An Intriguing Science Fiction Story!

I was recommended this book/series by Amazon,since I love science fiction. It sounded interesting, so I downloaded this on audio book. I must admit it was an intriguing story!

There are several characters in this book, and because it would take too long to do a character breakdown for every single one, I have decided to just jump right in to my review.

There are several narrators that bring each of the six chronicles to life. They are: Luke Daniels, Angela Dawe, Tanya Eby, Amy McFadden, Mikael Naramore and Nick Podehl. I am not sure who narrated the first chronicle, but I nearly stopped listening to the story within the first 15 minutes. The lady had a thick New York or Brooklyn accent that, I am sorry to say, really put me off; no offence meant to New Yorkers or Brooklynites. The nasal tone of the narrator made me cringe, as her voice sounded whiny and it gave me a headache. However, I persevered and I am glad I did; the rest of the narrators were a pleasure to listen to.

The story was a wonderful mix of science fiction, fantasy and reality. The first chronicle was set in New York, but the rest of the series was set on the island of Atopia, a large man-made floating island in the Pacific. Dr. Patricia Killiam is launching a new virtual reality platform. However, everything is not as it seems.
This story takes the reader on a fast paced roller coaster ride! Every character involved in this story is affected by certain events that culminate in an amazing showdown with a desperate and slightly crazy individual.
The story did feel a bit disjointed at times, but I suppose it's because it was originally written in sections. I really liked Bob (Robert Baxter), who was a bit of a drunkard and drug addict, but he has reason to be. I don't believe that drink and drugs are a solution to a problem or situation, but in his defense, it was understandable. This book actually terrified me, in a way. With the way we are advancing with our computers, and the virtual reality in movies getting better and better, this technology could, in the not too distant future, become more readily available. The line between what is real and what is virtual is growing thinner and blurrier all the time. This could, in the wrong hands, be used as a kind of mind control one day, and this absolutely terrifies me. If the life we now live is an illusion, what would be the point in living it? Are we actually already living in a virtual world? This kind of story makes a person think very deep and philosophical thoughts. That being said, I really enjoyed the story. The ending finished on a slight cliffhanger, and now I am looking forward to continuing the Chronicles by reading/listening to The Dystopia Chronicles, which will be released in August this year.

Matthew Mather has written a intriguing science fiction series. His characters were very lifelike. I loved his fast paced writing style and, even though the flow was a bit disjointed in places, I would definitely read more of his books in the future.

Due to the mention of alcohol and drug abuse, I do not recommend this book to younger readers. I do, however, recommend this book to lovers of science fiction or dystopian fiction genres. - Lynn Worton

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Interesting take on a possible future

I really enjoyed this book, future based stories are one of my favourite genres. The mini stories are strong and tie in well together to make sense at the end of the collection. To avoid spoilers I won't go into detail but the stories centre around a new technology which can be used in many different ways, this collection of stories is about many characters that take advantage of this technology and the consequences surrounding it.

The audio book is narrated very well and flows from reader to reader, it is easy to listen too and keep track of who is reading which character.

All in all a good book, I look forward to listening to other books by Matthew Mather.

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a reasonablly well told sci-fi

I enjoyed this story but found the first voice actress to be way to over the top and found her accent to detract from the story telling.

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I tried... but cannot do it anymore

Several narrators just doesn't work unless they always narrate the same character. In this book they don't and it is hard to follow who is whom.

I found this story really frustrating and with two more books in the series, I just can't do it anymore.

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1 person found this helpful