Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Martian Chronicles
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
The Martian Chronicles
Buy Now for £14.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
Summary
Man, was a a distant shore, and the men spread upon it in wave.... Each wave different, and each wave stronger.
Ray Bradbury is a storyteller without peer, a poet of the possible, and, indisputably, one of America's most beloved authors. In a much-celebrated literary career that has spanned six decades, he has produced an astonishing body of work: unforgettable novels, including Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes; essays, theatrical works, screenplays and teleplays; The Illustrated Mein, Dandelion Wine, The October Country, and numerous other superb short story collections. But of all the dazzling stars in the vast Bradbury universe, none shines more luminous than these masterful chronicles of Earth's settlement of the fourth world from the sun.
Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor - of crystal pillars and fossil seas - where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn - first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars...and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a classic work of 20th-century literature whose extraordinary power and imagination remain undimmed by time's passage. In connected, chronological stories, a true grandmaster once again enthralls, delights, and challenges us with his vision and his heart - starkly and stunningly exposing in brilliant spacelight our strength, our weakness, our folly, and our poignant humanity on a strange and breathtaking world where humanity does not belong.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Martian Chronicles
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tony
- 28-02-22
Great in places, dated and some dodgy chapters
Having enjoyed the TV mini series many moons ago I thought I'd revisit this. Some faithful reproduction of this book exists in the TV show but large chunks left out quite rightly as they didn't add anything or were too racist. There's some language in one chapter about the diaspora of the global black population to Mars that I found deeply uncomfortable to listen to.
I keep forgetting the book is positively ancient around 70 years and R Bradbury was highlighting, I believe, the racist attitudes of the time.
Narrations is excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 11-11-22
Perfection
This is my number one audiobook out of 400. The stories are superb and the narration is sublime. I must have listened at least 20 times. You won’t be disappointed with this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- NICK
- 23-02-21
Prescient
A wonderful set of cameo stories, taking us from the first exploratory missions, through the settlement of Mars to a post-apocalyptic withdrawal. I love the complete freedom of imagination which the Mars setting allows to Ray Bradbury. His is always a light touch, even though several of the stories are tragic or sad. Yes, on occasion I felt that stories were variations on a theme, yet this is not a novel, and the author avails himself of the chance to roam and return. First published in the 1940’s, this book foreshadows themes which today are at the forefront of our concerns: colonisation, the treatment of minorities, the ugliness of ignorance, the desecration of environments, and our perennial violence. Particularly important are the musings on art in the face of bureaucratic philistinism, in one rather disturbing story.The reading, by Mark Boyett, is very fine.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Reverend Mike
- 04-01-22
ok
it was ok I didn't really like it at all. I wouldn't bother getting it if I was you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Uneken Dan
- 14-09-16
Relevant today as it was 70 years ago.
Such a beautiful and sad book, wonderfully read by Mark Boyett. More than ever its message is relevant: humanity on course for destroying whatever it encounters, including itself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Yibrán Arumir
- 02-12-20
An excellent science-fiction fix-up novel
It's the first Ray Bradbury book I read/listen and it was amazing. The way it describes the way of life of the martians and how humans from Earth come searching for a better life it's both heartwarming and sad at the same time. A great book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 01-12-20
Unexpectedly fascinating and entertaining
Do not judge a book by its cover (or publication date).
Fascinating. Beautifully narrated.
Bonus: listen to it with a good headset when going to sleep. I promise you'll find it very meditative.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-02-23
Odd..
Struggled with this book, it's well written and the narration is great, but the story itself is odd and and as there are no main characters, it's hard to form a bond.. more like a collection of short stories.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jamie
- 09-01-24
Exceptional
I’m an avid reader of classic sci-fi literature and I thank all my stars that this book stayed off my radar till now. Wonderful storytelling with some poignant questions to chew on for many many days afterward. I could not recommend it highly enough.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Samm
- 23-09-15
Not what I expected... so much more!
I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't at all what I expected but I couldn't put it down, usually I only listen to audio books at night when going to sleep, but this one was listened to in the car, in the bath, while shopping etc... and I rewound bits I'd slept during which I don't usually worry about... the book itself is like a collection of short, interconnected stories all about settlers on Mars and they're just a compelling listen. The narrator is excellent and I shall be looking for more of his work, his male voices are manly and female voices very believable and her has a pleasant killing tone that was perfect for this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
24 people found this helpful