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  • Discordia

  • An Audible Original
  • By: Max Barry
  • Narrated by: Andrew Call
  • Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (139 ratings)

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Discordia cover art

Discordia

By: Max Barry
Narrated by: Andrew Call
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Publisher's Summary

Advice: Stay indoors. Remain calm. Avoid roads. Fill bathtubs.

He's a part-time gardener and car thief. She's a murderous nun on a holy mission from another dimension.

Together, they can save the world from a politically charged alien invasion - but only if the world wants to be saved.

From Max Barry, the author of Jennifer Government, Providence and Lexicon comes a satirical speculative adventure for fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk.

©2021 Max Barry (P)2021 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

What listeners say about Discordia

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Pretty good read.

Not the Author's best work but a decent read that plays with an interesting idea.
The reviewer that said that the politics ruined the book is reacting to I have no idea what. The whole point of the book which seems very much to be thrusting at something like 'truth is what matters most'. Also, that any political agenda can be taken to an extreme or be used to control and manipulate people for the sake of power etc.

The story itself is really allegorical. It reminds me particularly of The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde, although I would say that Fforde's execution creates a more poignant read ultimately.

That said, Max Barry's 'Providence' is an excellent read and those that enjoyed Discordia will likely enjoy that as well (although they are very different; Providence is not tongue in cheek the way Discordia is).

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Politics completely ruined it.

First up, whoever wrote the blurb for this book and mentioned Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is completely wrong! Hitchhikers Guide is witty and clever and wonderful, and this book is sadly not. It is so political, the whole story is about American political divides. The narrator was good, the scifi aspect was interesting, the characters ok. But geez, the awful political agenda! I couldn’t stand it anymore and stopped and deleted this book with 11 minutes to go. Thank goodness it was an Audible plus freebie, I would have hated to have paid for it.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Hilarious!

I loved this funny smart story. Excellent voice acting too- the characters were really clearly differentiated. Lots of fun! Highly entertaining.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Fun and unexpected!

I really enjoyed this. It's different and inventive and lots of fun to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

I loved this book from start to the finish it was great .. amazing story wish there was more..

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1 person found this helpful

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

A sign for our time’s

Must listen
A great story about our political and social extremists makes it all seem so narrow minded and scary 🤔

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

I think the narrator captured the vibe of the characters perfectly and it was a great and fun story to listen to

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1 person found this helpful

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

Great performance and a very entertaining yarn.

This was both silly (in a very entertaining way) and quite profound. The narrator's performance of the text was probably the best I have heard on an audiobook.

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1 person found this helpful

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

A fun story that feels like no ideas were cut.

This story, Feels like a great young adventure novel.

We follow Diego as he discovers this world alongside the reader in a story of non stop twists and turns that ultimately ends in a satisfying end.

Andrew ( Narrator ) is what sells this production, his passion and enjoyment and performance has made this a book to come back to and recommend to others looking for an intro to audio-books.

Now for my subject header, the only draw back is that the story feels like a fever dream of very right now on brand topic discussions on one sided topics ranging from radical feminism, capitalism and a satirical take on an outlandish stereotype, this it achieves well in a mocking sense however this often delves into an opinion piece on the state of the world in 2020's with cancel culture & effectively influencer mentalities that comes across ham fisted in the last act especially.

Pick this book up, give it a read and stick through some bits even if it feels on the nose as it's an enjoyable adventure to the end.

MetricistsForLife.

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1 person found this helpful

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

So good

Thoroughly enjoyed this book ,hilarious at times thought provoking also. The narrator was fantastic, I’ll certainly be looking out for more of him. This is leaving Audible soon so get in while you can.

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1 person found this helpful

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  • Gerardo Iván Ascencio Salcedo
  • 21-10-2021

If the Enlightened Centrism meme gained sentience

The writer attempts to satirically skewer all sides of the isle while understanding none. This book takes the South Park view of politics where caring about any issue is unforgivably monstrous .
This leads to one of the books main problems, the protagonist. For if having political opinions is to be framed as immoral and crazy, then our noble protagonist must have no opinions at all. Our hero is a Latino day laborer who also happens to be a part of organized crime (killing two racist stereotypes with one very dull stone) and neither of those things are very important to the plot or his charecterization. He is a man of few words and no internal monologue. Which quickly becomes annoying as his monosyllabic replies and lack of charecterization makes him a very frustrating character to follow. He is a character you are never sure if he's just quiet or dumb but it often seems to be both as he is thrown around the plot haphazardly meeting bad caricatures of various ideologies (or more often caricatures of caricatures of various ideologies). He has the depth of a thinly sliced piece of paper which makes his supporting cast look great in comparison as they have the depth of a puddle on a hot sunny day. All this could be withstood if the writer had something funny or interesting to say. Unfortunately, he does not and not even the performance of a genuinely good voice actor can't save the reader from the obnoxious tedium of his charecters.

