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The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine

The Downloaded, Book 2

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The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine

Written by: Robert J. Sawyer
Narrated by: Brendan Fraser, Vanessa Sears, Lior Maharjan, Cerise Handspiker
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About this listen

If they upload again, what will they find?

Audible’s blockbuster original series returns with the much-anticipated sequel.

It’s 2555 and the remaining members of the Phoenix colony, both convicts and astronauts, have fully integrated since they were originally downloaded from cryogenic suspension.

Now, as the countdown to Earth's final day approaches, two groups of colonists prepare to leave on separate missions.

One group, led by Captain Letitia Garvey, will re-upload to the quantum system as they head to Zeta Tucanae to complete the original astronaut mission, while the other, led by Mayor Roscoe Koudoulian, will begin a new colony on Mars, safely away from the asteroid about to hit Earth. But tragedy strikes on the day Roscoe is set to leave, forcing him to upload his consciousness as well. Back inside their virtual silos, the astronauts and convicts alike encounter mysterious digital duplicates that could destroy their stored consciousnesses forever. In a race against time, they are forced to make impossible choices in order to exist in a world where the line between human and digital reality has blurred.

From Canada's most decorated sci-fi author Robert J. Sawyer and featuring Brendan Fraser (Academy Award winner) and Vanessa Sears (Dora Award winner), The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine is a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller that takes you on a mind-bending journey where identity, memory, and morality collide in a collapsing digital future.

©2025 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC. Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction

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About the Creator

Robert J. Sawyer — called “the dean of Canadian science fiction” by the Ottawa Citizen and “just about the best science fiction writer out there” by the Denver Rocky Mountain News — has won all three of the world’s top awards for best science fiction novel of the year: the Hugo (which he won for Hominids), the Nebula (for The Terminal Experiment), and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for Mindscan). He’s also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award; the top SF awards in Japan (three times), Spain (three times), France, and China; and a record-setting seventeen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”). Rob’s 25 bestselling novels include Calculating God (winner of the 2009 Audie Award for best science fiction or fantasy audiobook of the year) and FlashForward, which was adapted into the ABC TV series of the same name. Rob was a guest of honor at the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention (the Worldcon), and he’s a member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government. He lives just outside Toronto.

Brendan Fraser
Vanessa Sears

About Brendan Fraser

Brendan Fraser is an Academy Award winner whose nuanced performances and compelling role choices have earned widespread acclaim. Fraser starred in A24 and Darren Aronofsky’s, The Whale, which won him his first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Coming up, Fraser will star in filmmaker Hikari's Rental Family for Searchlight, set to release on November 21st. Also in the works, Brendan will portray Dwight D. Eisenhower in Pressure. In 2026, you will be able to see him in Tubi’s Adult Animated Comedy Breaking Bear.
Other credits include the action-comedy film Brothers, directed by Max Barbakow, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone, Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move for HBOMax, and the third season of Showtime’s award-winning TV show The Affair. He also starred in and executive produced the Newline/Warner Bros. film Journey to the Center of the Earth. More credits include Inkheart, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Air I Breathe, George of the Jungle, Furry Vengeance, Extraordinary Measures, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Bedazzled, Monkey Bone, Blast From the Past, Dudley Do-Right, Mrs. Winterbourne, Encino Man, School Ties, With Honors, Airheads, The Scout, and The Twilight of the Golds.
Fraser is most well-known for his role in Universal’s Mummy Franchise as Rick O’Connell. In 2001, Fraser reteamed with co-star Rachel Weisz in the sequel, The Mummy Returns. In 2008, Universal released Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Brendan was born in Indianapolis and raised in Europe and Canada. He has been dedicated to honing his craft since the early age of 12 and began attending theater when his family lived in London. He attended high school at Toronto’s Upper Canada College and received a BFA in acting from the Actor’s Conservatory, Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

About Vanessa Sears

Vanessa is a Dora, Toronto Theatre Critics’ and BroadwayWorld Award-winning artist. She has starred on stages across North America including Broadway, Mirvish, Stratford and Shaw. Vanessa also enjoys acting in film, television, animation and audiobook voice acting, and continues to train as a director. Select credits: New York, New York (Broadway); Kinky Boots (Mirvish); Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, Little Shop of Horrors, Billy Elliot (Stratford); Holiday Inn, Magician’s Nephew, Grand Hotel, An Octoroon (Shaw Festival); Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins (YPT); Caroline or Change, Passing Strange (Musical Stage Company and Obsidian Theatre); King Lear, Queen Goneril (Soulpepper), Alice in Wonderland (Bad Hats). Film and TV credits include Suits, Sex/Life, Y The Last Man, 14 Love Letters, Sappy Holiday, and My Little Pony.

