Not for me...

I can't stand Will Wheaton's narration. I like him as an actor, not a voice actor. Took away from the story for me, which I think was okay, but can't be sure.

8 people found this helpful

Great story. Utterly dire narration.

I've been a Scalzi fan since I first read Old Man's War and have previously bought kindle or book versions. This was my first experience of Will Wbeeton as a narrator and he's just awful. So ridiculously forceful, SHOUTY and over-dramatic, yet simultaneously unable to vary his voice for any character other than a french-canadian.
Loved the story HATED the narration.

7 people found this helpful

A "just for fun" book, but I DID have fun

First thing to say is that the “Author’s Note” does a LOT of heavy lifting for this book overall, describing the work as it does as a “pop song” and explaining the understandable circumstances which made the past couple of years less than conducive to writing a more brooding, complex novel.

And for sure, KPS is manifestly presented as a bit of fun. I don’t think I understood that at first, and for the initial chapters, I was enjoying and laughing along at the jocular dialogue and the quintessentially Gen Z language. At a point, I became disappointed that this tone actually persists throughout the entire novel and the rubber doesn’t really hits the road with a ‘serious’ story until quite late in the book. Even under threat of a messy demise, the characters still talk in that way young people tend to do when they’re TRYING to be funny, and which can be appreciated in well-targeted doses but became rather grating when it lasted for the entire novel...not to mention the fact that this was the voice of EVERY character, even the antagonist.

It’s possible I’m being a little unfair here, and that the last remark had more to do with Wil Wheaton’s narration, which was exhaustingly enthusiastic and read every slightly amusing aside as though it were a grand punchline. Sure, I can see how he was trying to strike the right tone for this playful novel, but the lack of variety in his performance made for a somewhat relentless experience, and not entirely in a good way. For the first time EVER, I actually considered switching from Audible to Kindle. And, while I’m on it, I can only assume Wil Wheaton does not bill himself as a voice actor, because despite Scalzi’s efforts to populate the novel with a diverse cast of character...EVERYONE sounds exactly the same. The only exception is the French Canadian helicopter pilot, whom Wheatons gives some kind of mild, weird Irish/Native American hybrid accent. (Unless that’s what French Canadian people sound like; I’ve not met enough to say.) Even the Irish character sounds American, and even when they finish their sentences with a very British “mate”.

So, that all sounds very critical. But in truth - and despite the book not quite turning out to be what I’d hoped it would - it does still exhibit Scalzi’s brilliantly creative imagination, his flair for storytelling and the humour (overdone as it is) does hit the spot. I laughed out loud many times. By the end, I understood that this was a “just for fun” book, and I can’t deny that I did indeed have fun.

I intend to read a lot more John Scalzi this year, though if any of his other audiobooks are narrated by Wil Wheaton, I think I’ll probably opt for the Kindle version instead.

5 people found this helpful

Can't bring my self to finish

I typically hate internet trash reviews and try and avoid them... However...

The narration is abominably bad. Every joke/aside lands like a turd as WW insists on delivering them with an audible wink, or smug grin. His shrieking voice, at places, made my physically wince and somehow every character sounds identical, speaks identically and shares the same 'young person' speak that can only be written and delivered by an old man.

I honestly can't tell if the book is good... I don't think it is though.

4 people found this helpful

Narrator needs to switch to decaf

The story is entertaining, light and fast paced. However the narrator spends too much time dialling the energy up to 11 which eventually begins to become annoying and knocks you out of the story. I know he’s a professional actor but I’d rather have a work-a-day narrator who isn’t trying too hard.

2 people found this helpful

A time pass...

This is one dialogue heavy book. It is almost like a play. He said, she said, he allowed, she responded.... It's like this throughout. The story is pretty basic and offers nothing new. But some interesting ideas. The narration is irritating with the very American actor talking like a whiny sarcastic American in his twenties throughout. And why one character has to be given the stereotypical Indian sing song accent I don't know.... it's quite frustrating. Not a bad book. Not a good one either.

2 people found this helpful

Just pure fun

Super fun listen, a utter mood lifter and perfectly narrated by Will Wheaton. Sometimes a silly fun book is what we all need

1 person found this helpful

Fluff for Wannabe Zoologists

I'm sorry that I didn't like this book very much. I apologise because I'm a huge Scalzi fan. I love all of his other books and stories. So what was basic about this one, in my humble opinion? Well, I had to stop listening to this audiobook twice. The first time was because after the funny and exciting intro, the first few chapters, when Jamie gets to the exciting new world it just falls flat. He's there and the story just describes zoology stuff. It's like being on a tour of a zoo if you're training to be a stock shifter. I mean, there could have been incredible descriptions of the kaiju and other creatures, visually, but instead there's fictional science about how they work.

I get that this is science fiction, but it's a novel, more visuals need describing herein so that I can picture these fantastical monsters in my mind. Rather than just saying they're as big as a mountain or a sky scraper. What does that instil in me? It makes me imagine Godzilla every time. That's it. And I'm talking about the original Godzilla films with those hilarious monster costumes that bend in at the armpit.

However, I came back to listening to this audiobook because I paid for it, and unfortunately it was the second let-down I'd experienced so far this year with fave authors. And as for Wil Wheaton's reading? Gosh but it's way over the top.

The ending was silly. Too silly considering the fact that good characters are killed off, but that's fine because jokes have to be made, right? Spare me.

Anyway, I'm glad I finished listening to this audiobook because the whole way through I thought the author might have been affected in his creativity by the pandemic. Sure enough, he explains the same in his Author's Note at the end.

1 person found this helpful

Thoroughly enjoyable adventure

This is a fantastically fun listen. It seriously messed up my sleep when I had to listen to “just another 30 minutes” several times over. It is a clever concept with warm, funny characters, and a fast pace. It reminded me a little of Michael Crichton at his best. Plus the reading is excellent.

Generally enjoyable and easy to listen to

Standard Scalzi book. Easy to listen to, driven by plot and sarcastic dialogue - I doubt scientists ever talk like that but it is entertaining. Wil Wheaton is great as always.

As a heads up, the author included a Trans/gender neutral character (use of they/them’ pronouns) which was not needed for the plot and the issue is not ever discussed. Ultimately it is just a quirk of the drafting but some may find a bit jarring hearing plural pronouns out of the blue with no explanation whatsoever.