Narrator Ben Onwukwe's satiny bass voice is perfect for this dense and erudite sci-fi thriller. In a near-future dystopia, the System watches and records every movement, thought, and memory of every citizen. This policing structure works perfectly until a mysterious artist suspected of a crime dies in custody. When the investigators delve into the woman's stored memories, they find a half-dozen personalities ranging from an elite Greek financier to an Ethiopian painter and a Carthaginian concubine. Relentless and mesmerizing, Onwukwe excels at giving voice to the many characters and especially shines at delivering the subtle humor, irony, and shifting moods that drive this novel to a mind-bending conclusion.
Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
Duration: 29 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781984833754
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Intricate, textured weirdness rewards listeners throughout this sprawling, gloriously strange epic.
Colin Mace and Emma Spurgin Hussey narrate a generations-spanning tale of grief, conspiracy, and horror that takes its haunting premise deadly seriously. Hussey voices Maur, desolate after her son's mysterious death and desperate for answers, with a restrained intimacy, tracking her slide from mourning into obsession through shifts in pace and breath. Mace brings weathered gravel to Allerdyce, a veteran undeterred by the grim, often gross underbelly of those answers, letting long silences land before revelations. The author's interjections add an eerie texture. Both narrators keep the dense, allusive prose clear across a century of violence, building dread without tipping into melodrama.
Intricate, textured weirdness rewards listeners throughout this sprawling, gloriously strange epic.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
Duration: 40 hrs, 43 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217020959
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2026
This immersive audiobook exemplifies how a full cast can animate a work of fiction.
This speculative novel is exceptionally well performed. All the narrators capture the unique voices and distinct diction of these near-future souls. Kimberly Farr as Ari and James Aaron Oh as Sebastian are outstanding. The novel is set in the 2030s, just after the United States splinters into city-states and regional governments. The party at the center of the plot occurs in LA and presents many of the central characters—and their doppelgängers. Violence and fear hang over this dystopian world like a toxic mist. In the future, Paris consists of domes to separate the haves from the have-nots. Violent militias roam the U.S. People work for The Service, a secret police agency that watches all.
This immersive audiobook exemplifies how a full cast can animate a work of fiction.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 29 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217406500
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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