoyable reading.

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Superb narrator

The narrator was outstanding. She was able to replicate a number of accents with ease. The story was interesting and engaging.

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Promising start week ending narration interrupted by AI

I got this based on a book review - the concept is promising as is start
Sadly it’s bogged down in scientific details ( might suit some listeners) and book drags out towards an all to predictable ending
Narration is good but annoyingly interrupted at times by what sounds like AI narration - almost as though how to pronounce words was checked by narrator but wrong part edited out

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent

A truly riveting read
SF tells a wonderfully believable story of the future and of the dangers of money being no object

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Undeveloped potential

The main idea behind the story was one that could have been interesting but I found it mind numbingly dull trying to wade through something that never really reaches its potential.

Overall the story is a bit of a one trick pony with so many avenues that could have been explored but weren't. There are lots of threads that are never really explored or pulled together, giving a feel of a short concept essay that has been made into a novel when it should have remained an essay or short story.

There was also a lot of description of the science behind the story, I am not a geneticist so can't comment on the feasibility of most but the mental health bits made my teeth itch as they are several inaccuracies giving the sense of a topic poorly understood and under researched by the author.

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Love how the author creatively writes the future that could be so real

Enjoyed from start to finish - reading on holiday was the perfect time to reflect . For me the mental health component really lifts my spirits . It has connections with my favourite of all of his books human traces. Great ideas and a future that’s not too far away

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Intelligent and believable projection of a near-future event.

Intelligent and believable projection of a near-future event. Current band recent events in history well imagined and influences of what’s to come. Well performed.

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I was hooked!

The narrator is excellent and brings a great story to life: the tone of the reading is perfect and the two main characters, Talissa and Seth, are excellently portrayed and given a life with voices and accents (respectively NY and middle class English) of their own. Other characters are equally well performed from the female football player to the villain of the piece, Lukas Parn. There was a minor blip with an auto generated voice but it didn't spoil the great telling of the tale.

The novel is good scientific fiction projecting itself into 2030 and beyond to tell the tale of Talissa, an intelligent and impulsive young woman determined to follow a career in anthropology and Seth, the surrogate child she gives birth to. The world they inhabit is a twisted evolution of ours where the small changes of today have evolved into a shocking future, similar but worse: fantastically wealthy corporations are run by self-serving magnates twisting events to suit their own ends; truth is long dead and fake news rules alongside the descendents of the conspiracy theorists of our time; Brexit has failed and England is a mess. The climate has warmed and even Scotland is hotter than it used to be. its a fascinating world in which to review the unethical consequences of a corporation swapping neanderthal dna into the sperm that fertilises the egg that Talissa carries to term, giving birth to Seth.

The science is clearly explained and well written into the novel: expressed through conversation and explained in layman's terms the science is comprehensively and simply explained and becomes a theme in its own right that runs throughout the book. Why is there only one species of human? What happened to Neanderthals? How does genetics work? Intriguingly, are there different types of consciousness and do they work like operating systems in our brains? is the consequence of the brilliance of homo sapiens the delicate nature of mental health and dementia? I enjoyed the exploration of these questions.

But it works so well because the characters are so well portrayed and realistic and you find yourself caring for the central pair and the characters around them. Talissa and Seth are such clearly portrayed and seemingly realistic characters that you care about what happens to them.

I was hooked on this audiobook and its excellent telling of an enthralling story with enjoyable characters and clever telling of science.

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2 people found this helpful

Quality of the genetic science

A beautifully read and interesting story with unusual characters. The plot was well sustained and gripping.

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Scientifically fascinating and emotionally overwhelming.

This story was clearly carefully researched to give a fascinating insight into the amazing possibilities and potentially dreadful pitfalls of genetic manipulation.
The bleak near future setting mixed with the totally normal emotions of humans was both gripping and harrowing.

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