Planetfall

By: Emma Newman

Narrated by: Emma Newman

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi's vision of a world far beyond Earth, a planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.

More than 20 years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided alone. Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment - and harboring a devastating secret.

For the good of her fellow colonists, Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden, and its revelation could tear the colony apart.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

Not what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprise

I guess I was expecting more of a standard scifi story, but I was surprised to get a well written character drama in a scifi setting. I think the author did a really good job of portraying mental illness from a first person perspective and I genuinely felt sorry for the main character. I've never read anything quite like that and it was refreshing. The ending escalates pretty quickly and then ends kind of abruptly but it was a great read overall.

Good

Good story, but short and with little depth into the interesting themes presented. Worth the buy however.

Amazing sci-fi, perfect ending

A true original. I couldn't put it down. A very satisfying ending. You won't be disappointed.

Perfection - A Real Treat

This is one of the best self contained science fiction stories I've ever read. Told through the perspective of one woman, this story has some of the very best first person writing. The insight this story has into the mind of someone dealing with anxiety and guilt is profound. As an introvert I related to the character's feelings while at the same time feeling repulsed at the lengths she went through to remain distant from others.

At the core of the plot is a mystery. Its an intriguing puzzle that hooked me right from the very first pages.On top of how well the mystery is set up and how expertly Newman teases and deepens it as it goes along, it also has one of the most satisfying and mind blowing conclusions I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Its the perfect ending, to a perfect story. The conclusion wraps up the characters journey while solving the core mystery, along with leaving some things open to interpretation in a completely non-frustrating way.

Emma Newman does the narration herself and I can't imagine it being any other way. You can tell she has a very personal connection to the character and she captures her voice perfectly.

I cannot recommend this strongly enough! It works as a stand-alone piece as well, so reading the sequels is not at all required. Though, if you like this, I would recommend those as well.

An incredible sci-fi

Definitely a good listen. The fact the the author read it definitely made it even better. I won’t spoil anything, but the author has done a great job of using an undeniably human and flawed character to be our guide through a fantastic story. The 4/5 is honestly mostly because the ending was a bit abrupt to me, but that really is likely just a me problem. I look forward to reading the next one.

Intriguing story, great Sci-Fi themes, abrupt ending

Emma Newman is a great narrator. Listening to her read her own novel made the chapters fly by. Her ability to express real, achingly accurate mental health issues in an alien setting is an awesome twist to the genre standard of heroic protagonist explorer who overcomes all odds. Ren is a very relatable character with intelligent strengths and human faults and a history she’s trying hard to forget, which made it easy to connect with the story right away. I just wish the book had not ended so abruptly. I went back and re-listened to the last chapter twice just to make sure I hadn’t missed something that would have clued me in to how swiftly the storyline would speed up and suddenly screech to a halt. It left me with good unknowns to ponder for sure, just as you’d hope most books might to lend to the imagination. However, most of the novel moves at such a steady pace that the ending just felt very abrupt. Would definitely recommend this one for the creativity, just be prepared for rapid braking.

Different!

Didn’t know what to expect from this free Audible Book but it was terrific. Lots of original thought and ideas. Great surprises as it built to an unexpected ending. The female, present tense perspective was refreshing after so many male sci-fi authors. The author’s voice in the read was top quality. Recommended!

Melodramatic and Gendet-Stereotyped

This could have been good sci-fi, but instead was basically space melodrama. The protagonist is emotional to the point of, "she just can't handle it". Many of her problems are female stereotypes, such as having had a miscarriage long ago that she can't handle or thinking something slimy is so gross that she might throw up. It's in first person, so the reader is stuck with this mentally ill, overly high maintenance, narrator, while the substantive plot is underutilized. Basically, this is a book about mental illness, rather than a sci-fi book. That's fine, however it should be advertised as a book raising awareness of mental illness, rather than sci-fi.

I finally finished this after writing my initial review. Even in conclusion, this book is almost entirely an exploration of the psychology of a neurotic hoarder who could almost as easily have been on Earth. The author does a great job of depicting the inner life of a mentally ill person, but the fact that this person is the narrator makes the book even more painful to read. It also explores religion slightly and may even be supporting the concept of their being a god... but that part of the plot... and everything else except the neuroses of the narrator/protagonist... is VERY poorly developed.

FOR SCIENCE FICTION LOVERS!

loved it! the author did a great job writing it and reading it. if you enjoy science fiction, give it a shot!

Interesting & Worthwhile Requiring Patience to Get to Story Line

I ultimately enjoyed this title and yet it required patience on my part not to abandon listening to it since it takes listening to 2/3rds of the story before you get a glimpse of the book’s premise. Most of the story is told in first person and highly introspective which makes enduring hanging on to derive a glimmer of what’s going on that much more difficult. The writing is skillful and the story premise is genuinely unique although that religion is to blame for leading so many misery is no surprise at all. I plan to listen to the next book in the series now that I understand the story’s general direction.