Seeds of Earth cover art

Seeds of Earth

Humanity's Fire, Book 1

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Seeds of Earth

By: Michael Cobley
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

First contact: the dream that became a nightmare when the first alien life encountered swarmed locust-like through the solar system. Merciless. Relentless. Unstoppable.

With little hope of halting the invading forces, Earth's last, desperate roll of the die was to send out three colony ships - seeds of Earth - to different parts of the galaxy. Earth may perish, but the human race would live on, somewhere.

Fully 150 years later, the human colony on the planet Darien has established a new world for humanity and forged a peaceful relationship with the planet's indigenous race, the gentle, scholarly Uvovo. But there are secrets buried on Darien. Life is about to change for the last children of Earth, as surprises spring from below and above. How will the Darien colonists react when all they have worked for is overturned at a stroke? And what choices will the Uvovo make when their true nature is revealed - and the skies grow dark with enemies?

From the author: "Audible did a great job with the audiobooks of Seeds Of Earth and The Orphaned Worlds - and David Thorpe is one versatile guy, able to lend his vocal talents to every strange character I was able to think up. Just excellent!"

©2010 Michael Cobley (P)2011 Audible Ltd Science Fiction Fiction Solar System

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Critic reviews

"Proper galaxy-spanning Space Opera... a worthy addition to the genre." (Iain M. Banks)
"A complex, finely detailed thriller-cum-space opera." (The Guardian)
All stars
Most relevant
First class space opera, read with skill and enthusiasm. Really brings this fantastic work to life.

Brilliant!

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A decent enough sci-fi yarn. The story may not win any awards for innovation, but it's very well paced and quite entertaining. The characters, while definitely not as complex or multi-facetted as those of Iain Banks, are also rather enoyable.

I need to mention the narrator. It's true that his work with accents feels a bit artifical, but I think that's forgivable, considering that he manages to give almost every character in the book (and there's plenty) a distinct, recognisable voice and infuses every scene with the appropriate emotions and excitement.
Mr. Thorpe's work on this book was reason enough for me to take a look at his other work on Audible.

One last thing: This is definitely not a stand-alone novel. While some plot points are resolved, it is very much a beginning. Things are put in motion and events are set up for future books.

It's a start

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I love this book. Truely imaginitive, not predictable and a joy to listen to. Michael Cobley has built a great world in this book. There are a lot of characters - which normally is difficult in an audiobook. But the reader has different voices for each and it makes it very easy to follow the different characters and story lines. I think the reader is excellent. Yes, some accents are a little hammed up but im SURE this is intentional so the listener immediatly knows the nationality of the character (very useful!) I wish all audiobooks were this well read. Michael Cobley, I await more! Brilliant.

downloaded ~100 books, this is one of the BEST

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Must listen and please recommend to others. I am sure they would enjoy it. Much has been said and written about and it is worth checking out if you have not already done so. This is following his first book with Robert Langdon, so I would recommend reading Angels & Demons 1st. You can enjoy this without the first one, however starting the trilogy off properly will make this more enjoyable. Well written, educational, and thought-provoking. Loved it! Have not seen the movie and would say the book is worth the read since movies tend to disappoint. If you saw the movie, this is a MUST read since it has so much more to offer from what I heard.

Good listen

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I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was extremely well read by David Thorpe who brought the vast range of characters to life. The book itself would be well suited for a younger reader I think (I'm 37 but still in touch with my 16 year old self) as against other current Space Operas The Seeds of Earth feels a bit tame; it lacks the visceral brutality of Neal Asher or the scathing wit of Iain M. Banks but the universe(s) are well realised and the politics, drama and science are quite satisfyingly complex. In short, even though I wouldn't claim this as a classic, I'll be carrying on the series (in audiobook form) because whatever it may lack it's still a lot of fun.

Techno-Gaia?

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A mostly harmless trek through deep space, with unfeasible aliens, strange new worlds, galactic cultures and evil scheming robots aplenty.

There's a lot for your ears to master: chiefly the array of bizarrely named characters, places and empires, but the plot appears more complicated than it actually is, and although there are several parallel threads, you don't really have to struggle to keep a track of it all.

The plot is mostly typical Space-Opera fare, with hidden ancient weapons, battling empires, AIs and trips into hyperspace. Much use is made of 'last minute rescue from peril' plot devices, which could be cheesy, but seem appropriate within a fun, if heavily 'influenced', narrative.

It's clear that the author has spent much time with his nose in the 'classic' sci-fi literature, games and movies of the age: producing a brew of everything from Halo to Hitchhikers, Star Wars to Star Trek, Avatar to the Algebrist, and well, you get the idea... Sometimes the influences are clatteringly direct, although I assume it's all intended to be homage rather than theft. At least I hope so. That all said, the overall story is a good yarn, it's just that many of the set pieces within it clearly betray the writer's influences.

The end result is engaging, even oddly charming, and I liked it. Plus, the narration is pretty good, with David Thorpe coping well with distinguishing the many characters involved. In the end, it's more 3.5 stars than 4, but let's err on the generous side. It wasn't the aural page turner that I found Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy to be, but I will be listening to Book 2.

Mr Cobley, your roots are showing...

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Really good story and very well narated.

However the story is incredibly difficult to follow and i have to say I was relieved once I got through it.

The actual story being told is great, the people potrayed are believable and certainly help to draw you in. The back and forth nature of the book which jumps between various side stories is very difficult to follow, however I really enjoyed and was relieved that it was not as "spacey" as I first thought it would be.

Good But Hard to Follow

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The narration for this book is just absolutely amazing. The reader has an unbelievable facility with accents and voices. That works especially well for this book, where the premise is that earth has been overrun by aliens, and ships have been sent out--the 'seeds of earth'--to preserve humanity. Just a fantastic story, and one that's really brought to life by the talents of the reader here.

Bringing It To Life

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This is a five-star listen. The book is written with each chapter focusing on one of the main characters, and I both found the characters engaging and found myself eager to get to the next part of a character's story. The chapters are short enough to hold attention and I had no problem in remembering who was who, especially since all the characters are given distinctive voices by the narrator. David Thorpe does a great job of coping with a huge range of accents and ways of speaking, only let down really by a less-than-successful attempt at a Hispanic accent, but this is trivial and nit-picking really as he does remarkably well everywhere else. Very often David Thorpe will introduce a character's speech, only to find in a couple of lines that the author has specified how the voice sounds. So many times you find lazy narrators who just sit in a studio and pay no attention to how it should be read, but with Thorpe he has clearly taken his cue from the directions left him by the author. All in all, fascinating story, and if the next two books are anything like as good, you're going to be in for a treat.

Seeds of Earth

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Filled with twists and turns this is a more than interesting tale. One filled with patriotism, love, politics and betrayal. I'm looking forward to more in this adventure.

Well worth a listen

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