C. Hartmann
- 112
- reviews
- 1,557
- helpful votes
- 1,211
- ratings
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Constituent Service
- A Third District Story
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Amber Benson
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,354
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,220
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,220
Ashley Perrin is fresh out of college and starting a job as a community liaison for the Third District–the city’s only sector with more alien residents than humans. Ashley’s barely found where the paper clips are kept when she’s beset with constituent complaints–from too much noise at the Annual Lupidian Celebration Parade to a trip-and-fall chicken to a very particular type of alien hornet that threatens the very city itself. And if that’s not terrifying enough, Ashley is next up at the office karaoke night.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Short and fun!
- By Andrew on 10-04-24
- Constituent Service
- A Third District Story
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Amber Benson
Funny book, Great Performance
Reviewed: 10-04-24
Short but gleeful. The performance is equal to the story. A great time was had by all !!!!!!!!!!
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1 person found this helpful
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Exodus: The Archimedes Engine
- Exodus: The Archimedes Engine, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 30 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 295
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 276
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 276
Forty thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. Traveling in massive arkships, these brave pioneers spread out across the galaxy to find a new home. After traveling thousands of light-years, one fleet of arkships arrived at Centauri, a dense cluster of stars with a vast array of potentially habitable planets. The survivors of Earth signaled to the remaining arkships that humanity had finally found its new home among the stars.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The 2024 Six Star Winner !
- By C. Hartmann on 09-22-24
- Exodus: The Archimedes Engine
- Exodus: The Archimedes Engine, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
The 2024 Six Star Winner !
Reviewed: 09-22-24
If you like Peter F. Hamilton, and you like John Lee's performance.......this is Hamilton at his best. Easily the six star choice for 2024. Complex, fun, rich and imaginative. Take the 30 hour trip to meet people and go places only he can evoke.
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7 people found this helpful
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In the Blink of an Eye
- A Novel
- By: Jo Callaghan
- Narrated by: Paul Mendez, Rose Akroyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her intuition. Picked to lead a pilot program that has her paired with Lock, an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity)—a hologram that is activated by a device on Kat’s wrist—Kat’s gut reactions about people and motives come up against Lock’s statistical calculations and data analysis that can be devised in seconds. But as the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help when the case begins to target Kat personally.
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5 out of 5 stars
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So glad this is a series
- By wisconsinclark on 09-14-24
- In the Blink of an Eye
- A Novel
- By: Jo Callaghan
- Narrated by: Paul Mendez, Rose Akroyd
Excellent Police Procedural with a Side of AI
Reviewed: 08-10-24
The pairing of a skeptical human detective with an AI partner in a police procedural is hardly a revelation. However, the author writes an EXCELLENT mystery--with an AI partner....not a heavy (boring) science-fiction novel with a dab of a poor mystery added in. What emerges from the effort is a clever and well-paced mystery with a really good ending and characters you want to hear about. I'd say that it appears this may be the first in a series--I hope so. Finally, kudos to the narrators...really a first rate performance.
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Headspace
- By: J.W. Bouchard
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 2
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
Thanks to a vaccine called headspace, violent crime is a thing of the past. Headspace doesn’t prevent violent thoughts, it prevents you from acting on them. There hasn’t been a murder in nearly 50 years. Gone are the days when cops carried guns. Gone are the days when law enforcement was trained to deal with heinous crimes. In the year 2109, cops are nothing more than glorified therapists, trained to handle conflict with words rather than actions. Headspace ensures no conflict will result in violence. Until now… Officer Marcus Hardy is the closest thing that Omaha Metro Crisis ...
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gets better as it goes along
- By C. Hartmann on 05-05-24
- Headspace
- By: J.W. Bouchard
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
Gets better as it goes along
Reviewed: 05-05-24
An AI reading a book about an AI. Not a novel plot (detective with robot partner) but some good ideas and a pretty creative second half,
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The Ambitious Lives of Evan Sanderson
- Middle Falls Time Travel, Book 19
- By: Shawn Inmon
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 189
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 174
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Story5 out of 5 stars 174
Evan Sanderson seems to be living a charmed life. He is a successful doctor, much respected in the community, and has a beautiful wife. Evan accomplished what he had because he had a burning ambition to achieve, to be the best. At the end of his life, he wonders if he did enough. He has a terrible feeling he has not. Evan lives in Middle Falls, where second—and third—chances abound, so perhaps he will be able to get to where he longs to be after all. Or will his ambition turn in new directions?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Back to the Crux of the Series
- By C. Hartmann on 05-01-24
- The Ambitious Lives of Evan Sanderson
- Middle Falls Time Travel, Book 19
- By: Shawn Inmon
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
Back to the Crux of the Series
Reviewed: 05-01-24
If you have gotten to #19 in the series you must like it. Thus, this will be brief. The crux of these stories is always the unexpected and well-illustrated choices made by unexpected and interesting individuals. Some of the stories reached the outer edges of this exploration. This one, satisfyingly, is dead in the sweet spot. It is like the sound a ball makes when a hitter swings easy and FULLY connects with the pitch.
