The Android's Dream

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony.

To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire, who with the help of Brian Javna, a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth looking for the rare creature. And they find it, in the unknowing form of Robin Baker, pet store owner, whose genes contain traces of the sheep DNA. But there are others with plans for the sheep as well: Mercenaries employed by the military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a 21st century science-fiction author. And alien races, eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth.

To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off the greatest diplomatic coup in history, a grand gambit that will take him from the halls of power to the lava-strewn battlefields of alien worlds. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of Robin Baker - and to protect the future of humanity.

©2006 John Scalzi (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With plenty of alien gore to satisfy fans of military SF and inventive jabs at pretend patriotism and self-serving civil service, Scalzi delivers an effervescent but intelligent romp." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great story with interesting twist

The story is a great combination of murder, mystery, espionage and action. The characters are portrayed in a way where you known them instantly.
Will Wheaton gives a superior performance in narrating the story. His spot on interpretation of characters keeps your interest and makes you wish the story never ends. Master storytelling.
It's is a keeper.

I almost returned it!

So glad I stuck it out. Absolutely worth the time. Before I knew it I was laughing and couldn't stop listening. Great story and narration!

my new Fav author

this is great
this is the third story I have listened to from this author and he is great. love the stories the characters. I can not believe he is not more popular.

Definitely far out.

This story was interesting and entertaining. It has some very funny parts.
There is certainly some language, sexual discussions, and violence. Thankfully, the sexual discussions were not explicit but they were deviant. It is NOT a book for children.
I really liked the characters. They ranged a great deal in temperament and morals, but they all felt real. Some of them I was quite fond of.
The plot has twists that I certainly didn’t see coming, and I enjoyed watching it resolve itself.
I really appreciated the title and it’s nod to older Sci Fi, but in case you’re wondering it really doesn’t have anything else connecting it to that other story.
I would recommend this book to adults, particularly those with a slightly warped sense of humor.
The reading is quite good.

good story, poorly executed - dialogue tags!!!!!!!

this is a decent story, reminding me a bit of what could be a Hitchhikers Guide side-story. however, Wil Wheaton does not give one of his better performances, it seems bland and like he is uninterested.

John Scalzi has a great mind and tells a funny, well crafted and entertaining story. but the dialogue tags kill me!!!! how has his editor not coached him on this? half of the book is a dialogue tag: "he said" "she said" "Henry said" "Robin said" "Bill said". until he can get this fixed I just cant listen to another book of his.

intriguing

intriguing, creative, satisfying, and really well thought out. I want know if there will be more books covering certain past events within the novel.

great book.

fun and interesting.
story flows well. good character development. Will Wheaton does a great job narrating.

I loved this story!

great story loved it I'm looking for more by the same author Wil Wheaton I can't believe he reads and narrates the story pretty damn good I will look for more narrated by him as well.

Another great John Scalzi book

I don't know how he comes up with such fantastical plots, or how he manages to craft them into amazing stories, but John Scalzi is literary genius. When I read the story line for The Android's Dream, I wasn't sure he would rise to the level of Scalzi'd other books, but I was wrong to doubt him.

Wil Wheaton makes it!

Where does The Android's Dream rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the first audiobook I've listened to so I can't much compare it to other titles.

If you’ve listened to books by John Scalzi before, how does this one compare?

I've sampled another Scalzi book and I enjoy his humor, irony, and imagination. His description of grandiose events/settings, some of the action sequences, and emotional depth of characters is not as well done.

What about Wil Wheaton’s performance did you like?

I'm worried that, since this is the first audiobook I've finished, I've been spoiled by Mr. Wheaton's outstanding performance. The amount of inflection made a real difference in this story and made it very easy to keep track of different characters. His performance was energetic when it needed to be, sarcastic at appropriate times, and when it came to explaining imaginative technology he always made it sound as if it could be real.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The first act of the book was the best part. It had the most laughs, a lot of political and personal intrigue, and had the most imagination as far as technology and alien species went.

Any additional comments?

This was pretty good, I really enjoyed the humor and Wil Wheaton's performance was fantastic. The action worked just fine but wasn't particularly memorable. Try it for yourself, if you don't like the first few chapters you won't like it at all.