Providence
- Author Max Barry
- Narrator Brittany Pressley
- Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
- Run Time 9 hours and 49 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Artificial intelligence, Science fiction, Science fiction: space opera.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- €9.95
- €8.95
- €7.95
- €6.95
- €5.95
Listen to a sample
What to expect
She is the ultimate weapon. She once served us. Now she's got her own plans.
Once we approached the aliens in peace... and they annihilated us. Now mankind has developed the ultimate killing machine, the Providence class of spaceship.
With the ships' frightening speed, frightening intelligence and frightening weaponry, it's now the salamanders' turn to be annihilated... in their millions.
The mismatched quartet of Talia, Gilly, Jolene and Anders are the crew on one of these destroyers. But with the ship's computers designed to outperform human decision-making in practically all areas, they are virtual bystanders. The Providence will take them to where the enemy are and she will dictate the strategy in any battle.
The crew's only job role is to publicise their glorious war to a sceptical Earth. Social media and video clips are THEIR weapons in an endless charm offensive. THEIR chief enemy is not the space reptiles but each other, and boredom.
But then everything changes. A message comes from base: the Providence is going into the Violet Zone, where there are no beacons and no communications with Earth. It is the heart of the enemy empire - and now the crew are left to wonder whether this is a mission of ultimate destruction or, more sinisterly, of ultimate self-destruction...
(P) 2020 Penguin Random House Audio
Critics Review
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Praise for Providence
: -
Providence is such a blast you almost overlook how clever it is. Like Starship Troopers and 2001: A Sapce Odyssey, it’s about the limit of human intelligence, the nature of humanity and the price we’re prepared to pay for the survival of the species
Daily Mail -
Providence is a light-hearted thriller with a superbly dark, existential sting in its tail
The Times -
A quirky, character-driven commentary on the mechanisation of conflict and the sheer perversity of human nature
Financial Times -
Compelling and innovative… Barry takes a story that has been done countless times before and makes it seem original
Daily Mail -
[A] terrific sci-fi thriller
Publishers Weekly
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