The dark, intense cold of space is warmed by the emotional connections in this novel and by Lindsey Dorcus's expert narration. Courier Tova Lir, captain of the NEEDLE and loving foster parent of a juvenile AI, is on a routine mission when a lunar disaster upends everything. Suddenly, she's got an assassin onboard, and not one, but two, of her bot children are in lethal danger. Author William Alexander sets a fast pace, and Dorcus smoothly keeps up, applying various Earth accents to the people the NEEDLE encounters in the solar system. Crucially, Dorcus invests each of Tova's fostered bots with vocal personalities as distinct as their names: Cosmas, Torque, Halley, and Agatha Panza von Sparkles. Balancing humor and heavy themes, and ending on a cliff-hanger, this sci-fi romp is a charmer.
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668136249
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
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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