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Venomous Lumpsucker
- Narrated by: John Hastings
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
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Venomous Lumpsucker
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Summary
***Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award***
*SUNDAY TIMES SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF THE YEAR*
'A novel that delights, dazzles and moves in equal measure' Financial Times
'Brutally satirical and grimly hilarious' Daily Mail
The venomous lumpsucker is the most intelligent fish on the planet. Or maybe it was the most intelligent fish on the planet. Because it might have just gone extinct. Nobody knows. And nobody really cares, either. Except for two people.
Mining executive Mark Halyard has a prison cell waiting for him if that fish is gone for good, and biologist Karin Resaint needs it for her own darker purposes. They don't trust each other an inch, but they're left with no choice but to team up in search of the lumpsucker. And as they journey across the strange landscapes of near-future Europe - a nature reserve full of toxic waste; a floating city on the Baltic Sea; the lethal hinterlands of a totalitarian state - they're drawn into a conspiracy far bigger than one ugly little fish.
'A laugh-out-loud novel about mass extinction (yes, really)' Sunday Times
'Confirms his reputation as one of the foremost satirists of his generation' The Times
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What listeners say about Venomous Lumpsucker
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- L Cron
- 15-02-24
The age of extinction made terrifyingly hilarious
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any conservationist who enjoys the subtleties of dark British humour. The story is both sensitive and brutal. It is profound, whimsical, poignant and funny and I hope it isn’t as prescient as it seems.
The narrator John Hastings was brilliant at providing consistently distinct character voices and accents. I thought that his delivery was spot-on and not a single moment of irony or wit was lost.
I read a review that said the author Ned Beauman is a ‘speculative genius’ and, despite the prospect filling me with existential dread, I believe it might be true. The story and style remind me of books by Ben Elton, Philip K. Dick and Iain M Banks. I look forward to reading more books by this author.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DD
- 28-08-23
Simply brilliant
Great story, awesome writing, and truly superb performance. I'm now going to have to listen to everything the Beauman has written, and everything Hasting's has recorded.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C. Bowden
- 28-11-22
Wonderful.
So many concepts and ideas handled with humour. This is a really important and informative book that opens a (hopefully not extinct) can of worms. It reminds me of Douglas Adams in many ways. Well written and constructed storytelling.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matthew
- 24-09-22
Unusual, fantastic, funny & great narrator
I was hesitant to start this book, I think the title and premise sounded too much like hard work. I ended up listening to most of it in one day, narration was great and humour made me laugh out loud unexpectedly. Not for everyone I imagine, but if you're even reading this, I would say just get it. I found it very human.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jennifer
- 12-08-23
Funny and important
Great book - on one hand a satirical romp through a only barely implausible future world - wryly observed. On the other heartfelt exploration or the contradiction at humanity’s core. Fresh and free spirited and thought provoking - for me memorable with identifiable characters and the only book ever where I have ever come across my own mindset in a character. Hats off to Ned Beaumont. The narration suits the prose and was never distracting so full marks for that too.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Elisabeth
- 20-10-23
Refreshing
Great and humourous view on the serious environmental problems. Some excellent satire on our political times too
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Sarah
- 22-10-23
Ironically funny but terrifying eco Sci-Fi horror
Absolutely brilliant but horrifying to listen to. I'm particularly haunted by the extinction hunter, and the fact that he is based in Somerset is chillingly accurate. If you care about the future of the planet, and have a dark sense of humour, then this is an ideal listen. If you don't think environmentalism is important then it's even more important that you try it. I hope it changes your mind.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 03-09-23
Good but flawed
With this many important female characters I think a female narrator would have been appropriate, and less grating.
Kudos, however to John Hastings for his variety of accents!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-10-23
Fantastic, funny, dark as hell
Really enjoyed this richly inventive, continually surprising smart satire, full of big ideas. A dazzling book, and brilliantly narrated as well.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Karl
- 14-11-23
Worth it
Beautifully cynical, disturbingly realistic and very much in the same vein as Ben Elton’s approval cah to these subjects.
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