The Visitor
First Contact Hard Science Fiction
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 30 days of Standard free
The Visitor
Buy Now for £15.28
-
Narrated by:
-
Marni Penning
-
By:
-
Tony Harmsworth
Summary
The Visitor - hard, near-future science fiction for the listener who likes realism.
Specialist astronaut Evelyn Slater encounters a small, badly damaged, ancient alien artifact on the first ever space junk elimination mission.
Where was it from? Who sent it?
International governments impose a security clampdown. Evelyn leads a team of handpicked scientists who make amazing discoveries within the alien device. Secrecy becomes impossible to maintain. When the news is finally released, she becomes embroiled in international politics, worldwide xenophobic hatred, and violence.
This is the first book in the Tony Harmsworth’s First Contact series of novels. If you like realistic near-future stories which compel you to imagine yourself as the protagonist, The Visitor is the book for you. The Visitor is a science fiction for the "thinking" listener and with a wicked twist. Buy it now and be transported into orbit.
©2017 Tony Harmsworth (P)2019 Tony HarmsworthIt’s a pity, as the narrator is excellent and the premise is very interesting. The problem is that you know that if you actually met this character in real life, you’d run a mile. Yuck.
What was Harmsworth thinking?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
proper sci fi
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I haven't read a huge number of First Contact sci-fi, but I feel confident in saying that Harmsworth has managed to examine the idea from a new angle. There is, of course, some detail about the discovery of the alien device however most of the attention is focussed on how this discovery should be disseminated to the world's population. The autor touches on politics, in what I felt was a very pointed way! The religious impact of First Contact is also addressed fairly briefly. I think I would've enjoyed some more on that.
I think having "Hard Sci Fi" in the title may have made me listen more critically than usual. I can understand why the publishers may have required it but I found I was often questioning some of the writing. I think, at times, the author forgets their narrator is narrating to someone in the future, feeling the need to explain technologies of 2035 to an audience in 2020; that kind of broke the spell for me. There are some slightly clumsy moments too, where the cast of scientific characters explain some simple chemistry to each other that, surely, would be basic knowledge.
I did really enjoy the book - I just wish the editing had been just a little tighter.
Relevant, thought-provoking and moving
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The protagonist is deeply unlikeable - due in no small part to the preposterous voice given to her by the narrator (that of royalty or aristocracy). When the protagonist climbs the career ladder (inexplicably and with no relevant experience) - she becomes obsessed with status. She is rude to staff and never says please or thank you when barking orders. For a so-called smart person and astronaut, she sure doesn’t know a huge amount about 20th century space exploration.
Anyway - humans find Richard Dawkins’ brain in a miniature space ship. Space Richard Dawkins is as rude as the protagonist - so they fall in love I guess.
Oh - and I wouldn’t call this “hard sci-fi”.
Aristocratic Astronaut meets Richard Dawkins
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good storyline
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.