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Most Relevant
Like the first one, this is a fantastic book. and my only disappointment was that it ended. Without spoiling the ending, I'll just say that I wanted it to continue so much, and hopefully with he same voices. I always like Brendan Fraser and .I'm happy that is back doing many projects. I got the first book for free with audible, but paid right away for this second one.

The way gender identity is explored is very interesting I feel like many books could be written in that universe to explore that in more depth.

I want the sequel

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If you read, or listened to, The Downloaded (as I did), then what we’ve got here in the sequel is a bigger canvas, deeper stakes, and that unmistakable Sawyer cocktail of big ideas laced with very human emotions.

The Audible audiobook is wonderful, especially with the returning cast from the first book. Brendan Fraser brings a grounded warmth and vulnerability to the main character that fits perfectly. Vanessa Sears… oh, how I want to dive into spoilers here (I won’t), but let’s just say it’s very good to have her back. And the young actress playing Roscoe Kedulian’s 12-year-old daughter? She’s fantastic. The whole cast elevates the experience.

Sawyer returns to one of the themes he’s circled throughout his career, and one of my personal obsessions, namely consciousness. What is a self? What makes a person? Where does identity actually live? How do we define continuity of personhood when the substrate shifts? And, after committing evil, can you become good, or even become a different person? The temptation to drop spoilers is strong (again, I won’t), but the last half of the book delivers some moments that are fascinating and, yes, a little unsettling, in that classic Sawyer way where he still manages to make you feel oddly okay about it afterward. No spoilers.

Bottom line: fantastic book. The audio version is superb, and I’m absolutely on board for The Download 3 whenever it arrives.

Excellent Audio Follow-up to The Downloaded

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Robert J. Sawyer asks his readers to just pretend that Chapter 10 of Book One never existed. This book offers an alternate plotline where the two factions of the 'Phoenix' colony haven't yet separated into Mars and Zeta Tucanae expeditions. Sawyer pens a clever scenario where - for variable reasons - characters have to re-enter cyber reality. The computer managing the uploaded consciousnesses splits them - conflicts ensue. The book is well-written and thought-provoking.. but has some big deficiencies:
•The transgender plotline is understandably interesting to the author - allowing him to explore themes of transition & personality change through time during uploaded cryosleep - but merely distracting to the reader. Sawyer should have left 'Dr. Valentina Solomon' in 'The Downloaded Part I'
•The expletives are excessive and poorly-placed (a filthy-mouthed 12-year-old feels odd, for example)
•The one-time serial killer and obsessive movie buff 'Jackson' is extraordinarily unrealistic and relied upon too much for comic relief
•The characters are strikingly typecast according to the author's politics (socially liberal = good; conservative = bad)

As to presentation: the full-cast format is again effective.. the readers only occasionally guilty of overacting. Factoring in outstanding technical support from Audible Originals sound engineers, we have a solidly "above-average" listening experience.

Altogether, 'The Downloaded 2: Ghosts In The Machine' merits 5.5 stars out of 10. The SciFi elements are well-conceived but the execution is moderately subpar. It's a reasonable way to spend a couple of quiet afternoons for free.. but I wouldn't invest a Credit on it.

[Note: This audiobook is clearly intended for 40+ listeners: Sawyer's insertion of endless GenX pop-culture references is great for older listeners - but the liberal dropping of F-bombs makes it a bit of a cringe-y choice if you're listening with kids]

Thoughtful but Disappointing

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For me this was even more enjoyable than the first book. I was able to sit back and listen to the story without all the sound effects going on.

Being a Canadian it was nice to have part of the book taking place in Canada in places I have been to often.

Robert J Sawyer has a gift that makes him one of the top Sci-fi writers in the world.

The cast for the performance of the book were right on, it did not feel like they were reading the book but more like they were living it.

I look forward to a third book for the answers to questions that were hinted at.

Talented Performance

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I really enjoyed going along with eh familiar characters as their story changed. I found this sequel delightfully unpredictable. Would recommend to a friend!

Not as good as the first, but still a great read.

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I miss the more robust voice cast of The Downloaded, but the story is great with much more urgency and builds on characters with a smaller cast of characters.

A nice continuation, feels like a different genre from the first.

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I liked that the story took big issues like loss head on and resolved them.

The empathy.

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seriously. It's a good book. You will notice the story shift in multiple ways. IMO some of those changes feel/read forced and the changes were too far away from the first book for my liking. Brendan Fraser once again proves just how PERFECT he is at telling tales and pulling one into them.

Good....that's it

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was really curious as to how he was going to tell more of this story considering how the last one ended. I was pleasantly surprised. All my favourite characters made appearances, new favourites were discovered. Robert J Sawyer never disappoints.

Great continuation

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Great story from a master of scifi told by a top notch cast of voice actors lead by Brendan Fraser. Couldn't put it down.

Immersive scifi with incredible cast of voice actors

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