I wanted it to be more

I really wanted to love this. There's a lot to like - the basic idea is great, the plotting works well and the story has a good pace.

But the characters completely spoilt it.

They vary from flat out incompetent (and that's one of the main characters), to insipid and whiney, to bullying and aggressive. An underlying sexism shows through to me - with the men being 'real' men who dominate and bully, even if they're not in charge; or emotional women who can't perform like their male counterparts. They're all incredibly unlikeable, despite the narrator's best efforts to put some life into them.

The end result is that the potential of the story is wasted by not caring if any of them survive. I don't mind that it's an obvious copy of 'Rendezvous with Rama' or 'Eon' - both of whom are far superior versions of the same story - but when you can see how much the story could have been lifted by better characters, it feels like a missed opportunity.

Read it for the ideas but avoid it if you want to care about the people.

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replication

Repeat of an old story with poor narration. Not scifi just a tale of horror. Endless over dramatic voice which varied from a monotone to persistent repressed squeals. Suspect the author, as a child, found a maggot in an apple and his parents never explained.

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A Must Listen

Short Review - An absolute banger with Great narration.

Not as Short Review - The Last Astronaut is a surprisingly visceral Sci-Fi body horror experience. Perhaps a little slow when it comes to pacing, but the writing and characters make up for that in spades. Narration is excellent, and well worth a listen.

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Great concept and narration.

I enjoyed this. Novel concept. Kinda like Heart of Darkness meets Event Horizon, although I think it petered out at the end. Certain characters felt tropey in places. Great narrator.

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A slog from start to finish

I wanted to enjoy this book I love this kind of scifi but it fell flat for me in the end wasn't really gripped at any point and the narrators voice was annoying at times.

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I wanted to scratch my eyes out

The sheer horror of Jansen’s journey through the bowls of 2i are the stuff of nightmares. The story narrator really brought this tale to life, it felt like we were right there with Jansen, alone in the emptiness of space, side by side with her as she makes her way through the belly of the beast.

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Not believable.

Didn't enjoy the unbelievable fictional basis of the story. The ending wasn't very understandable especially for a blind reader like myself.

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Famous 5 meets Rama

Not particularly impressed with this book, feels like an adolescent style of writing and I struggled to warm to any of the characters, in fact they’re pretty irritating. Plot wise It reminded me a of rendezvous with Rama mashup, although Clark’s book whilst dated is superior.
I also didn’t get on well with the narrators style.

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2 people found this helpful

70s teenager sci-fi

Reminded me of the sci-fi I read in the 70s as a kid but worse. Didn't finish.

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sorry it was just poor.

leave your brain on a shelf and you might like this, I would like a review from a person who works in the space industry and watch them cry at how poor this is. the author must think to be an astronaut is easy and all women are airy fairy kind of clueless, it was so frustrating to listen to this all the stupid things they did. it's like a bad teen movie.

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