Stars and Bones
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Stars and Bones
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Narrated by:
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Rebecca Norfolk
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By:
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Gareth L. Powell
About this listen
From the multi BSFA award-winner comes a stunningly inventive action-packed science-fiction epic adventure. A brand-new series for fans of Becky Chambers and Ann Leckie.
Seventy-five years from today, the human race has been cast from a dying Earth to wander the stars in a vast fleet of arks—each shaped by its inhabitants into a diverse and fascinating new environment, with its own rules and eccentricities.
When her sister disappears while responding to a mysterious alien distress call, Eryn insists on being part of the crew sent to look for her. What she discovers on Candidate-623 is both terrifying and deadly. When the threat follows her back to the fleet and people start dying, she is tasked with seeking out a legendary recluse who may just hold the key to humanity's survival.
Gareth L. Powell's Embers of War won 2018 BSFA Award for Best Novel and was shortlisted for the 2019 Locus Awards and the 2021 Seiun Awards in Japan. Its sequels, Fleet of Knives and Light of Impossible Stars, were both shortlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Novel, and Fleet of Knives was also shortlisted for the 2020 Locus Awards.
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Gareth Powell drops you into the action from the first page and then Just. Keeps. Going. This is a pro at the top of his game." (John Scalzi)
"A headlong, visceral plunge into a future equal parts fascinating and terrifying." (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
What listeners say about Stars and Bones
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rob Wilson
- 19-10-22
Great SciFi is easy to believe
This book was a disappointment in comparison to my last audible book Project Hail Mary, but I persisted regardless.
Oddly the speaking cat was actually not jarring and his phrases were unexpectedly enjoyable, probably the highlight of the book actually.
As for the main entity (trying not to give spoilers), it felt linear and predictable and was the biggest disappointment for me.
I really wanted to enjoy this more, but I lost momentum half way through the book when there was a detective-like scene that took up too much time.
A lot of promise, but not the best sci-fi that I have listened to.
I do think this would be better adapted into a CGI heavy film.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- R. Maines
- 10-12-24
A good start
A good start to a space opera series. Humanity is saved by a god like entity that banishes it to be eternal nomads. A scout ship encounters a lifeform that has the potential to destroy humanity for good.
Enjoyed it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Steven
- 23-03-22
A nice simple space adventure.
A nice simple space adventure with a good reader. I will check out the authors other books now.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Some kind of fancy robot
- 20-09-22
Fun but don't think too hard
This book is a bit like a b movie. it's a lot of fun and it carries you along well, but only if you don't think too hard about what's going on. If you make the mistake of analysing the actions or words of the characters too much the illusion is quickly shattered. The embers of war novels hung together a lot better. All of this said there's a lot here to enjoy - particularly the world building . I'm glad I listened to it. The narrator, Rebecca Norfolk, generally did well, but mispronounced a few words. it's weird that this wasn't caught and edited out.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Chris
- 23-09-24
Odd narration
The story is fine - it's a fairly tropey space opera with some interesting world-building. Nothing particularly original, but it moves along quickly and while the characters aren't deep, they aren't annoying. A key part of the plot is delivered as a big chunk of info-dumped exposition, which wasn't great.
The narration, on the other hand, is not good. There are a *lot* of mispronounced words - so many that I began to wonder if it was intentional. By the middle, I was listening out for the next one and it became distracting. By the end, it was almost funny.
Also, the narration was more brisk than I liked, YMMV.
Summary: if you like space opera and don't mind dodgy narration, give it a go.
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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
- Judi Blakeburn
- 17-04-22
Not a patch on Becky Chambers or Anne Leckie
To begin with I thought this may be a really absorbing story, but it quickly became plodding and predictable with a rather odd ending.
The narrator has a nice voice and I enjoyed listening to her but she had trouble pronouncing a number of words that in the end rather irritated me (damask, chasm & a few others).
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- P. G. Tite
- 19-05-22
Sharp writing, poor reading
The latest book from Gareth, is a sharply written science fiction thriller, but it does borrow heavily from other writers especially Jeff Vandermeer and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Sadly what spoils this enjoyable romp, is the awful reading; littered with mispronouncing of common words, for example chasam is pronounced with a soft C rather than the typical hard C. The pronunciation issues grate on me, yet I struggled on with it, to get to the conclusion of the novel. I would think twice about listening to a book, being read by Rebecca Norfolk, very off putting.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Gareth Stevens
- 27-03-24
Good story. Poor narrator
I found the frequently mispronounced words were very jarring and broke me out of the books spell very often.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr L.A. PARSONS
- 16-01-25
Good story, oddly read
A fun bit of horror-tinged sci-fi, with some interesting ideas and likeable characters. However, as other reviews have said, the narration leaves a lot to be desired. There are a lot of mispronounced words, which can take you completely out of the story. I don't blame the narrator entirely, it seems like a producer really should have picked them up.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Elaine Brien
- 06-03-22
Peter Hamilton-lite
A novel with a few good ideas but thin characters and a paint by numbers story. Struggled to finish but ploughed on until the end. Disappointing by a normally competent author.
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