Beacon 23 cover art

Beacon 23

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Beacon 23

By: Hugh Howey
Narrated by: Peter Ganim
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About this listen

For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships.

It is a lonely job and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress. In the twenty-third century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light.

These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail.

At least, they aren’t supposed to.

©2015 Hugh Howey (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Fiction
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I loved this book. It truly challenged the usual space Sci fi narrative and was so much more. Diving deep into human psyche, loneliness, ptsd and the unwavering need for hope. Mr Howey is amazing

Hope

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This felt like an intense head space experience to me as I listened to the thoughts of our intrepid hero. is that all that is required for peace, forgiveness? Nice idea, but I can't think of a better one for the current times we live in.

war vs peace

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Take a dive into one man’s post war ptsd as he’s self isolating on a lonely space beacon. With each event I couldn’t initially tell if it was real or all in his tortured mind.

Narration was great.

Not what I expected, but I loved it.

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Another fantastic Hugh Howey story. Just like all his other books I just couldn’t put this one down and will listen to it again. Just so beautifully crafted and full of interesting characters, and clever touches and twists and turns. An excellent spin on a very traditional theme of a lighthouse keeper with some delicious sci fi enhancements. Enjoy, I did ;-D

Shining light

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In all honesty I cant decide whether I liked this story or not. There a really great chapters which are followed by tedious and depressing ones. Overall, I think I am at best ambivalent about the book as a whole.

Not a feel good sort of story

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I listened to this in one day. My family perished from hunger and neglect while I listened. I could have listened to days more if this.
My only complaint was that it ended.

Enthralling

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interesting human story. Well written and well narrated.

Makes you think. Not light hearted. Covers the full range of emotions.

Good book. thought provoking

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I loved this one. Protagonist had real depth, and made real progress, while the story told through his eyes painted a picture far larger than his little world. the end came with a sudden brevity, Ramifications seemed to evaporate a little on the epilog, but it was overall a satisfying conclusion. I got the sense they persisted, but a little outside of the closing narrative. The over arching theme of a soldier's torment was a bit thick in places, largely thanks to the demands of first person narrative on such themes. You could spend an eternity diagnosing the protagonist, or simply go with the story for what it is - a ripping yarn with a touch of dark humour. The reading style suited the character perfectly.

worth sticking with

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