Hyperion
By Dan Simmons; Read by Various
19 CDs – 21 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423381402
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of Time Tombs, where huge brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope–and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
A stunning tour-de-force filled with transcedent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable new science fiction epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.
Genesis
By Bernard Beckett; Read by Becky Wright
4 CDs – 4 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423381501
Candidates for The Academy must endure a grueling entrance exam, and young Anaximander has chosen as her special subject the life of Adam Forde, her long-dead hero. She begins by telling Forde’s story:
Late in the twenty-first century the island Republic has managed to survive a devastating worldwide plague by isolating its citizens completely from outside contact. For many years, approaching ships and planes are gunned down, refugees are shot on sight. No one is allowed in or out. The islanders are safe, but not free. Until a man named Adam Forde rescues a girl from the sea…
“Anaximander, we have asked you to consider why it is you would like to join The Academy. Is your answer ready?”
To answer that deceptively simple question, Anaximander finds she must struggle with everything she has ever known about herself and her beloved Republic’s history. What is the nature of being human, of being conscious? What does it mean to have a soul? And when everything has been laid bare, she must confront The Republic’s last great secret, her own surprising link to Adam Forde, and the horrifying truth about her world.
Genesis is a provocative novel of ideas that forces us to contemplate the very essence of what it means to be human. You will want to finish it in one sitting, and you will want to listen to it again and again.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
