Author: Samuel R. Delany –
Publisher: Skyboat Media –
Genre: Science Fiction –
Overall rating: 5/5 –
Writing: 5/5 –
Duration: 6:44 h (medium) –
Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki –
Narrator/performance: 5/5 –
Impressions: 4/5 –
Performance errors: 0/5 –
Complexity/reading level: 3/5 –
Audience: General
Commentary/review
Fun science-fiction mystery with a hero female character. She is talented, educated, successful, of course also beautiful, gentle, as well as fearless, well-connected and street savvy. She wins battles using her hidden skills. The book was published in 1966 but is so fresh and uncompromising that it feels as if written sometime next year. The story is immensely funny at times, action – relentless. There is actual depth to the main story, although it is rather complex so by the time you close the book, the mystery might become obscure again. It is science-fiction at its best, with Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1967 to boot. I wish current authors had so much imagination.
I like Stefan Rudnicki as a narrator, although usually his female impressions need a few minutes of getting used to. Yet I really like to navigate science-fiction fables through his voice.
The cover is rather boring, if compared with other renditions of the Babel-17 mystery out there on the web. I am not too fond of the portrait either, I feel it has nothing to do with the book.
Cover Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash