Original take on an old tale

Great story with a canny twist , well written and performed, the author has done a great job turning the genre on its head

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the Extinction trial

Really enjoyed the main character. Great premise though I did have to relisten a couple of times. The ending did make me think as I hadn't guessed the ending. This is my 2nd A G Riddle audible book & I'm going to start Departure.

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Truly gripping story

For a standalone book that's only 11 hours long, the story and character development is brilliant. I was gripped by the end of chapter one and finished the book in a day. The concept felt original but believable. I had it completely wrong in my head what the ending would be. The characters interactions and back stories kept you guessing what they would do next, or how they would react to the next danger or trail. The iminante danger from start to end kept the pace and tension high. The science fiction elements were new and incredibly in depth.
The narrator did an excellent job and made every character different and believable. They managed to portray emotion throughout and kept the pace flowing quickly.
This book was so good I have kept it downloaded so my wife can listen to it. I also have downloaded another book from the author and I'm hoping the quality of this book carries on.

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Enjoyable Sci Fi

Not to predictable…..which was nice. No gratuitous sex scenes or mad romance, Mo mad unnecessary violence Just a science fiction story, actually quite good.

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"What is the destiny of the human race?"

Such a disappointment. An intriguing start as a fireman on a visit to his mum is called out on an emergency to one of several fires which seem to be devastating his city. Other strange and unusual occurrences also start happening which really shouldn't be possible, like buses changing their routes to drive straight into buildings. And soon the whole city is alight and burning, fires assisted by robots designed to save lives, not to ignore orders and deliberately kill. Against all the odds, our hero fireman survives his burning high rise, leaving through a broken window despite attack by murderous helicopters, a young girl carried in his arms... And is woken up in a cold chamber in what might be an hospital.
So it begins.

A small team of stranger survivors, with no apparent memory of how they arrived in a cold facility, try to piece things together as they argue and escape, or die, trying to figure out what has gone before as well as what to do as they try to survive, lurching from problem to near starvation and extreme life threatening situations still trying to understand what was going on, or had gone on, or might, possible come to pass in the future. All a bit under-whelming and actually rather tedious. Cut out about half of this bumbling around and it could have been condensed into something special, but instead, for this reader, it became more why put them through all of this and subjecting a couple of people, already chosen, to torture and pain before shutting them down again anyway to launch them later.

One of the pleasures of this book was the narration, performed by John Skelley, who brought life to the rather dull characters and the overall plot. His reading was well paced, with nicely modulated sentences bringing colour to the dreary landscapes and provide an easy differentiation between characters.

Not a bad book, just disappointing, Riddle can do better than this. Plus the 'twist' at the end was predictable and far too late.

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A great book

It was very thought provoking especially in these times where everyone is worried about the growth of AI

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Great science fiction.

Very well written and narrated. The story has a great twist or two. You won't waste your time listening to this.

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Good story, well read

Not stunning but worth a listen, story is good, performance is good - I liked it!

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Excellent book.

Another good book by Riddle, links in with the extinction series, and good narration, keep them coming.

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1 person found this helpful

Begins well

The initial idea is good but the logic of the story gradually diminishes until, by the end, all credibility has disappeared. That said, the narrator was excellent.

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