The Six Audiobook
By: Mark Alpert
Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
Published by Tantor Audio 03/27/2018
10 hrs and 44 mins
The Six Series #1
The Six Audiobook Sample
The Six Audiobook
4.5 Hearts
I thought I knew what I was getting when I put in my earbuds and hit play, but this was so much more than I expected not the least of which was a great new to me narrator find in Josh Bloomberg. I found it amazing on more than one level. Mark Alpert puts the ‘science’ back into science fiction and the human quotient into a discussion of artificial intelligence and singularity.
The story unravels slowly and gains momentum as it goes. The Six is most definitely a typical first in series in how it plays out with establishing the world, the characters, and the long range plot. I thought the author did well and I never felt like I was getting a straight up info dump. There was always plot movement and something with which the reader can engage.
The plot gets going when an AI named Sigma decides humans are no longer going to be the top of the food chain and begins a hostile takeover. This leaves the worlds’ inventors and military scrambling. The very man who designed Sigma is the one who designs a potential way to bring it down. His son, Adam narrates the story and I loved his wry humor, observations, the way he handled his mother’s depression and his dad’s grief and worry. Adam’s dad was just looking for a way to save his son who is dying from advanced muscular dystrophy. Six teens including Adam, dying from their various diseases volunteer for a dangerous, innovative protect that will bring them into the virtual world.
I thought the handling of the teens- who are all quite the quirky characters, their illnesses, other people’s perceptions, the transition for the teens into the virtual world and their robots was done so well. I think I was more interested in these aspects than the overall purpose of it all.
This was a great start to a series and I can’t wait to see what comes next. There are things that have me curious. I can definitely recommend it for teens and adults alike who get into the tech side of science and want a good story to go with it.
The Six Audiobook Narration
5 Hearts
As, I mentioned, Josh Bloomberg is a new to me narrator. I felt he was connected closely with the book he was narrating and this helped to keep me fully engaged even through some of the technical explanations. I got very emotional when he handled talk of these kids’ health struggles, their feelings of isolation, their views on death, and then how they take to such a huge life change. He did a great job considering he had a huge cast of adults and teens and AI from all genders.
MARK ALPERT is a contributing editor at Scientific American and an internationally bestselling author of science thrillers. His novels for adults — “Final Theory,” “The Omega Theory,” “Extinction,” and “The Furies” — are action-packed page-turners that show the frightening potential of near-future technologies. His latest thriller, “The Orion Plan” (to be published in February 2016), is about an alien invasion of New York City.
Mark also writes science thrillers for young adults. His first YA novel, “The Six,” is about six dying teenagers who give up their failing bodies to become U.S. Army robots. The sequel, “The Siege,” will be published in July 2016.
Josh Bloomberg has recorded audiobooks for most of the major publishers, lending his voice to many different genres. His versatility and acting background have helped him access the styles needed for a variety of works. He has narrated several notable works, including titles by Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling authors (some of them, under a pseudonym). He directed the audiobook for The Storm of the Century, written by Al Roker. He also announced the categories and nominees at the 2017 Audie Awards ceremony. Josh also performs on-screen, recently on the Netflix series Greenhouse Academy, and records commercial voice-over projects. Josh is a member of the Audio Publishers Association.
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