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The Downloaded cover art

The Downloaded

By: Robert J. Sawyer
Narrated by: Brendan Fraser,Luke Kirby,Vanessa Sears,Colm Feore,Andrew Phung,full cast
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Publisher's Summary

In 2059, two vastly different groups of people portrayed by the compelling trio of Brendan Fraser (Academy Award winner), Luke Kirby (Emmy Award winner), and Vanessa Sears (Dora Award winner) undergo cryonic suspension. While their bodies are frozen, their minds, still active and awake, are uploaded into a massive quantum computer. The first group are all astronauts, about to leave Earth on a one-way interstellar colonization mission. The second group consists of convicted murderers and volunteers who elect to serve their sentences in a virtual-reality prison. But while both groups are suspended, a global cataclysm devastates most of the Earth, and their cryosleep is extended by more than 500 years.

Now available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.

©2023 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2023 Audible Originals, LLC.

What listeners say about The Downloaded

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Eyerolling

Plot is simple dumb fun and the performances are good, But its as if the author has some kind of nerousis and is constantly worming his far left politics constantly in every chance he gets.
You'll very quickly learn which races he likes and which he dislikes, Which views he is completely intolerant of, his sexual fetishes and what fears keep him awake at night.
It almost feels like a parody at times.

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2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointed

My least favourite book on audible. Found it monotonous . I do not recommend this one.

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1 person found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Good performances.

This story had so much promise until the woke leftisms took over the story. Why the author felt the need to ruin the story with political nonsense is beyond me. Stopped listening with around an hour to go as I couldn’t stand it. Reads like something that has gone through the Canadian ministry of truth editor.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Promising start....until..

The narration was good and the premise was interesting. It was off to a good start but got quickly bogged down in the human element, with frustrating infighting. What killed it for me though was the author injecting his strong views on certain things such as climate change, covid masking and vaccination, left wing politics, woke agendas etc. Then of course there had to be the token trans character, with the only love story being a trans one that made no sense at all. Please just stop. I made it to the end, but the last two thirds were a bit of a preachy gag fest. Shame,

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1 person found this helpful

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

More please.

I’m not usually a fan of dramatisations, however this one was subtly done and very well put together. Brendan Fraser was captivating, and is now my favourite Audible Narrator (sorry RC Bray). I enjoyed the story line and its developments, as well as the manner of story telling. Don’t let the dramatisation out you off, it’s a great listen.

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

Woke garbage

Was fine, right up until The injected some woke garbage. Give it a break already. Disney has done enough. 

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  • Overall
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  • jd
  • 08-12-2023

Great narration

Enjoy the narration. Keeps you interested. However, storyline is uninspiring with an attempt to introduce twist and turns which simply provoke a reaction like…. Ok, what next.

Did not finish as narration could keep me interested for so long.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A Gripping Listen

Well acted by a stellar cast and a story that kept me spellbound to the end.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I really enjoyed this

Took a punt on it and was kept engaged - it had a bit of everything - mystery and imagination, sci-fi and adventure - it was fun! A refreshing change 😊👍🏻

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Loved It

Short and sweet, I loved the production and the quality work of the various narrators. As far as the story goes, it was thoroughly enjoyable and kept me hooked. Listened to the whole thing in only two sittings and I don't regret a moment of it. If you like speculative Sci Fi and apocalypse stories, you'll like this one. And it's not too heavy on the science either. Cheers

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 27-10-2023

Poor writing- agenda piece

If you have attention to detail or enjoy sci fi this is NOT for you. This short piece couldn’t remember details and small matters from beginning to end. It is very left/right agenda based and if you are looking to relax there are much better titles. I’m sure many will want to click on it because like me you saw Brandan Frasier, but honestly as much as I wanted to like him- he just fell flat.

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44 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Cristina
  • 30-10-2023

Promising but too political

A conservative bully joyfully murdered, evil white people… the premise was promising but it’s so polarizing. No thanks. I want a sci-fi (even a dystopian one) to get away from racist storylines not be drenched in them.

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39 people found this helpful

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  • Matthew S Pederson
  • 30-10-2023

Why the need to racebait?

Who are these writers that want to sew further racial division and hatred? There's a constant look how evil white people are in the narative of this story. It's not the trolls on the internet that's causing animosity between races in the world. It's the writers for Amazon.

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34 people found this helpful

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  • Joe Finn
  • 05-11-2023

Woke, woke and more woke

Transgender love, Black women in highest positions of authority, global warming will destroy the world, people who don’t take the Covid vaccine want to destroy humanity, and a self-professed “bleeding heart liberal” saves the day.  The villains, murderers and rapists are mostly straight white males. If that’s your thing, this production will reinforce your worldview.

