Robert Silverberg
1958
This book has recently become available at Librivox.org. I thought I’d take the opportunity to listen to it and feed back the experience into the review I did a few months ago.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything to change my opinion. The body of the story is great, right up until Alan inherits his money and takes on development of the Cavour drive. As I pointed out in the original Review, the big disappointment is the end and this is exacerbated in audio form. With audio books, it is very easy to just switch off for a minute or so. If you do that towards the end of this book, as you switch back in you will wonder what the hell is going on as the story progresses in giant leaps. And all of a sudden it’s over. As I did with the book, I kind of felt a little cheated out of a fulfilling read (or listen, as the case may be).
It’s frustrating, as there is some great material and ideas here. Despite all this, the book is well read by Dawn Larsen. It’s very easy to listen to her voice and she is well paced. All in all, Starman’s Quest is worth reading or listening to, but pay attention at the end.
The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey 