A FIRE UPON THE DEEP

In a story that is both deep and wide, an artificial intelligence gains sentience, turns malevolent, and becomes a danger to all living things. This is a gross oversimplification of the plot, which involves love, physics, social networks, genocide, and alien civilizations. Peter Larkin reads at a quick pace and performs amazing feats of acting. His narration is authoritative, and his character voices are charming and layered. He even makes different races of aliens sound easily identifiable. But this labyrinthine tale may be too complex for most listening situations. Much of the story is revealed obliquely through characters’ back stories, and being able to “flip back a couple pages” would be helpful. G.D. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2010]