Chris O'Neill
- 12
- reviews
- 9
- helpful votes
- 32
- ratings
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Children of Ruin
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life - but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth. But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed. And it’s been waiting for them.
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Just as engrossing as it's predecessor..
- By Amazon Customer on 02-06-2019
- Children of Ruin
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
A brilliant vision of the future
Reviewed: 21-07-2020
Building on the unlikely partnership of uplifted spider and ancient human, this takes our hybrid civilisation to meet fellow orphans with memories of humans as gods...
These books are what is grand, spacey and operarery in space opera. Believable races, histories and science in a readable/listenable world.
Singlehandedly brought me back into the science fiction world...
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Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
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Beautifully Read
- By Dianne Henderson on 26-11-2017
- Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
Stunning Positive Vision of the Future
Reviewed: 15-07-2020
Compelling and clever - this triumph of world building follows the development and struggles of two species - connected by a common heritage and something more.
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The Power of Vulnerability
- Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage
- By: Brené Brown PhD
- Narrated by: Brené Brown
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
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On The Power of Vulnerability, Dr. Brown offers an invitation and a promise - that when we dare to drop the armor that protects us from feeling vulnerable, we open ourselves to the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives. Here she dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and reveals that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.
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Worth listening to over and over.
- By Paullette on 07-04-2015
- The Power of Vulnerability
- Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage
- By: Brené Brown PhD
- Narrated by: Brené Brown
Marvellous, self deprecating and wholehearted...
Reviewed: 20-02-2020
Loved it. Brene Brown's honesty and humour shines through. Interweaving her own struggles and stories into the narrative about her research, she touches on so many things that make out life harder/harsher and potentially easier.
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Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 31 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In his youth, Richard “Dodge” Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia. One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong.
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Don't Bother
- By Bronwen on 22-11-2019
- Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
Neither fish nor fowl
Reviewed: 30-06-2019
A weird, long, meandering book that wasn't set enough in the "real" versus the strange universe of the uploaded minds. Needed an edit!!!
I found the fairy tale much less engaging than the real, and kept on asking myself what the point of scanning yourself into bit world was if you couldn't remember anything from before you died...
Much less satisfying than Reamde or his other books. A meander in search of a point...
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
- A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
- By: Mark Manson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F*ck positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is f*cked, and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn't sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is - a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mind-set that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
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good basic psychology in everyday words
- By jaise on 18-03-2019
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
- A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
- By: Mark Manson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
Omg. Wow. From someone so young - wisdom.
Reviewed: 12-12-2018
Loved this book. Extraordinary in its simplicity - particularly touched by the last chapter. Having recently lost my father and working out my own life - and his legacy.
4 people found this helpful
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The System of the World
- Book Eight of The Baroque Cycle
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Neal Stephenson (introduction), Kevin Pariseau, Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In this concluding volume of Neal Stephenson’s epic work, “Half-Cocked Jack” Shaftoe must escape the noose of Jack Ketch; the rivalry between Newton and Leibniz comes to a head; and Daniel Waterhouse pursues his dream to build the Logic Mill
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Complex and erudite!
- By Chris O'Neill on 30-10-2018
- The System of the World
- Book Eight of The Baroque Cycle
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Neal Stephenson (introduction), Kevin Pariseau, Simon Prebble
Complex and erudite!
Reviewed: 30-10-2018
Loved it. How can he know so much, manage some complex themes and concepts across so large an exercise. And... Make it entertaining, amusing and above all blindingly clever?!? I am in awe...
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Brightness Reef
- The Uplift Trilogy, Book 1
- By: David Brin
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 25 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Persecuted refugees from six separate alien races have migrated to the idyllic planet Jijo. And despite their incredible diversity, the inhabitants live together in blissful harmony. However, settlement on Jijo is illegal - and it's only a matter of time before the residents of this forbidden paradise are discovered by the galactic powers-that-be.
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A great book, with a talented voice actor
- By Chris O'Neill on 05-06-2018
- Brightness Reef
- The Uplift Trilogy, Book 1
- By: David Brin
- Narrated by: George Wilson
A great book, with a talented voice actor
Reviewed: 05-06-2018
Marvellous and touching, one of my favourite space operas. George Wilson is a talented voice actor who brings the many characters and races to life... A modern parable for how we can all live together despite a harrowing past...
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Elysium Fire
- Inspector Dreyfus
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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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....
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Great Follow-up from the Prefect
- By Nathaniel Kaufmann on 18-01-2020
- Elysium Fire
- Inspector Dreyfus
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
Enjoyable but limited
Reviewed: 12-04-2018
I always enjoy Reynolds' books, and the Prefect Glitter Band 'Prequels ' have been an interesting perspective on the Golden Age of Yellowstone. However... I find the narrator's voice and accent strange and distracting!!!
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Red Rising
- By: Pierce Brown
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet.
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Very enjoyable with some quibbles
- By Gareth J. Davies on 11-03-2015
- Red Rising
- By: Pierce Brown
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Better than the Hunger Games
Reviewed: 26-02-2018
Similar but superior to The Hunger Games. A great nuanced (and accented) performance by Tim Reynolds - I've bought the paperback for my son...
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The Passage
- By: Justin Cronin
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Adenrele Ojo, Abby Craden
- Length: 36 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old, and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is.... Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.... He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.... It is.
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fantastic story
- By Renee on 29-07-2016
- The Passage
- By: Justin Cronin
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Adenrele Ojo, Abby Craden
Great story, not sure about narration
Reviewed: 25-09-2017
Really enjoyed the story, but the narration has a poetic/lilting/tragic? Quality which sometimes detracts from the action and content.
1 person found this helpful