Official Blurb
Three thousand years after a chunk of iron the size of Khufu’s pyramid collides with Europa, Jupiter’s sixth moon, an asteroid borne of the collision crashes into Earth’s Arctic ice shelf carrying extraterrestrial microbial life. The first man to come into contact with the microbes hears voices—and then dies.
After determining the meteorite originated from Europa, the Global Exploratory Corporation sends oceanographer and biologist, Kathy Connelly, and her crew to the moon aboard the Surveyor, an experimental spacecraft. They are charged with the task of melting through miles of ice to the hidden ocean beneath, where the search for alien microorganisms begins. But a startling discovery awaits them on the surface of Europa.
Life.
Vast fields of red, plant-like organisms fill the cracks crisscrossing the moon’s surface, surviving on nutrients welling up from the waters below. Intoxicated by thoughts of what might lie beneath, Connelly and her crew activate the Thermal Exploratory System and melt through the ice—toward a world that does not want to be found, toward a force that will do anything to make sure they never leave.
They search for life. They find death.
My Review
This is a very fine sci fi audio book. It's by the same author who wrote "Kronos" which I've previously reviewed, and by the same reader. They make a good pairing.
The story is vibrant and the characters come across as real people in a strange situation, and that situation is thrilling, exciting and demanding.
From the outset with the first interaction with the asteroid which kicks everything off, the mystery hooks you, and you're caught on that line for the rest of the story!
It's a classic technique to present the reader/listener with a mystery at the outset and slowly reveal the truth behind that mystery. This is done in an outstanding manner in this book, and even as facts start to reveal the truth, it keeps revealing more mysteries and exapanding, so you are constantly left with a sence of wonder.
Add to this, dramatic use of the environment to enhance the danger and present strange situations, and then combine with a cinematic descriptive prose that is totally engrossing.
All in all an excellent audio book, and all for free and legal download.
Reading 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
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