Big picture SF

The sheer complexity and believability of this story's universe is amazing. Inspired, intelligent ideas coupled with classic SF grit in all the right places. The sequel was in the basket before I was finished.

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Great story, great performance

Loved the story, but the pronunciation of some words distracted. E.g Watter rather than water was particularly annoying as it cropped up a lot.

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Fantastic sci-fi

Took me a while to get into. Narration was slow and some characters were just irritating. But as the story progresses it turns into a fascinating book. The sadness that surrounded Yuri for me was profound and CallU and Earthshine were really great elements.

The scope of the book is enormous with so many unique ideas.

I did find some frustrations with character interaction. Those became more obvious is Ultima but I don’t think they detract from the story too much.

It has the scale of Hyperion but for me was much more approachable.

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A great Sci Fi listen

A great story that really gripped me. I couldn't wait to listen to the next chapter. Characters were all believable and the science of the near future didn't sound far fetched at all.

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Reader Kyle...not sure how I'm going to enjoy thi

Would you consider the audio edition of Proxima to be better than the print version?

Not really, beginning the listen but the reader is a bit irritating...

What was one of the most memorable moments of Proxima?

Just beginning but wanted to warn people who are influenced by the quality of voice of reader

What didn’t you like about Kyle McCarley’s performance?

He has an irritating aristocratic drawl. It sounds like he is reading the six o clock news. I am not usually this unkind in descriptions!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but only to get the listen over and done with.

Any additional comments?

Story may well be okay. I'm biased from the first five minutes though.

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Ho hum

This was a difficult audiobook to get through as the performer's accent and attempts at other accents are truly distracting. The accents are so bad as to make you dislike when certain characters appear as their voices are so unpleasant to listen to.


The story has enough interest to keep you listening but the ending seemed rushed and condemns this audiobook to mediocrity.

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Epic!

Only my second Baxter book after Time Ships, and that I read years ago. Wasn't disappointed, couldn't 'put it down' towards the end. Already have the sequel and would recommend. The narrator struggled with so many characters and accents but credit where credit is due, he did much better than I could have and I take my hat off to him, really first rate job on an incredibly challenging epic. I can't in good conscience pick fault, minor gripes and inconsistencies quickly became insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Well done indeed.

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Errr ... Slow but strong finish want to read more

I didn't like the narrator but eventually accepted if not fully warmed to the voice.

The story was a slow start but I found I wasn't able to put down. Defiantly want to know more and to read more from the author. As to the story it was rich and beautifully woven . Plenty to revisit and develop in subsequent books.

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3 people found this helpful

Good book

Book was a good listen. Interesting story and I will be getting the next part.
The performance for me was fine. I am not sure what others had issue with.
His accents were not the best but each character had a distinct voice and it was easy to follow who was who.
He couldn't pronounce water properly but that didn't effect the story for me.

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2 people found this helpful

Spoiled by the narrator

I found Kyle McCarley's pronunciation of some words mind boggling - or as he would probably say "Mond buuuggling". Fortunately since it was set over a century into the future I was able to convince myself it was a dialect of the time.

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