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23 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Travis
  • 05-11-2023

Gen Z Masterpiece

Preferred pronouns, top and bottom surgery justifications, pointless story jumping around trying to find a plot, deeply disappointed. No wonder it is free. Only listened to it because Brandon Frazier is in it.

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18 people found this helpful

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  • Kate Rose
  • 07-11-2023

Not my cup of tea.

Way too much liberal agenda involved in the story. Very anti God.

The foul language was unnecessary to the story. I really don't read to get involved in more politics and more woke agenda trash. I want to read a story that is just a pure story without all the extraneous garbage inserted.

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17 people found this helpful

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  • Benjamin R. Rodrigue
  • 07-11-2023

Interesting concept.. poorly executed.

I really like the concept and so much could have been done with it. Unfortunately, it has more political and social grandstanding than story and the authors opinions detracted from the story.

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16 people found this helpful

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  • Cleo
  • 10-11-2023

Predictable woke trash.

Listened to hundreds of books. First written review. If you like woke narratives about “Covid 50 “ , LGBTQ, mocking believers in GOD and just unimaginative trash, this book is for you. Narrators great, storyline predictable, subtle and in my opinion trash.

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14 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Takashi
  • 31-10-2023

Interesting End.

I needed a quick listen though wanted a apocalyptic scent to the theme and this story wetted my taste. A selling point was the comments calling the story “Woke”. I found it amusing that treating others as you wish to be treated, and real history upset those reviewers so much.

Only thing I wish it had more of is both the final moments of the last humans left behind. As well as more detail about Home.

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12 people found this helpful

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  • Cogit8tor
  • 27-10-2023

Creative, Distopian, Yet somehow optimistic.

Rob Sawyer takes us on an adventure through virtual, physical, and psycho-social space in a story of survival and transformation as five groups of entities five centuries in the future decide their respectively destinies, on Earth, Mars, and the distant stars.

The voice acting is excellent and helps carry the tale effectively. Highly recommended.

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  • scott
  • 01-11-2023

Didn’t put it down.

Very well produced.
Usually these dramatisations fall into a trap of killing the story with pointless exposition. This is a well performed and entertaining listen.

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8 people found this helpful

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  • PS2 Person
  • 13-11-2023

Cryogenically frozen

Starts out okay; becomes a political piece halfway through. Very strange. If you can overlook the time wasted on that and inconsequential characters, it's an okay story about being brought back to life in the future.

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  • Michelle Jenkins
  • 31-10-2023

pleasantly surprised

Great listen, I was expecting the usual scifi listen but the book took a surprising turn.

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  • Mel
  • 06-11-2023

Great sci-fi story!

Thoroughly enjoyed this story.
It had a very original storyline & good narration.
Would definitely recommend.

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Kerry Kindle
  • 07-11-2023

Great story

Interesting story with intriguing ideas about cryogenics and their uses. Well rounded characters just wish it was longer.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • Firmin
  • 09-12-2023

A well performed story, but...

The constant social commentary (murderers are the type of people who don't get the vaccine) and identity politics is tiresome.

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  • Grumblestrip
  • 08-12-2023

Good story

I enjoyed this and will look out for more by this author. I liked that there were several different voices for the characters so it was easy to follow. Excellent freebie.

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  • Krypton
  • 07-12-2023

A bit cheesy

Unfortunately this book is well and truly on the bandwagon that is putting the demise of earth on humans whether by nuclear means or destruction of the ozone layer. It does so in a manner that makes it even harder to bear as it is very cheesy. How about a different topic audible?

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  • Suzi
  • 06-12-2023

Chaotic

Not the normal type of book I’d listen to but this was rubbish. Story seemed to jump all over the place and then just ended! Wouldn’t recommend

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  • JG
  • 06-12-2023

There is a good story there but some unnecessary preaching

The basic elements of the story are good and was well performed by all the actors.

Nevertheless, as others have noted, there were some elements that were clearly shoehorned in that added nothing to the story and pulled you out of the story. The 2 elements that were most noticeable were the comments about how people not getting vaccinated for Covid were selfish (this is set in the future so this was a ridiculous reference) and having a character who was transgender who appears, has a few conversations and disappears. Neither of these additions were at all relevant to the story so one assumes that they were included solely as a form of virtue signaling.

Notwithstanding the above, this was an easy listen and enjoyable.

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