World Engines
A post climate change high concept science fiction odyssey
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World Engines
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Narrated by:
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Penelope Rawlins
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Christopher Ragland
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By:
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Stephen Baxter
About this listen
In the year 2570, a sleeper will wake....
In the mid-21st century, the Kernel, a strange object on a 500-year-orbit, is detected coming from high above the plane of the solar system. Could it be an alien artefact?
In the middle of climate-change crises, there is no mood for space-exploration stunts - but Reid Malenfant, elderly, once a shuttle pilot and frustrated would-be asteroid miner, decides to go take a look anyway. Nothing more is heard of him. But his ex-wife, Emma Stoney, sets up a trust fund to search for him the next time the Kernel returns....
By 2570 Earth is transformed. A mere billion people are supported by advanced technology on a world that is almost indistinguishable from the natural, with recovered forests, oceans, ice caps. It is not an age for expansion; there are only small science bases beyond the Earth. But this is a world you would want to live in: a Star Trek without the stars.
After 500 years the Kernel returns, and a descendant of Stoney, who Malenfant will call Emma II, mounts a mission to see what became of Malenfant. She finds him still alive, cryo-preserved....
His culture-shock encounter with a conservative future is entertaining....
But the Kernel itself turns out to be attached to a kind of wormhole, through which Malenfant and Emma II, exploring further, plummet back in time, across five billion years....
©2019 Stephen Baxter (P)2019 Orion Publishing GroupListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about World Engines
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- iBloke
- 13-11-19
Great concepts, clumsy execution
This is a typical Stephen Baxter book with rather two dimensional characters and an almost reportage view point. The narrators are good British actors but change for odd reasons and when they do they use differ accents. The concept of the story stretches from the beginning of the solar system, on a planetary scale and everywhere there are hints of greater mysteries. However in the end it is the two main characters Malenfrant and Greggson Deirdra that are to irritating, glib and just dull to make this an enjoyable read. Not sure u can tolerate these characters to read the next in the series.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. Chris Woollard
- 07-10-19
Great book
As a whole, I loved this book. However, there was a bit in the middle what made me feel like it was too similar to one of Stephen Baxter's previous books. But, in the end, the storey diverged and the plot took a different path. Persevere through it and you will be rewarded by an excellent first part of the storey. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Muzzy
- 02-12-19
Tails off a bit
Decent premise, good story but tails off toward the end without really satisfying the reader.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- JRL
- 14-11-19
Dragged on far too long
Needs an abridged version to get more stars from me as it went into too much detail at time that wasn’t really relevant to the story line.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Russell Ryan
- 18-12-19
good story, bit too long
I like a long book but this one spent too long on non story moving dialogue.
I did enjoy the characters and overall story.
The ending was a little anticlimactic but fit the overall feel.
Glad I listened to it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- FN
- 02-06-22
A good story with some minor flaws
At times some of the characters seem to ping pong between mature decisions and random petulance, and it's inconsistent so it doesn't feel intended.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- steve
- 18-07-22
Great performances
Enjoyable although I did feel like the whole thing was a bit Y.A. Not sure if the book was marketed as such originally. Still enjoyable though. Kind of easy listening hard sci fi.
I was a bit confused as to why the narration swapped over a couple of times between a male and female voice actor. I could see no editorial reason for that at all. They were both playing different versions of the same characters. Very odd. But both great voice actors. Just a weird editorial decision and maybe those chapters where the guy narrated should be replaced with the female voice actor, as she carried almost the entire book other than a few chapters in the middle.
Other than that, I've already downloaded the sequel so that should be recommendation enough I suppose.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- paul
- 08-10-19
What was the point!!
Sorry but this was a truly boring listen,there was nothing engaging from start to finish,maybe there was some profound message hidden away and I totally missed it but for me this book was utterly pointless
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Hodges
- 27-02-20
Fascinating book.
As a resident of Birmingham U.K. Walsall is not a suburb of Birmingham, in fact historically it's a part of Staffordshire 8 miles north-west of Birmingham.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- rokas
- 06-06-22
Average at best but enjoyed
Rather artificial character interactions and reactions to profound events. Story just enough to keep you with to the end. 3/5 for science part of sci-fi. Enjoyed it just enough not to regret the time invested.
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