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47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 14-10-2021

Narrator is perfect

Fun story, great voices, excellent performance. Highly recommended for everyone. This book was a fun surprise.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Smart, AZ
  • 16-10-2021

Incredibly funny, and the narration is brilliant!

No spoilers: you've probably encountered people exactly like this irl. I know I def have! This is current American society in microcosm - ridiculous, recognizable, relatable. Regarding the Metricists: "I didn't think you do could it. You killed a man for preferring centimeters to inches."

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Kevin K.
  • 18-10-2021

Terrific modern social satire

A proper followup to his Jennifer Government style of social satire. I've been wondering for a while how Max Barry would approach this kind of storytelling in our post-truth world. Turns out "brilliantly" is the answer.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • J. H. Robinson
  • 21-10-2021

Max Barry is in fine form

Max Barry is in fine form on this one. As usual it grabs your collar and doesn't let go until you're through the fun house mirror and into Barry's wonderfully dark and comic brain. The perfect audiobook for a really lousy day. It'll pick you right up.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Carla T.
  • 21-10-2021

very good, except..

this story has an obvious political leaning which, fortunately, I happened to agree with. However chapter 12 got unnecessarily preachy. Skip chapter 12 and it earns 5 stars.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Chris
  • 05-11-2021

OK

You could play a drinking game to this one. Each time you hear “OK,” take a shot. You won’t last long.

This was the first Audible that was difficult for me to finish.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Gary Gray
  • 01-11-2021

Crazy, well written & great performance.

The writing is totally insane yet reminiscent of Bill & Ted. Very imaginative with twist every page. Characters in situations that bend your mind unlike anyone else in literature. Liked it a lot. And the different voices are impressive & distinct. The protagonist is great and carries the story perfectly. Very enjoyable.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Lance
  • 20-10-2021

Tons of twisty turny fun!

Totally worth the listen, right up the same alley as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and other similar styles.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • PostMuse
  • 04-11-2021

Awful narration/weak story

The narrator “performs” the narration, e.g. when the text is “cough” the narrator coughs. So annoying! And gross when he made gum smacking sounds for one character. The story is odd but could’ve been intriguing if not for the narrator.

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Andrew M.
  • 07-10-2022

A rip roaring adventure

If you’re easily offended by this then it’s probably that it spears one of your sacred cows and that should tell you something about yourself.

The performance was top notch and it wasn’t overly long, making its point and leaving. Recommended!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Ellen
  • 03-10-2023

Excellent

It was a really interesting audiobook deathley would recommend it and wish there was more.

Thank you 🙂

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • AJ
  • 11-05-2023

Excellent & almost certain to be a TV series

Typical Max Barry, if you like his other stuff you'll like this. A little lighter & funnier than usual, but all-round superb. The narration is really a highlight & makes it for me. One of those where I actively look up the narrator to see what else they've done thinking I'll probably just wishlist anything vaguely interesting.

Could easily see FX or someone optioning this & it getting made for TV along the lines of Preacher or The Boys

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Mr A J Curtis
  • 10-05-2023

Excellent

Loved it, I have been a fan of Max Barry for a long time now. I started with Machine Man and have read every other book (well almost, currently got the paperback of Madison May on the go). This one caught my attention with a new Audible subscription and it's a well executed book with the usual twists and turns that I've grown to almost expect in a story! Well read too with a wide variety of accents!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • R Dale
  • 06-05-2023

One of the strangest books I have ever read

A book that is as bizarre as this has to be superbly well-written in order to both keep the interest of the reader and (at least in its own terms) make sense. Luckily Max Barry manages. This is great. No idea what to compare it to, it is unique.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anna
  • 03-02-2023

Really clever, fun, well acted performance

Loved this! I kept thinking of Luke Wilson as Carter and Diego was Michael Peña, they romped in my mind as I listened to the wild ride of a SCI-FI tale. Honestly laughed at many of the quips between aliens and the hapless humans, clever writing, great audio actors and a brilliant message! Thanks Audible for producing this book, what a ride!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • edward
  • 29-11-2022

Weird

struggled to finish as main character flip flops over who he wants to help. Gets a bit dull hearing the aliens convince the main character to go off with them, only to turn around at the next argument

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Miss J T
  • 26-11-2022

Brilliant!

I don't understand the bad reviews on here. I found this book interesting and enjoyable. A light-hearted exploration into all the confusion aided, ironically, by so much information! It reminds me of Socrates view on the fragility of democracy: that it leaves us open to selfish individuals who gain power and wealth by using delucive inticement and flattery to gain support. What a great way for Aliens to invade our world! Hopefully, like Diego, we will all find our way through...

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Mark
  • 13-11-2022

Predictable B Movie story.

standard stuff that is done.much better by others. Nothing revolutionary or attention holding. Spend your credit or money elsewhere.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Markus Renfors
  • 12-10-2022

What was this?!

What did I just listen to?! Honestly it’s so weird. (And the narrator just makes it even weirder). I hate it and love it at the same time.
If you want to laugh and like weird things go a head!
If you are easily offered and don’t like weird things just skip this one.

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