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Stowaway to Mars

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Stowaway to Mars

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Olivia Dowd
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About this listen

Aircraft designer Dale Currance undertakes a journey to Mars in an effort to capture the prize being offered to the first man to complete an interplanetary journey, but a female stowaway throws his plans into disarray.

An international prize of one billion has been offered to the first man to complete an interplanetary trip, and Dale Curtance, a millionaire adventurer, emerges as the British entrant. With a hand-picked crew, he blasted off from Salisbury Plain in the spaceship Gloria Mundi, destination—the planet Mars. Once free of Earth's atmosphere, they discover a stowaway—a woman. Her extraordinary story helps them prepare for the dangers they encounter on the Red Planet, and the fantastic world that exists there.

©1935 John Wyndham (P)2022 Audible, Ltd Adventure Science Fiction Space Exploration Fiction Solar System Mars Interstellar
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I loved discovering The Chrysalids and The Day of the Triffids as a lad, but I had all but forgotten about John Wyndham until stumbling upon The Midwich Cuckoos on audiobook. Since then I've worked my way through every of his audiobooks I could find. However, I left this one to last, as the space exploration sci-fi from the 60s tends to not stand up too well. Indeed this book is no different! The expectations of life on Mars and Venus and the speed and ease with which it was thought we would travel there in futuristic 1986 does make the suspension of belief difficult.
For the 4 stars I've given it, it is still probably the John Wyndham book I've enjoyed least. Not his finest work - and yet... and yet the ideas he explores about machines and life were startlingly relevant and, I think, worthy of closer inspection as we teeter on the edge of an uncertain AI future...

Unexpectedly relevant

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Some “wisdom” from the 60’s still valid today, but not the status or social position of women.
The poignant point made about the doctrine of discovery leading to forced acquisition of foreign lands by the landing party, brings our shameful history of colonialism to the forefront.
Like all John Wyndham’s books, still a good listen.

Bit dated but still a good yarn

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I was excited to see a book by the above author that I hadn't come across. Now I know why it, wasn't in receipt of the accolades that his other novels received.

sadly, not the John Wyndam I remember.

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A good book to listen to if you're into old style sifi. There's elements of old-seated misogyny & references to taking liberties with women & cultures, that haven't aged well.
The narrator did a passable job, but it felt a little childish and slow at some points.

Intriguing and aged

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My favourite Mars related books are by Kim Stanley Robinson and Ben Bova, so I had a high bar to start with for novels with a Mars setting. Unfortunately the lack of believable science underpinning the narrative made it impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story. The views on women have not aged well and I found myself getting annoyed by the thoughts of some of the characters at times. The performance was fine and I persevered to the end, but the story overall is definitely "of its time" and I did not enjoy this book.

Dated social beliefs and unbelievable science tech forced me out of the story constantly

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