Truth is a human right.
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.
Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.
Re-reading this to gear up for the sequel, I was excited to be able to experience the audio version. I'd heard a little going in, and then seeing that it had multiple narrators—a practice that I wish was utilized more often—I was definitely anticipating something special.
Stephanie Willis, the narrator who covered the majority of the book, had a reading style which took me some time to get used to. Not only was it slightly slower than I typically read along with, but it also had a lot of extra pauses for emph-asizing words or syllables. I'm sure it would be fine if I were just listening to it, but as I was reading along with it, it was definitely jarring to be skimming along and then have these hiccups appear every couple lines where I wasn't expecting them. It did work well to add to Cora's emotional state (being exasperated or snarky), but, as I said, it just took some time to get used to, and resulted in me speeding up the book as a whole to compensate somewhat. Which backfired when there was a lengthy bit of dialogue or description that didn't include Cora's thoughts/feelings, but oh well.
I was surprised at this production's use of two narrators, but only insomuch as I'd made incorrect assumptions. Abigail Thorn (of Philosophy Tube) covers the news articles, blogs, and correspondence that come up every few chapters, which serve to flesh out the goings on of the world outside Cora's bubble. I had expected the second voice actor to cover Ampersand—a common practice in some of the romance books I've read recently—but finding the computerized voice adequately different on Willis' part, I enjoyed the further separation Thorn provided for the non-Cora elements. I did find her reading faster than Willis, such that I had to adjust the speed for the longer articles & letters, but only in the earlier happenings.
Overall, I thought this audio successfully juggled the best of both worlds: utilizing two readers added some uniqueness to things, while the one-reader structure of Cora's story maintained familiarity. As some names and terms were unfamiliar (a common trait in sci-fi), the audio pronunciations were definitely appreciated. Though it took a little time for me to find the cadence, even at more than double speed there's still plenty of Cora's attitude coming through the narration. Seeing that the next book is adding a third reader into the mix, I'm excited to see how things progress and change, and not just in the story!
No comments :
Post a Comment
Let me hear you howl!