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  • Empire of Light: Shoal, Book 3

  • By: Gary Gibson
  • Narrated by: Charlie Norfolk
  • Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (92 ratings)
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Empire of Light: Shoal, Book 3 cover art

Empire of Light: Shoal, Book 3

By: Gary Gibson
Narrated by: Charlie Norfolk
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Summary

In the third Shoal book, the nova war has begun to spread as the Emissaries force the Shoal into a desperate retreat. While Dakota goes in search of the entity responsible for creating the Maker caches, Corso, left in charge of a fleet of Magi ships, finds his authority crumbling in the face of politically-motivated sabotage. If any hope exists at all, it lies in an abandoned asteroid a thousand light-years away, and with Ty Whitecloud, the only man alive who can decipher messages left behind by an ancient starfaring race. Unfortunately Whitecloud is imprisoned aboard a coreship adrift in space, awaiting execution for war crimes. But if humanity has any hope of survival, Corso is going to have to find some way to keep him alive - and that's only if Dakota doesn't kill him first.

©2012 Gary Gibson (P)2012 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

"Gripping, imaginative and morally complex...adds up to a compulsive read." ( SFX)
"[S]takes his claim to be considered alongside the leading triumvirate of British hard SF writers." ( The Guardian)
"A violent, inventive, relentlessly gripping adventure ... intelligently written and thought-provoking." ( The Times)

What listeners say about Empire of Light: Shoal, Book 3

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

What A Corker!

Gary Gibson is a new author to me. Heard about some of his stories a while back but couldn’t get in to them. I’d heard good things about the Shoal series and WHAM! I was hooked!



Great inventive writing. Galaxy spanning concepts. Really believable human characters.



No spoilers. But if you try one new author this year give GG’s Shoal Series a run.



Also, a shout out to the narrator, Charlie Norfolk. Good job! A difficult set of characters and a job well done.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • M
  • 04-04-13

Enjoyable, but light.

I've enjoyed this trilogy - a great epic space opera with loads of alien tech, action and well written characters - but, unfortunately, this final part lost some pace and depth for me. All the colourful villains, ships and political intrigues got left behind (literally) as the core characters went off in search of the Big Weapon; and the journey just lasted way too long I'm afraid. I'd still recommend the series - it's brilliantly narrated - but only as a fun slice of scifi escapism.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

i love this trilogy. Hat off to GGibson.

love this book.

it took a while to get used to the narrator; and i never thought of the main character as Scottish.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Such a great series and great narrator

Really enjoyed all three books. The pace and story of this chapter was more people's views and more closing in on the goal.
The passion and voices Charlie brought really added and brought it to life.
Only tiny issue I have now it's over and I didn't think while reading it as its all a mystery is did they do the right thing. The almost didn't know what they were aiming at they got sucked along by bigger issues. So it might have been nice to here the story of the bad characters more to see why the wanted their actions and if they succeed or failed. Not a let down just a thought.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining pot boiler of a Sci Fi story

Great for my daily commute, not the greatest Sci Fi, nowhere near the class of Iain M Banks for example, but a rollicking space opera that across three books, of which this is the third, pulls you along and leaves the door open for more books at the end. Driving the car you need something with a clear narrative and which can have a few lapses of concentration without spoiling the story.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

An enjoyable ride

Have finished all three books in the trilogy and enjoyed the ride! This was good space opera with clever world building and an impressive scope. However, this third installment was a bit thin. We have seen most of the character development in the previous episodes and I found Dakota had lost some of her edginess. I'm not disapointed, however this did lack some of the itensity of the other two novels. Apparently there is another trilogy in the pipeline, so Mr Gibson might have been more concerned with setting the scene for the next installment. As far as the narration is concerned, after 3 novels I've had enough of Charlie Norfolk, who does every male voice in a very annoying American western-style drawl. I kept imagining them all wearing cowboy hats and spurs!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

What the hell happend?

What started as a good "space opera" reading, with good plot, very interesting characters and grand setting, half way trough become chore to listen. Lack of logic, inconsequence's, repetitions and trivial dialogues. Like from "I have an idea for the best story in my life" to "let's finish it quickly I don't care any more". What a waste. My favourite SF author, S.Lem, wrote book which consist of reviews of never written books. Sorry Mr Gibson, that's where your story belongs.

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