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When Gravity Fails
- Marid Audran Trilogy, Book 1
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
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When Gravity Fails
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Summary
In a decadent world of cheap pleasures and easy death, Marid Audrian has kept his independence the hard way. Still, like everything else in the Budayeen, he's available for a price.
For a new kind of killer roams the streets of the Arab ghetto, a madman whose bootlegged personality cartridges range from a sinister James Bond to a sadistic disemboweler named Khan. And Marid Audrian has been made an offer he can't refuse.The 200-year-old godfather of the Budayeen's underworld has enlisted Marid as his instrument of vengeance. But first Marid must undergo the most sophisticated of surgical implants before he dares to confront a killer who carries the power of every psychopath since the beginning of time.
Wry, savage, and unignorable, When Gravity Fails was hailed as a classic by Effinger's fellow SF writers on its original publication in 1987, and the sequence of Marid Audrian novels it begins were the culmination of his career.
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Critic reviews
What listeners say about When Gravity Fails
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- chris
- 23-02-18
Mixed feelings
Marîd Audran is painfully slow at working out this fairly simple mystery and the Islam motif is a little off in this literary love in which tries to be sexy and deep but only stumbles upon profundity occasionally, seemingly by accident. Finished it and got the sequal immediately though so it can't be that bad.
Performance is less than ideal as John Davis over-dramatises to the point of mis-reading. Additionally suffers from a forced Arabic accent which at times verges on the excruciating.
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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
- Simon
- 02-06-15
Something New
Where does When Gravity Fails rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This is one of the most absorbing books I have read combining innovation with new takes on old ideas and this sci-fi particularly thrives in the religious middle eastern setting.
What other book might you compare When Gravity Fails to, and why?
It is hard to pin this one down. There are echoes of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (BladeRunner)?'; echoes of Asimov's Robots and many non-fantasy works. It is about an imperfect man forced to carry out someone else's mission.
Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favourite?
Marid Audran. Totally bought into the emotion and the balance between his old life and the pressure to reform.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Hard to say, I was particularly struck by the fact that many people think the worst of the hero no matter how well intentioned.
Any additional comments?
Thoroughly enjoyed this and the sequel for the performance, the storytelling and the sense of a credible new world.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anthony
- 26-03-19
Narrator reads too slow
Great story. Listening at a little speeded up but still can't enjoy it as much as the printed version. Narrator does good voices but has affected a too laid back approach. Would probably be best read by a tough North African accent? I will not listen too next two in series but will purchase them for reading on kindle.
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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
- Tamlyn Kemp
- 22-04-21
Dresden Files meets Neuromancer
Noir cyberpunk mystery, from the seediest back streets. Filled with murder, working girls, gangsters, brain mods and lots and lots of pills. Delivered with just the right touch of down-and-out deadpan to make it convincing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Jeremy
- 21-03-11
Whodunnit?
This is a well-paced cyberpunk novel, with lots of tension as the lead character, Audran, tries to solve a series of murders in an Arab ghetto. There were enough twists and turns to stop me figuring out ?whodunnit? before the end, and I also liked the descriptions of the technology involved.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Sam
- 06-10-20
good performance but story was a letdown
I really enjoyed the Muslim / Arabic angle and the characters were well written but the story wasn't very good. stuff just felt like it happened to the main character and he was just along for the ride.
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