Best of January 2011 in Audible.com SFF: Orson Scott Card's The Lost Gate, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki
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Best of January 2011 in Audible.com SFF: Orson Scott Card's The Lost Gate, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki
Posted on 2011-01-31 at 10:00 by Sam
The Lost Gate: Mithermages, Book 1 by Orson Scott Card, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, starts a new modern fantasy for bestselling author Card. Rudnicki as always delivers, and Card’s setting, on which he’s worked quite a while (as he detailed in an interview with The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy), is reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods in that it incorporates most every known pantheon into a modern narrative, whereas Danny is a very, very Ender-esque character. The audiobook is my pick for the best new science fiction and fantasy release of January 2011 at Audible.com.
Publisher’s summary:
Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different - and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an “outself”.
He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father. Their home was isolated in the mountains of western Virginia, far from town, far from schools, far from other people.
There are many secrets in the House, and many rules that Danny must follow. There is a secret library with only a few dozen books, and none of them in English - but Danny and his cousins are expected to become fluent in the language of the books. While Danny’s cousins are free to create magic whenever they like, they must never do it where outsiders might see.
Unfortunately, there are some secrets kept from Danny as well. And that will lead to disaster for the North family.
More from Bull Spec reviewer Patrick Ward: “The Lost Gate is urban fantasy and classical mythology in its best, most grounded form, and Card has once again proven that he is one of the world’s most powerful Storyfathers.”
MORE IN JANUARY:
- YA: Across the Universe by Beth Revis narrated by Lauren Ambrose — “Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, 300 years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end 50 years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.”
- Clementine: A Novel of the Clockwork Century by Cherie Priest; also Those Who Went Remain There Still and Bloodshot
- More Steampunk, you say? Angela Dawe narrates a Brilliance Audio production of Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Agatha H and the Airship City: Girl Genius #1
- The Sworn: The Fallen Kings Cycle, Book 1 by Gail Z. Martin continues Martin’s Chronicles of the Necromancer storyline under a new narrator, Kirby Heyborne
- For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert Heinlein
- Declare by Tim Powers
- The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers (2006), translated by John Brownjohn and narrated by Paul Michael Garcia
- Married with Zombies by Jesse Peterson
- Citadel: Troy Rising, Book Two by John Ringo
- 47 Echo by Shawn Kupfer
- Simon Prebble and Fiona Walsh narrate Audible Frontiers productions of Patricia A. McKillip’s Riddle-Master Trilogy: The Riddle-Master of Hed: Riddle-Master Trilogy, Book 1;Heir of Sea and Fire: Riddle-Master Trilogy, Book 2; and Harpist in The Wind: Riddle-Master Trilogy, Book 3 while more McKillip books, Ombria in Shadow and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld are narrated by Dina Pearlman
- Stefan Rudnicki narrates Audible Frontiers productions of The Barsoom Project: A Dream Park Novel, The California Voodoo Game: A Dream Park Novel, and of course Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
- Kage Baker’s In the Garden of Iden: A Novel of the Company, Book 1
- William Gamanara narrates Audible Frontiers productions of Neal Asher’s The Splatterjay Series: The Skinner: The Spatterjay Series: Book 1; The Voyage of Sable Keech: The Spatterjay Series: Book 2; and Orbus: The Spatterjay Series: Book 3
- Simon Prebble narrates Mind Wings Audio productions of books 2 through 4 of D. B. Clifton’s The Last Watcher series: The Night of the Spear: The Last Watcher #2 (Unabridged); The Lady and the Shield: The Last Watcher #3; and The Shield and the Shadow: The Last Watcher #4
- The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality by Richard Panek (non-fiction)
SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:
- Never Knew Another by J. M. McDermott (Night Shade Books)
- Homefront: The Voice of Freedom by John Milius and Raymond Benson
- Among Others
- Of Blood and Honey (Fey and the Fallen) by Stina Leicht (Night Shade Books)
- The Hate Parallax by Allan Cole and Nick Perumov
- Mardock Scramble
- Anthology: Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books) with stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, Paolo Bacigalupi, Orson Scott Card, …
Note: this post is back-dated from June 23, 2011, for sort order purposes.