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House of Suns

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House of Suns

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
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About this listen

 Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every 200,000 years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings.

Not only are Campion and Purslane late for their 30-second reunion but they have also brought along an amnesiac golden robot for a guest. But the wayward shatterlings get more than the scolding they expect: they face the discovery that someone has a very serious grudge against the Gentian line, and there is a very real possibility of traitors in their midst. The surviving shatterlings have to dodge exotic weapons while they regroup to try to solve the mystery of who is persecuting them and why---before their ancient line is wiped out of existence forever.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Robotics

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All stars
Most relevant  
House of Suns is a very interesting story with some good characters.
However it’s much longer than necessary- it was nearly 6 hours before I got into it.
The ending is ok but rather abrupt.
The narrator is decent but the two main characters sounded rather similar so sometimes it took a few moments to figure out which character was speaking.
Despite these minor issues it is good sci-fi story with some really interesting, unusual ideas which have stayed with me.

Good but long

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Loved the story and the twists as well as the ending. Wish there was a sequal.

Masterful story telling! SF at its best

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i really liked it after not really liking it at all for for first few chapters. initially the reader grated but actually i was hooked by mid way. great ideas even if some characters are a bit 1d.

loved it after a slow start

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several things were unique about this story and it was well put together. i like the effort made to keep certain scientific laws preserved in the telling of the story while still allowing for magnificent far future possible technologies that though far into the future from our capabilities, still conform to established known scientific laws today.

ending was too abrupt. there is nothing wrong with leaving a stoey open for interpretation but it could have been done better than house of suns. here it just feels like there was meant to be a sequel and then the writer changed his mind or ran out of money and time and it never materialised. seems like a very accidental ending

imaginative story with an unfinished ending

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Some great concepts and intriguing stories. Didn’t enjoy the narration. I need more distinction between characters.

A lot to unravel. A long story in many ways

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The author brings some interesting new sci-fi ideas that I haven't encountered elsewhere, which is what I like very much. Overall though, it won't be my absolute favourite book. Ian M. Banks is so far unrivaled for me.

Interesting novel ideas

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This is one of my all time favourites. It's a great story that really captures you, with great concepts and space travel with enormous time scales! Brilliant read and one of my favourites.

Epic Sci Fi, some slow parts, but a great pay off

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Who wants to kill all the Gentian shatterlings and why? This is what I would describe as proper scifi; strange aliens, lots of space travel and strange future technology. This was the second book by Alastair Reynolds that I listened to (I can also recommend Terminal World). Wonderfully read by John Lee. A great listen.

House of Suns

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What made the experience of listening to House of Suns the most enjoyable?

I listend to this book and enjoyed going back to it each day, never feeling I wanted to give up. The story was entertainging and I would recomend it, however it does not stnd out to me as outstanding - just a good book work listening to.

What other book might you compare House of Suns to, and why?

None

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I liked the acent of this narator

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nor really

Any additional comments?

I m currently listen to "Revalation space" which is a bit of a slog in comparision, however I am persisting with it.

Enjoyable but not outstanding

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Conceptually one of my favourite Sci-Fi books, great ideas and would love more books in this universe

Fantastic concepts

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