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The Man Who Used the Universe

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The Man Who Used the Universe

By: Alan Dean Foster
Narrated by: Paul Ansdell
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About this listen

No one knows the true motives of Kees vaan Loo-Macklin. He's a mastermind criminal who gave up his place at the head of the dark underworld to become a legitimate member of Evenwaith's cities. But soon he was reaching out to powerful enemies - the slimy aliens called the Nuel. Loo-Macklin negotiates an illusory peace agreement and gains precious alien secrets in the process. Is he after peace, power or pure evil? With enemy starships beginning to amass, we won't have to wait long to find out.

©2014 Alan Dean Foster (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC Adventure Fantasy Fiction First Contact Military Science Fiction
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Really good book.. loved it. I thought the narrator did a good job on the main character, low voice,. measured etc. exactly how i imagined he would talk. Its old school SCIFI i read along time ago, its still very good today.

Really good book.. loved it.

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Great to see this fine work of Alan Dean Foster finally available on audio. The Man Who Used The Universe is probably Foster's best work as it follows the lifelong obsession of one man from the criminal underworld to the heights of power and influence over Humans and alien's alike. Great performance as well from the narrator.

Like Visiting An Old Friend After Many Years

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It's well worth a listen and definitely not the predictable, usual slop you get in sci-fi.

Wow... Didn't see that coming!

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l loved this book when I first read it 30 years ago . I love the the story but not this narration which is like a bit actor from Oliver or Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins..truly deadful...truly

A science fiction epic ruined by the narration

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I first read this in paperback in about 1985, and when I saw it here thought I'd give it a shot.

A curious, if not bizarre reading from Ansell - he seemed to read every line as if it were coming to him as something of a surprise and was unexpected. After a while though it seemed to work, and fitte well with the storyline.

The story itself has aged well, but still suffers from the problem that Loo-Macklin is basically an unstoppable God-like being who triumphs at everything every time. There's no hardship to counter his success.

Early on it becomes apparent that although the reader doesn't know why he's doing what he's doing, it's obvious that he will be successful at it.

Character voices are all similar, and many of the accents seem to imply that everybody comes from Liverpool or the surrounding area, although a couple of the Nuel seem to have lived in Birmingham long enough to pick up an accent.

I enjoyed this book, and will listen to it again. The best part of the reading was the reading itself - better than the plot. It took a while to get used to it, and Ansell mispronounces a few common English words occasionally - which is a personal pet-hate of mine, but I warmed to it and am now considering other books read by him.

Pretty good, but not without faults.

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