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The Original
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
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The Original
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Publisher's Summary
Hugo Award-winning authors Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal team up in this exclusive audio-first production of The Original, a sci-fi thriller set in a world where one woman fights to know her true identity and survive the forces that threaten her very existence.
In the near future, humans choose life - for a price. Injectable nanite technology is the lifeblood that flows through every individual wishing to experience the world through the lens of their own theme. While death from mortal wounds is still possible, life is made easier in a socially liberated society where automation and income equality allow passion pursuits to flourish over traditional work. Renewal stations are provided to every law-abiding citizen for weekly check-ins, which issue life-sustaining repairs in exchange for personal privacy. But what becomes of those who check out, of those who dare to resist immortality and risk being edited under the gaze of an identity-extracting government surveillance system?
When Holly Winseed wakes up in a hospital room, her memory compromised and a new identity imposed on her, a team of government agents wastes no time stating their objective. With intent to infiltrate and defeat the terrorist group ICON, the agents tell Holly that she is now a Provisional Replica and has one week to hunt down and kill her Original for the murder of her husband, Jonathan. If she succeeds, she’ll assume her Original’s place in society. If she fails, her life will end. Holly’s progress is monitored by an assigned contact that feeds her information as she confronts the blank, robotic world around her, discovering that others view life through the theme of their own choosing.
With her newly implanted combat and deduction skills, Holly fends off both attacks by terrorists and doubts about her own trustworthiness as clues lead her to her Original - and to the truth about Jonathan. In the end, one body remains and one walks away. Although questions persist, one thing is certain: Life will never be the same.
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What listeners say about The Original
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J
- 2021-02-10
My New Favourite Audiobook
I loved this book. It was the book I needed for some pure escapism from the never-ending pandemic. The story was exciting, and I could lose myself in it.
I have listened to some audiobooks that included background noises, but never one that included music as part of the story, I was surprised to find out that I loved that aspect of story telling. There is a scene in the story where the main character is in a dance club and there was music playing during an action scene. I was dancing around my kitchen while doing dishes. It was enthralling. It is now my favourite audiobook scene, ever.
The main character was great, the story was captivating. This audiobook was so great!
The narrator, Julia Whelan, was fantastic. I first heard of this novel when I saw her interviewed on the YouTube channel Captured in Words (the interview was good and piqued my interest). She did a great job voicing different characters as well as putting emotion into her voice.
Why are you still reading this review? Go buy this book!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Trevor Flood
- 2020-10-27
Kept me on the edge of my seat
every chapter had me going through previous events to try and peice it all together
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2021-11-15
Stunning, encapsulating, provoking
Absolutely engaging performance from Julia Whelan. Curiosity and mystery at it's finest. I was not expecting to be blown away
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Katie O'Brien
- 2021-08-03
Original for sure.
I did enjoy this book, especially the first half. Narrator was freaking fantastic! Great voice.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robin McGuire
- 2023-04-23
Futuristic Thriller
I thoroughly enjoyed the story. The narrator is great and I forgot that it was one person telling the story. Futuristic/Sci-fi is not my usual genre but this was a great listen and I would recommend it highly.
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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
- Cribrummy
- 2021-07-13
A Different Take on Altered Carbon
This story is very close to the world of Altered Carbon. It is an interesting short story.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JayEC0
- 2021-07-26
Wow!
Brandon Sanderson's worldbuilding is as amazing as always! and what a good ending to boot!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- marcus
- 2022-09-17
Cool, interesting, worth it
The central concept was a bit hard to totally accept at first, but with being willing to go along with it the story was fun and the sci-fi ideas were interesting. The narration is solid and it's pretty fast paced and short. The ending is one to love and hate in equal measure in the way it makes you wonder what you want to happen, which is certainly different at the very least. I liked it. Overall it has some resonance and seemed well worth it in my opinion.
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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
- Amazon Customer
- 2021-07-15
I really enjoyed the story.
I wasn’t going to buy this book at first because it’s just over 3 hrs but it was on sale and the book details sounded like it would be a good read. I really liked the story but I wasn’t a fan of the way it was narrated. I had no issues with the woman narrating it, my problem was the strange decision to have weird music playing in the background at times. It was really annoying and distracting. At first, I seriously thought another app must have been open and able to play audio at the same time as the book was playing. I tried to get it to stop. I even looked to see if there was an option to make it stop, that’s how much it annoyed me. I would love to know what made them decide to do that? Anyway, if you can get past the occasional strange music playing at times, it a good listen.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lindsay B.
- 2021-09-08
A solid book
The audio production is incredible. I'm not usually one to enjoy extraneous sounds/music in audiobooks, but here the light touch really brings it to life.
The story itself is enveloping, and despite its brevity it is not truncated or abrupt. The ambiguity of the end is really well done, too.
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