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2 people found this helpful
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Long Time Dead
- Detective Sheridan Holler, Book 1
- By: T. M. Payne
- Narrated by: Heather Bleasdale
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
DI Sheridan Holler is used to solving crimes on Liverpool’s streets, but after a decayed corpse turns up in a cemetery, she finds herself reopening not one but two cold cases. Seven years earlier, two women were gunned down and the only suspect, small-time drug dealer John Lively, was never seen again. Case closed. Until the body in the cemetery is identified as his.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Clever and Fun Police Procedural
- By C. Hartmann on 04-05-24
- Long Time Dead
- Detective Sheridan Holler, Book 1
- By: T. M. Payne
- Narrated by: Heather Bleasdale
Clever and Fun Police Procedural
Reviewed: 04-05-24
[Note: I have reviewed over 100 books--but I only comment ones I really like.] If a police procedural is too much fun or has too much humor, it becomes a parody or camp-ish. (Think and Janet Evanovich, whose Stephanie Plum is both funny and a good time.) Make it too serious or dark and reading (or listening) can become tedious. So it was with great enjoyment that I found myself addicted to this book. I know that it is a overused cliche...but I really could not put this book down. It has many classical elements (a buddy team of two women, mysterious personal back stories, and two or three interlaced mysteries.) But what it also has is great pacing, dialogue and supporting cast members. The characters all have dimensions--they are not just walk-ons in stereotypical roles. I also enjoyed the performance. I hope this will be a series and that the next one will be arriving soon.
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2 people found this helpful
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MARS LEGACY
- THE RISE OF AI
- By: SCOTT BILLUPS
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
The colonization of Mars began with vision and the power of science and money, but it didn't take long for greed to rear its ugly head. As the wonder of Mars turned ugly, the United Nations formed the Joint Academic Research and Development Organization (JARDO) and choose the world-renowned scientist Marvin Dryer to head it up. Dryer uses his influence at Harvard and MIT to assemble a team of the brightest young minds in science. Individually, they are all superstars, but together with a sentient AI cognate known as SAMI, they become a mighty force that wields unimaginable powers.~~~ “...
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fun Hard Science Fiction with Great Worldbuilding
- By C. Hartmann on 02-20-24
- MARS LEGACY
- THE RISE OF AI
- By: SCOTT BILLUPS
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
Fun Hard Science Fiction with Great Worldbuilding
Reviewed: 02-20-24
First, this is narrated by "Virtual Voice" which I thought I wouldn't like. I was wrong. It was good, and even made minor pronunciation errors. Second, there were references to various British accents the AI didn't do--but perhaps it was better for that. Third, it is ironic that a story where one of the central characters was a silicon intelligence was read by the Virtual Voice. Fourth, and most important, it was a really fun story with a ton of hard science, appealing characters and a world building that was very good. Good parallel construction and an excellent eye for letting the listener really see the places and things described.
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2 people found this helpful
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Dark Knight Station: Origins
- By: Nathan Lowell
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 609
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 536
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Story5 out of 5 stars 533
When Edgar Vagrant down checks Verkol Kondur’s mining barge, Kondur gets swept up in station politics in spite of his best efforts to avoid them. When Edgar pushes his elder son, Malachai, into working on the station’s freighter, Malachai decides to take matters into his own hands. With Malachai gone, his brother Zachary gets to pick up the pieces of a management structure that he had no hand in making, no authority to control, and no wish to continue.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I almost gave this a pass!
- By Lenny 55 on 07-03-21
- Dark Knight Station: Origins
- By: Nathan Lowell
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
Excellent spinoff story
Reviewed: 02-13-24
I very much enjoy Mr. Lowell's tales of the merchant marines in space...and this was a fun spinoff--with bit of mystery. Mr. Kafer's narration was also excellent--as always.
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Plutonian Sun
- Old School Policing in the Far Future
- By: R.H. Twitcher
- Narrated by: Robert Henry
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Set in the glittering technological future of the year 2526. Where sentient robots live and work alongside their human counterparts, and in a Solar System burgeoning with trade, commerce and activity, Plutonian Sun is an intriguing detective story exploring life and death on the furthest frontier of mankind’s expansion.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Old School Indeed--but Quite Clever
- By C. Hartmann on 12-18-23
- Plutonian Sun
- Old School Policing in the Far Future
- By: R.H. Twitcher
- Narrated by: Robert Henry
Old School Indeed--but Quite Clever
Reviewed: 12-18-23
It is hard to fairly review this book without giving away several of the key plot points. If you enjoy a mix of tough detective novels and pleasingly hard science fiction with good world-building...I strongly recommend this. I hope a sequel is on the way !!!!
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Androne
- Androne, Book 1
- By: Dwain Worrell
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4 out of 5 stars 50
In one terrifying event called the Ninety-Nine, all major military installations on earth were eviscerated. But by whom? Foreign powers, AIs, ETs? Every conceivable adversary was ruled out. Reeling from massive casualties and amid hundreds of conspiracy theories, humanity creates Andrones: bipedal android drones piloted remotely by soldiers who will never again need to be on the field of battle. Newly minted Androne pilot Sergeant Paxton Arés has now been deployed into a fight against an enemy no one understands or has ever seen.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Tough but Good. Builds well with unexpected twists
- By C. Hartmann on 09-04-23
- Androne
- Androne, Book 1
- By: Dwain Worrell
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
Tough but Good. Builds well with unexpected twists
Reviewed: 09-04-23
The premise of the book does not seem novel at first, nor does the character-building. But the writing is very smart, and the story (and the main characters) turn out to have complexities that build through the book. I hope there will be a second. Performance is very good as well.
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4 people found this helpful