With clarity and fervor O'Brien once again narrates the adventures of earthling Louis Wu and his motley crew of alien explorers as they confront the latest crisis on the amazing construct called the Ringworld. It's fortunate that O'Brien's nuanced, well-paced performance--which includes interesting vocal characterizations of both the realistic and fanciful variety--keeps things moving because the story certainly doesn't. Niven gets bogged down in anthropological details about the Ringworld's various races of humanoids, rather than telling a rousing tale. The plot is often confusing, and even the author's descriptions of the Ringworld itself don't inspire the awe they did in the two previous books. It was O'Brien's enthusiasm that got me through this, not mine.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1998
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Multiple award winner Card is one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction; here he delivers a history fantasy of the Wabash Valley circa 1800, a world of hexes and folk magic. This is the first book about Alvin Maker, the seventh son of a seventh son, who has remarkable psychic powers. Card is a very good narrator, expressive and well paced. One can hear the excitement of an author as he brings his own well described characters to life. There is one momentary technical glitch, the only slip up in an exemplary presentation. Highly recommended for fiction collections everywhere.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 7 hrs
Publisher: The Literate Ear
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Asimov's sweeping tale of the disintegration and fall of the Galactic Empire has never been more relevant or poignant. In the third book of the original trilogy, Dan Lazar handles the material adequately. He uses his limited range of voices nicely, if sometimes amusingly--he sometimes sounds like a foreigner attempting to mimic American accents. Varying pitch and pacing make for a lively narration, and his reading of a precocious young woman, who is ultimately an important figure, is delightful. Technical and editorial problems plague the title. Hearing Lazar repeatedly mispronounce a word that the text itself explains how to pronounce is very frustrating. Intermittent fade-outs on one channel; inconsistencies when switching sides; and low, rumbling background noise mar the sound quality.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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