Perhaps the Stars

Terra Ignota, Book 4

By: Ada Palmer

Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith

The long years of near-utopia have come to an abrupt end. Peace and order are now figments of the past. Corruption, deception, and insurgency hum within the once steadfast leadership of the Hives, nations without fixed location.

The heartbreaking truth is that for decades, even centuries, the leaders of the great Hives bought the world's stability with a trickle of secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction could ever dominate. So that the balance held. The Hives' facade of solidity is the only hope they have for maintaining a semblance of order, for preventing the public from succumbing to the savagery and bloodlust of wars past. But as the great secret becomes more and more widely known, that facade is slipping away.

Just days earlier, the world was a pinnacle of human civilization. Now everyone - Hives and hiveless, Utopians and sensayers, emperors and the downtrodden, warriors and saints - scrambles to prepare for the seemingly inevitable war.

©2021 Ada Palmer (P)2021 Recorded Books

excellent

one thing I did notice about the audio was that the quality or tamber changed slightly at random places and I'm not sure if that was just my device playing it or if others had it too.

Incredible wrap-up to the series. Audio issues.

Audio had consistency issues. Narrator is wildly fun though - made up for it.

Strong conclusion, great narrator

Was not expecting that ending. I didn't like the narrator at first but completely changed my mind.

A beautiful ending to the series

So, this is a dense book. It is the final book of the series and you should absolutely start at the beginning. As a finale, it is stunning in its scope, drawing together the threads of philosophical debate mixing them and then running them to their ends. What is the outcome if we believe this? How does this way of being in the world play out when the world is on fire? Still, I have cried more listening to these books than any others. Beautiful language, compelling arguments, twists in interpretation that left me thrilled. Humanity in its complexity is on display here. Dense but rewarding.

Social Science Fiction such that we haven't seen.

It will need a second reading but this is social science fiction of a type we haven't seen for a long time. it's more than just governments it's also how we advance and what we aspire to.