-
Crystal Rain
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
![Prime logo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/Homestead/Prime_Logo_RGB.png)
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
Shards of Earth
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. After Earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared - and Idris and his kind became obsolete. Now, 50 years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space.
-
-
Not sure what the point was [Spoilers]
- By C. Andrew Hessler on 08-27-21
-
Starfish
- Rifters Trilogy Series, Book 1
- By: Peter Watts
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A huge international corporation has developed a facility along the Juan de Fuca Ridge at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to exploit geothermal power. They send a bio-engineered crew - people who have been altered to withstand the pressure and breathe the seawater - down to live and work in this weird, fertile undersea darkness.
-
-
An excellent story, but only half of it
- By Casey on 02-12-20
By: Peter Watts
-
Cage of Souls
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor.
-
-
Slow Start, Strong Finish
- By Jacob McCollum on 05-01-23
-
The Collapsing Empire
- The Interdependency, Book 1
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.
-
-
THE STUPIDITIES OF COURT
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-01-17
By: John Scalzi
-
Eversion
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
-
-
An entirely new level of science fiction
- By Possum Bean on 01-08-23
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
Shards of Earth
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. After Earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared - and Idris and his kind became obsolete. Now, 50 years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space.
-
-
Not sure what the point was [Spoilers]
- By C. Andrew Hessler on 08-27-21
-
Starfish
- Rifters Trilogy Series, Book 1
- By: Peter Watts
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A huge international corporation has developed a facility along the Juan de Fuca Ridge at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to exploit geothermal power. They send a bio-engineered crew - people who have been altered to withstand the pressure and breathe the seawater - down to live and work in this weird, fertile undersea darkness.
-
-
An excellent story, but only half of it
- By Casey on 02-12-20
By: Peter Watts
-
Cage of Souls
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor.
-
-
Slow Start, Strong Finish
- By Jacob McCollum on 05-01-23
-
The Collapsing Empire
- The Interdependency, Book 1
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.
-
-
THE STUPIDITIES OF COURT
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-01-17
By: John Scalzi
-
Eversion
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
-
-
An entirely new level of science fiction
- By Possum Bean on 01-08-23
Publisher's summary
Crystal Rain is the much-anticipated debut novel by Tobias S. Buckell, one of science fiction’s newest and most promising talents.
Long ago, so the stories say, the old-fathers came to Nanagada through a worm's hole in the sky. Looking for a new world to call their own, they brought with them a rich mélange of cultures, religions, and dialects from a far-off planet called Earth. Mighty were the old-fathers, with the power to shape the world to their liking - but that was many generations ago, and what was once known has long been lost. Steamboats and gas-filled blimps now traverse the planet, where people once looked up to see great silver cities in the sky. Like his world, John deBrun has forgotten more than he remembers. Twenty-seven years ago, he washed up onto the shore of Nanagada with no memory of his past. Although he has made a new life for himself among the peaceful islanders, his soul remains haunted by unanswered questions about his own identity. These mysteries take on new urgency when the fearsome Azteca storm over the Wicked High Mountains in search of fresh blood and hearts to feed their cruel, inhuman gods. Nanagada's only hope lies in a mythical artifact, the Ma Wi Jung, said to be hidden somewhere in the frozen north. And only John deBrun knows the device’s secrets, even if he can’t remember why or how!
What listeners say about Crystal Rain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Xxx
- 06-12-18
A perfectly orchestrated Adventure
first things first. if you don't like the sound of a Caribbean accent then you should probably move on. For me I love the accent. In this book it is prevalent and the narrator seems to speak the language / accent perfectly. I don't know if the narrator grew up in the Caribbean or is just an expert in his field and can carry it off.
the story is just a really fun adventure. the type where you can just turn the book on and listen and Drift Away and not really think about much. you know it's a great book when you don't spend any time thinking about the book you just dive into the story and it carries you away. This is that type of story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KCK
- 11-21-15
Looooooooooong lead in before the action starts.
If you read any of my other reviews, you will quickly realize but I have a short attention span. Most of the books I enjoy start off pretty fast and that's needed to keep me interested. Sorry, I'm just one of those kind of people. This book almost lost me, but I'm glad I stayed with it because it was actually a pretty imaginative story.
The plot about humans who have settled on another planet far in the future only to be cut off from the rest of the universe because of an ancient war among other aliens is an interesting premise. These humans are nothing but pawns to a superior alien race and are being used like soldiers and slaves. They have developed more like the people of the Stone Age, but with limited technology. Their are guns, steam engines and blimps, but not much more than that despite their ancestors coming through wormholes in starships.
