Samuel Vidal

Another Amazing Story; However…

Reviewed: 01-28-23

I’d like to start by saying that I have listened to every single English recording of Dennis E. Taylor’s books. Even almost bought a German book before I realized it was in German. I listened to the bobiverse series 2-3 times through and loved it every time. Taylor is my favorite near-future sci-fi author hands down.

Earthside as a sequel in the Outlands series was definitely a stellar story with an awesome narrator. Taylor’s engineering/practical approach to any kind of problem is an engineer’s wet dream and I adore it. The different earths they explore open up infinite exciting possibilities, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.

Ray Porter’s narration continues to impress. He uses the same basic voices for all the characters while still somehow creating slight differences enough to be able to recognize a character without naming. Second only to Kyle McCarly who I’m fairly certain is actually 5 different people pretending to be 1.

There are really only two complaints I have with this book: One, not a ton actually happens in the story. It picks up where the first one left off, but Taylor’s books tend to have explosive discovery and advancement in situations in each book. This one, they discover/figure out a few things, but the majority of the story surrounds a trip, contact with refugees, and a formation of a government for the colony. Important stuff to be sure, but slow, in my opinion, compared to the first book and to Taylor’s stories in general. Second, Taylor unfortunately has fallen to the same tired trope of all near-future authors. The only two major attacks by groups in the books are preppers, who we can all make fun of for the most part, and conservatives. The only people to oppose the type of government settled on are religious, anarchists, or conservatives. I feel obligated to remind Taylor that the last “conservative” presidential election shut down entire colleges and universities. Antifa, identified as left-wing/progressive in nature, lead riots around the country that quite literally burned cities. But, personal biases will unfortunately always exist, and somehow, despite the fathers of numerous scientific fields of study being some form of Judeo-Christian in nature, sci-fi authors can’t seem to justify religion in a future society.

If you enjoy solid near-future scifi, Taylor is top tier. I’m disappointed in the use of such overly-used and tired tropes, but even the best of us fall prey to our own worldviews and ideals for society. I will continue to read Taylor’s books and enjoy them thoroughly, simply with more of a grain of salt now than before.

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7 people found this helpful

Another Great Story

Reviewed: 01-23-23

Dennis E Taylor is my favorite sci-fi author of all time because of how logical and practical his near-future tech is. This story is a wild ride start to finish, much like The Singularity Trap, and has a good open ending without leaving a bunch of loose threads. Just enough to keep you wanting more.

Ray Porter’s narration was fantastic as usual. I love that he always narrates Taylor’s Audible publishings — it gives a feeling of all the stories existing in the same universe, and also guarantees that the performance will never be lackluster.

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