The world building and introduction to the various characters took a really, really long time to develop. During the first two thirds of the book you could only catch glimpses of where the story was heading. Those small glimpses were enough to keep me interested but just barely.
Crystal Rain had less science as far as science-fiction goes, and focused more on cultures and ancient beliefs. If it wasn't for Pepper, who is a complete badass, I probably would've bailed on this story before finishing it. But he was an intriguing character with high-tech bio enhancements which made him almost superhuman and immortal. This technologically advanced human working among "primitive savages" was an needed dynamic.
The narrator was incredible. I could listen to him read the phone book. His baritone was just plain manly and his mastery of Caribbean dialect was spot on. The one small issue I had with him was the difference between women's voices and higher pitched male voices was difficult to discern. That's nitpicking because overall he was terrific.
Now, my biggest problem with the book was what another reviewer also mentioned. You had a planet full of human colonists who where descendants of the people of earth from nearly 500 years ago, give or take a century. But even that long past is still our future. I'm guessing the humans left earth sometime in the 23rd century, but the author never really says that. The various races of the story where primarily Caribbean Islanders and Aztecs. Huh? Aztecs? Where in the world did they come from? The were long gone before the 17th century, so how did they become the antagonists of the 26th century?
If I decide to continue the series I'm hoping the author has explained that somewhere in the 2nd book, because it just doesn't make any sense at all. He literally could've used any other culture from today and the story would have made much more sense. Why not Russians or Mexicans or Canadians or Kenyans. Why Aztecs?
If you can get past that weird and misplaced cultural inclusion in the story, you're in for a pretty inventive piece. It's a good start to what I'm hoping is a really fulfilling series. I'm not ready to jump right in the next book to just yet, but I will probably eventually finish the series. Call it 3 1/2 stars from me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Johan
- 01-27-16
Great first story of a series
Very good narrator with a talent for accent and roles, which was absolutely necessary for this perticular story. Unique story style at least from any I've heard and read. I will follow this series for sure.
I found out about Tobias Buckell from the Metropolis series which is a very well made collaboration of several sci-fi authors made for audio book specifically as I understand it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrew Pollack
- 01-03-15
I and I enjoyed this story very much!
Bravo! -- This works on several levels. It's a great mix of the hyper-modern and the simple pre-technology worlds. The culture, story arc, plot, and characters are all fully fleshed out, consistent, and well described. The story involves war between two cultures we don't usually hear much about in Science Fiction, one with roots in the Caribbean Sea and the other with roots in the Aztec world, marooned hundreds of years ago and just beginning to rise back to a beginning industrial technology level on a planet as a result of a larger interstellar conflict.
The accents are well read and the characters interesting. An attempt is made to bring those cultures forward without losing too much of their identity. The story works fairly well at that and also as a terrific science fiction story about rebuilding and lost technology.
The only thing missing, in my opinion, was the use of the linguistic concept of "I&I" (pronounced eye-and-eye) that is unique to Caribbean cultures. I've read other places that its use is a reference to the combined nature of the individual and his God as a both separate and unified. I think it's a beautiful addition to language and that the author missed an opportunity to incorporate it here. In all other respects, this is a fantastic novel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 11-29-14
Enjoyed the Adventure
Enjoyed the story & the book's universe. Loved the interaction & the backgrounds on the characters Dihanna, John, Pepper, Oaxctyl & Hayden. The book moves at a great pace & there is lots of action & battles. Also the multiple points of view really work well.
Prentice Onayemi does a wonderful narration. I would definitely listen to other books narrated by him.
Disclosure: I received a free download of this newly re-released Audible book from the author. In spite of that, the views expressed here are my own & I did not commit to posting a review for the download.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 10-23-20
Creative and hard to put down!
Great book! Such a creative twist on some literary themes including classic old fashioned adventure novels combined with science fiction and other themes. And how often do you find a science fiction book that centers around Jamaicans and Aztecs! A fun listen and hard to put down, with a great narrator for the various accents. For other parents out there, I wouldn’t recommend the book for kids due to the violence (including human sacrifice by the bad guys) but on the positive side there are good and heroic people who fight evil, and it doesn’t have inappropriate sexual content. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James Hane
- 06-10-16
never-ending
I struggled to finish this book. there are a few interesting fight scenes but never-ending uninteresting spaces between them. also you better have a very good imagination if you listen to this book as the tanks, guns, air ships, or any other thing of interests is hardly described
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!